It is awadi sitting on the west bank of theNile, oppositeThebes (modern-dayLuxor) and within the heart of theTheban Necropolis.[4] There are two main sections: the East Valley, where the majority of the royal tombs are situated; and the West Valley, otherwise known as the Valley of the Monkeys.[5][6]
With the 2005 discovery of a new chamber and the 2008 discovery of two further tomb entrances,[7] the Valley of the Kings is known to contain 65 tombs and chambers, ranging in size from the simple pit that isKV54 to the complex tomb that isKV5, which alone has over 120 chambers for the sons ofRamesses II.[8] It was the principal burial place for the New Kingdom's major royal figures as well as a number of privileged nobles. The royal tombs are decorated with traditional scenes fromEgyptian mythology and reveal clues to the period'sfunerary practices andafterlife beliefs. Almost all of the tombs seem to have been opened and robbed in antiquity, but they still give an idea of the opulence and power of Egypt's pharaohs.
This area has been a focus forEgyptologists and archaeological exploration since the end of the 18th century, and its tombs and burials continue to stimulate research and interest. The Valley of the Kings garnered significant attention following thediscovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922,[9] and is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. In 1979, it became aUNESCO World Heritage Site alongside the rest of the Theban Necropolis.[10] Exploration, excavation, and conservation continues in the area and a new tourist centre has recently been opened.
The Valley of the Kings is situated over 1,000 feet oflimestone and other sedimentary rock,[11] which form the cliffs in the valley and the nearbyDeir el-Bahari, interspersed with soft layers ofmarl. The sedimentary rock was originally deposited between 35 and 56 million years ago during a time when theMediterranean Sea sometimes extended as far south asAswan.[11] During thePleistocene the valley was carved out of the plateau by steady rains.[12] There is now little year-round rain in this part of Egypt, but there are occasionalflash floods. These floods dump tons of debris into the open tombs.[13]
The quality of the rock in the Valley is inconsistent, ranging from finely grained to coarse stone, the latter with the potential to be structurally unsound. The occasional layer ofshale also caused construction (and in modern times, conservation) difficulties, as this rock expands in the presence of water, forcing apart the stone surrounding it. It is thought that some tombs were altered in shape and size depending on the types of rock the builders encountered.[12] Builders took advantage of available geological features when constructing the tombs. Some tombs were quarried out of existing limestone clefts, others behind slopes ofscree, and some were at the edge of rock spurs created by ancient flood channels.[12]
The problems of tomb construction can be seen with the tombs ofRamesses III and his fatherSetnakhte. Setnakhte started to excavateKV11 but unintentionally broke into the tomb ofAmenmesse, so construction was abandoned and he instead usurped the tomb ofTwosret,KV14. When looking for a tomb, Ramesses III extended the partly excavated tomb started by his father.[14] Thetomb of Ramesses II returned to an early style, with a bent axis, probably due to the quality of the rock being excavated (following the Esna shale).[15]
Between 1998 and 2002, theAmarna Royal Tombs Project investigated the valley floor usingground-penetrating radar and found that, below the modern surface, the Valley's cliffs descend beneath the scree in a series of abrupt, natural "shelves", arranged one below the other, descending several metres to the bedrock in the valley floor.[16]
The area of the Theban hills is subject to infrequent, violent thunderstorms causing flash floods in the valley. Recent studies have shown that there are at least seven active flood stream beds leading down into the central area of the valley.[17] This central area appears to have been flooded at the end of theEighteenth Dynasty, with several tombs buried under metres of debris. The tombsKV55,KV62, andKV63 are dug into the actualwadi bedrock rather than the debris, showing that the level of the valley was five meters below its present level.[18] After this event, later dynasties levelled the floor of the valley, making the floods deposit their load further down the valley, and the buried tombs were forgotten and only discovered in the early 20th century.[19] This was the area that was the subject of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project ground-scanning radar investigation, which showed several anomalies, one of which was proved to be KV63.[20]
The "Sepulchres of the Kings of Thebes",Richard Pococke, 1743Al-Qurn dominates the valley.
The Theban Hills are dominated by the peak ofal-Qurn, known to the Ancient Egyptians asta dehent, or "The Peak".[21] It has a pyramid-shaped appearance, and it is probable that this echoed the pyramids of theOld Kingdom, more than a thousand years prior to the first royal burials carved here.[22][23] Its isolated position also resulted in reduced access, and special tomb police (theMedjay) were able to guard the necropolis.[24]
While theiconic pyramid complex of theGiza Plateau have come to symbolizeancient Egypt, the majority of tombs were cut into rock. Most pyramids andmastabas contain sections which were cut into ground level, and there are full rock-cut tombs in Egypt that date back to the Old Kingdom.[25]
After the defeat of theHyksos and the reunification of Egypt underAhmose I, theTheban rulers began to construct elaborate tombs that reflected their newfound power.[26] The tombs of Ahmose I and his sonAmenhotep I (their exact location remains unknown) were probably in theSeventeenth Dynasty necropolis ofDra' Abu el-Naga'.[27] The first royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings were those ofAmenhotep I (although this identification is also disputed),[28] andThutmose I, whose advisor,Ineni, notes in his tomb that he advised the king to place his tomb in the desolate valley (the identity of this actual tomb is unclear, but it is probablyKV20 orKV38).[21]
I saw to the excavation of the rock-tomb of his majesty, alone, no one seeing, no one hearing.[29]
The Valley was used for primary burials from approximately 1539 BC to 1075 BC. It contains at least63 tombs, beginning withThutmose I (or possibly earlier, during the reign of Amenhotep I) and ending withRamesses X orXI, although non-royal burials continued in usurped tombs.[30]
Despite its name, the Valley of the Kings also contains the tombs of favorite nobles as well as the wives and children of both nobles and pharaohs. Therefore, only about twenty of the tombs actually contain the remains of kings. The remains of nobles and of the royal family, together with unmarked pits and embalming caches, make up the rest.[31] Around the time ofRamesses I (ca. 1301 BC) construction commenced in the separateValley of the Queens.[32]
The official name for the site in ancient times wasThe Great and Majestic Necropolis of the Millions of Years of the Pharaoh, Life, Strength, Health in The West of Thebes (see below for the hieroglyphic spelling), orTa-sekhet-ma'at (the Great Field).[33]
At the start of theEighteenth Dynasty, only kings were buried within the valley in large tombs. When a non-royal person was buried, it was in a small rock cut chamber, close to the tomb of their master.[29]Amenhotep III's tomb was constructed in the Western Valley, and while his sonAkhenaten moved his tomb's construction toAmarna, it is thought that the unfinished WV25 may have originally been intended for him.[34] With the return to religious orthodoxy at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty,Tutankhamun,Ay, andHoremheb returned to the royal necropolis.[35]
TheNineteenth andTwentieth Dynasties saw an increase in the number of burials (both here and in the Valley of the Queens), withRamesses II and laterRamesses III each constructing a massive tomb used for the burial of their sons (KV5 andKV3 respectively).[36][37] There are some kings that are not buried within the valley or whose tomb has not been located:Thutmose II wasburied in the nearbyWestern Wadis (although his mummy was included in theDeir el-Baharitomb cache),[38] Smenkhkare's burial has never been located, andRamesses VIII seems to have been buried elsewhere.
In thePyramid Age, the pyramid tomb of a king was associated with a mortuary temple located close to the pyramid. Since the tombs of the kings in the Valley of the Kings were hidden, the kings' mortuary temples were located away from their burial sites, closer to the cultivation facingThebes.[21] These mortuary temples became places visited during the various festivals held in the Theban necropolis. Most notable is theBeautiful festival of the valley, where the sacred barques ofAmun-Re, his consort,Mut, and son,Khonsu, left the temple atKarnak in order to visit the funerary temples of deceased kings on the West Bank and their shrines in theTheban Necropolis.[39]
The tombs were constructed and decorated by the workers of the village ofDeir el-Medina, located in a small wadi between this valley and theValley of the Queens, facingThebes. The workers journeyed to the tombs through various routes over the Theban hills. The daily lives of these workers are quite well known due to their being recorded in tombs and official documents.[40] Amongst the events documented is perhaps the first recorded workers' strike, detailed in theTurin Strike Papyrus.[41][42][43]
1820: Belzoni's Valley of the Kings1830:John Gardner Wilkinson's numbering system for the tombs, which remains in use todayEntrance to a royal tomb, drawn in 1821
The valley has been a major focus of modernEgyptological exploration for the last two centuries. Prior to this time, it was a site for tourism in antiquity (especially duringRoman times).[30] The area illustrates the changes in the study of ancient Egypt, starting as antiquity hunting, and ending as scientific excavation of the wholeTheban Necropolis. Despite the exploration and investigation noted below, only eleven of the tombs have actually been completely recorded.
Many of the tombs have graffiti written by those ancient tourists.Jules Baillet has located over 2,100 Greek andLatin instances of graffiti, along with a smaller number inPhoenician,Cypriot,Lycian,Coptic, and other languages.[30] The majority of the ancient graffiti is found in KV9, which contains just under a thousand of them. The earliest positively dated graffiti dates to 278 BC.[44]
European exploration continued in the area around Thebes during the nineteenth century. Early in the century, the area was visited byGiovanni Belzoni, working forHenry Salt, who discovered several tombs, including those ofAy in the West Valley (WV23) in 1816 andSeti I (KV17) the following year. At the end of his visits, Belzoni declared that all of the tombs had been located and nothing of note remained to be found. Working at the same time wasBernardino Drovetti, theFrench Consul-General and a great rival of Belzoni and Salt.[47]John Gardner Wilkinson, who lived in Egypt from 1821 to 1832, copied many of the inscriptions and artwork in the tombs that were open at the time. Thedecipherment of hieroglyphs, though still incomplete during Wilkinson's stay in the valley, enabled him to assemble a chronology of New Kingdom rulers based on the inscriptions in the tombs. He also established the system of tomb numbering that has been in use, with additions, ever since.[48]
The second half of the century saw a more concerted effort to preserve, rather than simply gather, antiquities.Auguste Mariette's Egyptian Antiquities Service started to explore the valley, first withEugène Lefébure in 1883,[49] thenJules Baillet andGeorges Bénédite in early 1888, and finallyVictor Loret in 1898 to 1899. Loret added a further 16 tombs to the list, and explored several tombs that had already been discovered.[50] During this timeGeorges Daressy exploredKV9.[51]
Entrance to Horemheb's tomb, soon after its discovery in 1908
WhenGaston Maspero was reappointed as head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, the nature of the exploration of the valley changed again. Maspero appointed English archaeologistHoward Carter as the Chief Inspector of Upper Egypt, and the young man discovered several new tombs and explored several others, clearingKV42 andKV20.[52]
Around the start of the 20th century, American explorerTheodore M. Davis held the excavation permit for the valley. His team (led mostly byEdward R. Ayrton) discovered several royal and non-royal tombs (includingKV43,KV46 andKV57). In 1907, they discovered the possible Amarna Period cache in KV55. After finding what they thought was all that remained of the burial of Tutankhamun (items recovered from KV54 and KV58), it was announced that the valley was completely explored and that no further burials were to be found. Davis's 1912 publication,The Tombs of Harmhabi and Touatânkhamanou closes with the comment, "I fear that the Valley of Kings is now exhausted."[53]
After Davis's death early in 1915,Lord Carnarvon acquired the concession to excavate the valley, and he employed Howard Carter to explore it. After a systematic search, theydiscovered the actual tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62) in November 1922.[54]
Various expeditions have continued to explore the valley, adding greatly to the knowledge of the area. In 2001 theTheban Mapping Project designed new signs for the tombs, providing information and plans of the open tombs.[55]
The earliest tombs were located in cliffs at the top ofscree slopes, under storm-fed waterfalls (KV34 andKV43).[21] As these locations were filled, burials descended to the valley floor, gradually moving back up the slopes as the valley bottom filled with debris. This explains the location of the tombsKV62 andKV63 buried in the valley floor.
The usual tomb plan consisted of a long inclined rock-cut corridor, descending through one or more halls (possibly mirroring the descending path of the sun god into the underworld)[56] to the burial chamber. In the earlier tombs, the corridors turn 90 degrees at least once (such asKV43, the tomb ofThutmose IV), and the earliest ones hadcartouche-shaped burial chambers (for example,KV43, the tomb ofThutmose IV).[57] This layout is known as "Bent Axis",[58] After the burial, the upper corridors were meant to be filled with rubble and the entrance to the tomb hidden.[59] After theAmarna Period, the layout gradually straightened, with an intermediate "Jogged Axis" (the tomb ofHoremheb,KV57 is typical of this layout and is one of the tombs that is sometimes open to the public), to the generally "Straight Axis" of the late Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasty tombs (Ramesses III's andRamesses IX's tombs,KV11 andKV6 respectively).[60] As the tombs' axes straightened, the slopes also lessened. They almost disappeared in the late Twentieth Dynasty.[61] Another feature that is common to most tombs is the "well", which may have originated as an actual barrier intended to stop flood waters from entering the lower parts of the tomb. It seems to have developed a "magical" purpose later as a symbolic shaft.[57] In the later Twentieth Dynasty, the well itself was sometimes not excavated (by the builders), but the well room was still present.[57][62]
The majority of the royal tombs were decorated with religious texts and images. The early tombs were decorated with scenes fromAmduat ('That Which is in the Underworld'), which describes the journey of the sun god through the twelve hours of the night. From the time of Horemheb, tombs were decorated with theBook of Gates, which shows the sun god passing through the twelve gates that divide the nighttime and ensures the tomb owner's own safe passage through the night.[63] These earliest tombs were generally sparsely decorated, and those of a non-royal nature were totally undecorated.
Late in the Nineteenth Dynasty theBook of Caverns, which divided the underworld into massive caverns containing deities as well as the deceased waiting for the sun to pass through and restore them to life, was placed in the upper parts of tombs. A complete version appears in the tomb of Ramesses VI.[63] The burial of Ramesses III saw theBook of the Earth, where the underworld is divided into four sections, climaxing in the sun disc being pulled from the earth byNaunet.[64]
The ceilings of the burial chambers were decorated (from the burial of Seti I onwards) with what became formalised as theBook of the Heavens, which again describes the sun's journey through the twelve hours of night. Again from Seti I's time, theLitany of Re, a lengthy hymn to the sun god began to appear.[63]
Each burial was provided with equipment that would enable a comfortable existence in theafterlife. Also present in the tombs were items used to perform magic rituals, such asshabtis and divine figurines. Some of the items may have been used by the king during his lifetime (Tutankhamun's sandals for example), and some were specially constructed for the burial.[65]
The modern abbreviation "KV" stands for "Kings' Valley". In 1827, Wilkinson painted KV numbers over the entrances to the 21 tombs that lay open in the East Valley at that time, beginning at the valley entrance and moving southward, and labeled four tombs in the West Valley as WV1 through WV4. The tombs in the West Valley were later incorporated into the East Valley numbering system asWV22 throughWV25, and tombs that have been opened since Wilkinson's time have been added to the list.[66][67] The numbers range fromKV1 (Rameses VII) toKV64 (discovered in 2011). Since the early 19th century AD, antiquarians and archaeologists have cleared and recorded tombs, with a total of 61 sepulchers being known by the start of the 20th century.[68]KV5 was only rediscovered in the 1990s after being dismissed as unimportant by previous investigators.[69] Some of the tombs have ambiguous burial contexts, others remain unidentifiable as regards their owners, and still others appear to be unfinished, reused, or of unknown function.[70]
The Eighteenth Dynasty tombs within the valley vary quite a bit in decoration, style, and location. It seems that at first there was no fixed plan. Thetomb ofHatshepsut has a unique shape, twisting and turning down over 200 metres from the entrance, so that the burial chamber is 97 metres below the surface. The tombs gradually became more regular and formalised, and those ofThutmose III andThutmose IV,KV34 andKV43, are good examples of Eighteenth Dynasty tombs, both with their bent axis, and simple decoration.[71]
Perhaps the most imposing tomb of this period is that ofAmenhotep III,WV22, located in the West Valley.[72] It was re-investigated in the 1990s by a team fromWaseda University,Japan, but it is not open to the public.[73]
At the same time, powerful and influential nobles began to be buried with the royal family; the most famous of these tombs is the joint tomb ofYuya andTjuyu,KV46. They were possibly the parents of QueenTiy. Until the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, this was the best-preserved of the tombs that had been discovered in the Valley.[74]
The return of royal burials to Thebes after the end of theAmarna Period marks a change to the layout of royal burials, with the intermediate 'jogged axis' gradually giving way to the 'straight axis' of later dynasties. In the Western Valley, there is a tomb commencement that is thought to have been started forAkhenaten, but it is no more than a gateway and a series of steps. The tomb ofAy,Tutankhamun's successor is close by. It is likely that this tomb was started for Tutankhamun (its decoration is of a similar style), but later usurped for Ay's burial. This would mean thatKV62 may have been Ay's original tomb, which would explain the smaller size and unusual layout for a royal tomb.[75]
A painted, wooden figure of Tutankhamun found in his royal tomb
The other Amarna Period tombs are located in a smaller, central area in the centre of the East Valley, with a possible mummy cache (KV55) that may contain the burials of several Amarna Period royals –Tiy andSmenkhkare orAkhenaten.[76]
In close proximity is the burial of Tutankhamun, perhaps the most famous discovery of modern Westernarchaeology. It was discovered byHoward Carter on 4 November 1922, with clearance and conservation work continuing until 1932. This was the first royal tomb to be discovered that was still largely intact, although tomb robbers had entered. Until the excavation ofKV63 on 10 March 2005,[77] it was considered the last major discovery in the valley. The opulence of his grave goods notwithstanding,Tutankhamun was a relatively minor king, and other burials probably had more numerous treasures.[78]
In the same central area as KV62 and KV63, is"KV64", a radar anomaly believed to be a tomb or chamber announced on 28 July 2006. It was not an official designation, and the actual existence of a tomb at all was dismissed by theSupreme Council of Antiquities,[79] prior to finally excavating and describing it during 2011–2012.
The nearby tomb ofHoremheb, (KV57) is rarely open to visitors, but it has many unique features and is extensively decorated. The decoration shows a transition from the pre-Amarna tombs to those of the 19th dynasty tombs that followed.[80]
The Nineteenth Dynasty saw a further standardisation of tomb layout and decoration. The tomb of the first king of the dynasty,Ramesses I, was hurriedly finished due to the early death of the king and is little more than a truncated descending corridor and a burial chamber. However,KV16 has vibrant decoration and still contains thesarcophagus of the king. Its central location makes it one of the more frequently visited tombs. It shows the development of the tomb entrance and passage and of decoration.[81]
His son and successor,Seti I's tombKV17 (also known asBelzoni's tomb,the tomb of Apis, orthe tomb of Psammis, son of Necho), is usually regarded as the finest tomb in the valley. It has extensive relief work and paintings. When it was rediscovered by Belzoni in 1817, he referred to it as "a fortunate day."[82]
The son of Seti,Ramesses II (Ramesses the Great), constructed a massive tomb,KV7, but it is in a ruinous state. It is currently undergoing excavation and conservation by a Franco-Egyptian team led byChristian Leblanc.[83][84] The tomb is vast in size, about the same length, and a larger area, of the tomb of his father.
At the same time, and just opposite his own tomb, Ramesses enlarged the earlier small tomb of an unknown Eighteenth Dynasty noble (KV5) for his numerous sons. With 120 known rooms, and excavation work still underway, it is probably the largest tomb in the valley. Originally opened (and robbed) in antiquity, it is a low-lying structure that has been particularly prone to the flash floods that sometimes hit the area. Tonnes of debris and material has washed in over the centuries, ultimately concealing its vast size. It is not currently open to the public.[85]
Ramesses II's son and eventual successor,Merenptah'stomb has been open since antiquity; it extends 160 metres, ending in a burial chamber that once contained a set of four nestedsarcophagi.[86] Well decorated, it is typically open to the public most years.[87]
The last kings of the dynasty also constructed tombs in the valley, all of which follow the same general pattern of layout and decoration. Notable amongst these is thetomb ofSiptah, which is well decorated, especially the ceiling.[88]
First (upper) burial hall in the tomb ofTwosret andSetnakhte, KV14; scenes from the Book of Caverns are depicted on the far wall[89]
The first ruler of the dynasty,Setnakhte, had two tombs constructed for himself. He started excavating the eventual tomb of his son,Ramesses III, but abandoned that dig when it unintentionally broke into another tomb. He then usurped and completed the tomb of the Nineteenth Dynasty female pharaoh,Twosret,KV14. Therefore, this tomb has two burial chambers, the later extensions making this one of the largest of the Royal tombs, at over 150 metres. KV11 was later restarted and extended and on a different axis for Ramesses III.[90]
Corridor descending to the Tomb ofRamesses III, KV11
The tomb ofRamesses III (KV11, known asBruce's Tomb or The Harper's Tomb due to its decoration) is one of the largest tombs in the valley and is open to the public. It is located close to the central 'rest–area', and its location and superb decoration make this one of the tombs most visited by tourists.[91]
The successors and offspring ofRamesses III constructed tombs that had straight axes. They all had similar decorations. Notable amongst these isKV2, the tomb ofRamesses IV, which has been open since antiquity, containing a large amount ofhieratic graffiti. The tomb is mostly intact and is decorated with scenes from several religious texts.[92] The joint tomb ofRamesses V andRamesses VI,KV9 (also known as theTomb of Memnon orLa Tombe de la Métempsychose) is decorated with many sunk-relief carvings, depicting illustrated scenes from religious texts. Open since antiquity, it contains over a thousand examples of graffiti written in ancient Greek, Latin and Coptic.[93] The spoil from the excavation and later clearance of this tomb, together with later construction of workers huts, covered the earlier burial of KV62 and seems to have been what protected that tomb from earlier discovery and looting.[94]
The tomb ofRamesses IX,KV6, has been open since antiquity, as can be seen by the graffiti left on its walls by Roman and Coptic visitors.[95] Located in the central part of the valley, it is between and slightly above KV5 and KV55. The tomb extends a total distance of 105 metres into the hillside, including extensive side chambers that were neither decorated nor finished. The hasty and incomplete nature of the rock-cutting and decorations (it is only decorated for a little over half its length) within the tomb indicate that the tomb was not completed by the time of Ramesses' death, with the completed hall of pillars serving as the burial chamber.[96]
Another notable tomb from this dynasty isKV19, the tomb ofMentuherkhepshef (son ofRamesses IX). This small tomb is simply a converted, unfinished corridor, but the decoration is extensive. The tomb has been newly restored and opened for visitors.[97]
Twenty-first Dynasty and the decline of the necropolis
By the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt had entered a long period of political and economic decline. The priests at Thebes grew more powerful, and they effectively administered Upper Egypt, while kings ruling fromTanis controlled Lower Egypt. Some attempt at using the open tombs was made at the start of theTwenty-first Dynasty, with theHigh Priest of Amun,Pinedjem I, adding his cartouche toKV4.[98] The Valley began to be heavily plundered, so during the Twenty-first Dynasty the priests ofAmun opened most of the tombs and moved the mummies into three tombs in order to better protect them. Most of the treasure was removed from the tombs. Most of these were later moved to a single cache nearDeir el-Bahari (known asTT320). Located in the cliffs overlooking theMortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, this mass reburial contained a large number of royal mummies.[38][99] They were found in a great state of disorder, many placed in other's coffins, and several are still unidentified. Other mummies were moved to thetomb ofAmenhotep II, where over a dozen mummies, many of them royal, were later relocated.[100]
During the laterThird Intermediate Period and later periods, intrusive burials were introduced into many of the open tombs. InCoptic times, some of the tombs were used as churches, stables, and even houses.[21]
The majority of the 65 numbered tombs in the Valley of the Kings can be considered as minor tombs, either because at present they have yielded little information or because the results of their investigations were only poorly recorded by their explorers. Some have received very little attention or were only cursorily noted. Most of these tombs are small, often consisting of only a single burial chamber accessed by a shaft or staircase with a corridor or a series of corridors leading to the chamber.
Nonetheless, some are larger, multiple-chambered tombs. These minor tombs served various purposes: some were intended for burials of lesser royalty or private burials, some contained animal burials, and others apparently never received a primary burial. In many cases these tombs also served secondary functions, and later intrusive material has been found related to these secondary activities. While some of these tombs have been open since antiquity, the majority were discovered in the 19th and early 20th centuries during the height of exploration in the valley.
Almost all tombs throughout Egypt have been robbed.[101] Severalpapyri have been found that describe the trials of tomb robbers. These date mostly from the late Twentieth Dynasty. One of these, Papyrus Mayer B, describes the robbery of the tomb ofRamesses VI and was probably written during year eight or nine ofRamesses X, around 1118 BC.[102] Papyrus BM 10053 from Year 17 ofRamesses IX records that 8 of the workmen ofDeir el-Medina had "been apprehended by the local authorities somewhere within the west Theban necropolis, and [were] duly escorted across the river to the main city of Thebes." The workmen were interrogated for robbing a royal tomb--that of QueenIsis,Ramesses III's chief royal wife. They then disappear from history and were presumably executed byimpalement for their crimes.[103]
Papyrus Mayer B. The script is the common hieratic of the 20th Dynasty and consists of 14 lines of writing. It records theft in the tomb of Ramesses VI.
The foreigner Nesamun took us up and showed us the tomb of King Ramesses VI ... And I spent four days breaking into it, we being present all five. We opened the tomb and entered it. ... We found a cauldron of bronze, three wash bowls of bronze ...[104]
Confessing to their crimes, the thief goes on to add that a small quarrel arose amongst the robbers when it came to equally dividing the spoils collected from the tomb.
Tombs were filled with valuables, therefore a prime motivation to rob them. Thieves often looted the chambers and bodies of mummies and took with them precious metals and stones, the most common gold and silver, linens and ointments or unguents. Often tombs were robbed when they were still fresh because many of the valuables buried with the mummies were perishable.[105]
The valley also seems to have suffered an official plundering during thevirtual civil war, which started during the reign ofRamesses XI. The tombs were opened, all the valuables were removed, and the mummies were collected into two large caches. One in the tomb ofAmenhotep II, contained sixteen mummies, and others were hidden withinAmenhotep I's tomb. A few years later most of them were moved to theDeir el-Bahari cache, containing no fewer than forty royal mummies and their coffins.[106] Only tombs whose locations were lost (KV62,KV63 andKV46, although both KV62 and KV46 were robbed soon after their actual closure)[107] were undisturbed during this period.
Tombs were ransacked for their valuables but also for their original primary purpose. Once robbed, an empty tomb could be used as a burial place for another mummy, which is exactly what happened in the smallest of the pyramids of Giza.[108]
Most of the tombs are not open to the public (18 of the tombs can be opened, but they are rarely open at the same time), and officials occasionally close those that are open for restoration work.[109] The number of visitors to KV62 has led to a separate charge for entry into the tomb. The West Valley has only one open tomb – that of Ay – and a separate ticket is needed to visit this tomb.[55][110] The tour guides are no longer allowed to lecture inside the tombs, and visitors are expected to proceed quietly and in single file through the tombs. This is to minimize time in the tombs and prevent the crowds from damaging the surfaces of the decoration.[111]
On most days of the week an average of 4,000 to 5,000 tourists visit the main valley. The West Valley is much less visited, as there is only one tomb that is open to the public.[55]
^Richard H. Wilkinson; Kent Weeks (2016).The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings. Oxford U. p. 24.ISBN978-0-19-049399-8.[A side valley of the West Valley was called theVallée du gardien Khaouy] The main part of the West Valley continues to the left and is calledBibân el-Gurud,Les Portes des Singes, or "TheValley of the Monkeys," a scene inKV 23.
^Altenmüller, Hartwig (2001). "The Tomb of Tausert and Setnakht". In Weeks, Kent R. (ed.).Valley of the Kings: The Tombs and Funerary Temples of Thebes West. VMB Publishers. pp. 222–231.ISBN978-88-540-0976-9.
Strudwick, Nigel; Helen Strudwick (1999).Thebes in Egypt. Cornell University.ISBN0-8014-8616-5.
Weeks, Kent R. (2001).Valley of the Kings. Friedman/Fairfax.ISBN88-8095-712-0. – Spectacular photography of the best tombs
Weeks, Kent R. (2000).KV 5: A Preliminary Report on the Excavation of the Tomb of the Sons of Ramesses II in the Valley of the Kings. Cairo: American University Press.ISBN977-424-574-1.
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