The Valley of the Kings was the royal
cemetery for 62 Pharaohs. It is located on the west bank of Luxor. The only
entry to this place was a long narrow winding entrance. This was a secret 
place,
where sentries were placed at the entrance of the Valley in the hopes of
discouraging tomb robbers who had in the past plundered all royal tombs
including the treasures of the Pyramids. Some thefts were probably carefully
planned. But others were spur of the moment, as when an earlier tomb was
accidentally discovered while cutting a new one and workmen took advantage of
the opportunity. This may have happened when KV 46 was found during the cutting
of KV 4 or KV 3 nearby. There are 62 tombs in the Valley, where they range from
a simple pit (as KV 54) to a tomb with over 121 chambers and corridors (as KV 5)
The present numbering system for the sixty-two tombs in the Valley of the Kings was first established by John Gardiner
Wilkinson in 1827 as part of his preparation of a map of Thebes. Wilkinson painted the numbers 1 through 21 at the entrances of the tombs that were then visible. The numbers were assigned geographically, from the entrance to the Valley southward. Since Wilkinson's day,
tomb numbers have been assigned in chronological order of discovery,
KV
62 (Tutankhamen)
being the most recent. Wilkinson's is not the only system of tomb designation
that has been used in the Valley.
Several explorers assigned numbers, letters or descriptive labels to the tombs, as the accompanying chart indicates, but Wilkinson's is the only system still in use. There are two main wings to the Valley of the Kings -west and east, your will find that eastern side has most of the tombs, the western part you will find tombs of Amenhotep III and Ay.
The earliest known tomb of the New Kingdom within the Valley of the Kings is that of Thutmoses I who started to use the place as a royal burial site. It is located in a dissolute valley that is supposed to add greater protection as it was small enough to be closely guarded, and the good quality of stones gave the ancient Egyptians the chance to cut many tombs close to each other. Most were found already plundered. A few, like the tomb of Tutankhamen (KV 62) or that of Yuya and Thuyu (KV 46), contained thousands of precious artifacts. Some tombs have been accessible since antiquity, as Greek and Latin graffiti attest. Some were used as dwellings or as a church during the Greco-Roman and Byzantine Periods. Others have been discovered only in the past two hundred years.
Some, like KV 5, had been "lost," and their location rediscovered only recentlly by the the very well know Egyptologist Kent Weeks, who is still working in the valley in other projects , Mr weeks spent more than 6 years exploring and trying to uncover the secrets of this massive tomb. So far KV5 is considered to be the largest tomb ever found in the valley.
|
KENT weeks Working on another project in the valley |
I met professor Kent during my last tour . |
There are several archaeological projects currently at work in the Valley of the Kings.
To visit the valley of the kings you should be aware of the following :
Your entrance ticket to the valley costs 20LE ( ticket office is near by the colossi of memnon) you cna buy the ticket at the entrance ot the valley and this ticket gives you an access of three tombs at you own choice . you can take your camera with you inside the valley area but you are not allowed to use it in side the tombs, Simply can can take only picutre from the outside but not inside
Video camera are not allowed into any of the tombs of the valley, you will have to check in your video camera at the entrance.
If you wish to go inside the tomb of king TUT, it requires an extra ticket (40LE).
An advice for the best tombs to visit:
Tomb of Thutmose KV 34 it has full details of the book of the dead, and represents the standard form for Eighteenth Dynasty royal tombs.( closed now )
Tomb of Mernpatah, KV 8 the largest and the biggest in the valley.( closed now )
Tomb of Amenhotep II KV35 where is the best representation of the book of the dead (closed now )
Tomb of Ramsis IX , KV 6 , it had very fine relief and very elegant ceiling with the scenes of goddess nut goddess of the sky .
Tomb of Ramisis IX
in your way to the ennner side of the valley if you look to your left you see a sketch plane of KV 5, the latest tomb re-discovered in the valley (re- excavated at 1995, was proved to be the largest tomb in the valley , it contains 105 rooms and is believed to be built for the children of Ramsis II.
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