Archaeologists have found a grave of Pharaoh in an Egyptian valley west of Luxor, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced this week in what officials called the first excavation of a royal tomb from the Tutaghamos burial one century.
The newly acquired tomb belonged to Thutmose II, who is believed to reign around 1480 BC. He was “the last one missing a royal tomb of the 18th dynasty,” the Egyptian ministry said in a statement.
The excavation was a common work by Egyptian and British researchers who began in 2022, when the entrance and the main corridor of the tomb were found.
Archaeologists initially believed that the tomb belonged to a royal wife because of his position near the burials of the royal wives and Hatshepsut, a queen who took the throne for herself after the death of Thutmose II.
The tomb was also in an unlikely place for the burial of a king: under two waterfalls and at the bottom of a slope, during the much more fluid conditions of the 15th century BC.
But the evidence from the grave showed that it was actually constructed for a king, including the fragments of Alabaster vases called Thutmose II as “deceased king”, and inscriptions called hatshepsut. Part of the ceiling was still intact, showing blue with yellow stars in it, which archaeologists stated that they were found only in the king’s graves.
“Sometimes discoveries are made, but only later their true meaning becomes clear with additional exploration,” said Peter Der Manuelian, a professor of Egyptian in Harvard, who did not participate in the excavation.
He noted a similar case when, a few decades ago, a tomb in the valley of the kings proved to be “greater and more unusual than he had previously realized”. It turned out to be built for the many sons of Ramses II, one of the strongest Pharaohs in ancient Egypt.
Thutmose II, Professor Manuelian, said: “He lived during an exciting period of Egyptian history: the imperialist and cosmopolitan 18th dynasty.” His reign was perhaps overshadowed by those of his father, his son and his queen, who ruled for almost 20 years and built an important temple and grave for herself.
“We are still trying to understand the means and outs of this time,” said Professor Manuelian, “and a new grave will undoubtedly provide us with additional indications.”
Despite the ministry’s claim that this was the first such discovery since 1922, not everyone will agree: Archaeologists said they found the graves of Pharaoh in 1940 and 2014. A member of the recent research team did not immediately answer questions seeking clarification.
However, the Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mohamed Ismail Khaled, described the finding as one of the most important for decades. “This is the first time that the levels of burial furniture belonged to Thutmose II have been discovered,” he said in a statement.
However, unlike the tomb of Tutrochamos, whose chambers were found full of artifacts during a 1922 excavation, Thutmose II’s tomb had been evacuated.
Archaeologists believe it was flooded shortly after the king’s death and that his content was transferred to another location. (The mummified remains of Thutmose II were found in Deir El-Bahari, a cemetery complex in the 19th century.)
“The damage to water caused a serious deterioration, leading to the loss of many original content, which are believed to have been transferred during ancient times,” according to Mohamed Abdel Badie, head of the Egyptian side of the archaeological mission.
He said archaeologists were able to restore parts of the fallen plaster “decorated with complex designs, including blue inscriptions, yellow stars and elements of Amduat’s book, a basic religious text used in royal tombs”.
