Inside Egypt's SHOCKING Valley of KINGS
The ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for thousands of years,
and throughout this time, we saw countless kings and queens come and go,
but there is one place in Egypt where more of these rulers were mummified and placed
than anywhere else in Egypt, and it’s called the Valley of the Kings, let’s check it out:
The Valley of the Kings was strategically placed near the city of Thebes in Egypt, which was once
the capital of the ancient Egyptian civilization. It’s located in a valley between the Theban Hills
west of the Nile. This region of Egypt was home to some of the most significant religious
sites and temples in Egyptian history and was considered a center of pilgrimage and learning.
From 1539 BC to 1075 BC, during the ‘New Kingdom’ era of Ancient Egypt, this was the main burial
site for Egyptian royals and their families (and sometimes, close aides). The royals chose this
location for their burial not just because of the religious significance of this region, but also
because they were concerned about grave robbers in ancient Egypt, and wanted a safe and concealed
place where their tombs wouldn’t be under the constant threat of looting and destruction.
The tombs were carved into the soil of this valley, there was usually a corridor built
that would lead to a chamber carrying the stone sarcophagus, which itself carried the mummy
of whichever royal was laid to rest there. The chambers usually also carried priceless pieces of
art, treasures, and personal belongings of whoever was buried there. Over 63 tombs have been found in
this valley so far, and archeologists expect to find many more tombs here in the future.
The ‘Valley of the Kings” is actually not what the ancient Egyptians actually called it, the
real name of this valley was actually really long and was called “The Great and Majestic Necropolis
of the Millions of Years of the Pharaoh, Life, Strength, Health in The West of Thebes”.
It was eventually shortened to “Valley of the Kings” by historians who simply didn’t have the
time to say the actual name of the valley. Still, the full name gives us an idea of what the ancient
Egyptians actually thought of this valley’s significance, and how they saw death in general.
Over the course of time, long after the Egyptian civilization had fallen, many of these tombs were
pillaged and robbed. Many tombs were reused by Coptic priests, while others were looted
during the era of Egyptomania in Europe when heightened interest in ancient Egyptian culture
caused European explorers to go to Egypt itself and steal countless historical artifacts. By the
end of the 19th century, practically all of these tombs were empty of their treasures, although many
mummies were still protected and many tombs were still never found, thus safe from the pillaging.
One of the tombs that was, thankfully, saved from the pillaging was the tomb of Tutankhamun,
otherwise known as King Tut. King Tut was the last ruler of the 18th Egyptian dynasty.
King Tut’s rule over Egypt is thought to have been stable and relatively prosperous,
but not much is actually known about his rule. He was often overlooked by historians,
and there wasn’t a lot of interest in studying his rule, thus, there wasn’t even a significant
search for his tomb. It wasn’t until 1922 when archeologists found a tomb that was fully
intact in the Valley of the Kings, and it belonged to none other than King Tut himself.
The tomb of King Tut was located below a workman’s village that was later built on top,
thus, it wasn’t found before. The tomb was actually discovered when archeologist Howard
Carter had gathered a team to find the tomb, and while searching in the general area where
it was thought to be, a local waterboy ended up stumbling across a stone which was later
revealed to be the beginning of a stairway that led directly to the corridor to King Tut’s tomb!
Many doors later, the archeologists finally came across the now-famous sarcophagi of King Tut.
They described the burial chamber as glittering with gold on all corners,
there was art, statues, and all sorts of different items completely made out of gold.
It was unlike anything they had seen before. What was even more interesting is that they
found out the tomb had been breached twice in the past! Yet, whoever breached it never took
out anything valuable. King Tut’s coffin would be opened a few years after this discovery.
Another famous pharaoh to be buried in the Valley of the Kings was actually a Queen.
Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut is often considered to be one of the most powerful women in history,
and also one of the most powerful historical figures of all time.
During her reign, Egypt was at the peak of its political power,
prosperity, and had firmly established itself as a global superpower. Unlike King Tut,
Hatshepsut’s reign was extensively researched, but one thing they never quite found was her tomb.
In 1903, Howard Carter, the same man who discovered King Tut’s tomb, discovered a tomb
that was titled ‘Tomb KV60’. The tomb was a lot more exquisite than any of the other tombs that
had been found in the valley but had been severely ransacked by the time his team got there. None of
the treasures were there, but what they did find was some mummified geese, two female mummies, and
a grand coffin that was found to be empty. None of the female mummies were thought to have been
Hatshepsut, who they were looking for, but one of them was identified as Hatshepsut’s wet nurse.
The mummy was overweight, unusual for non-royals, and had a missing tooth. After not much success,
the tomb was eventually closed, not to be thought of again for decades to come.
It wasn’t until over 100 years later in 2007, on a different location in the Valley of the Kings,
archeologists found the funerary box of Hatshepsut. This is usually the box
where the internal organs of a mummy are placed before they’re mummified, and this box contained
Hatshepsut’s liver, intestines, and one single tooth. Zahi Hawass, who was the archeologist that
led the scan of the box, immediately thought of the missing tooth on the mummy found in Tomb KV60.
He later spent over a year finding the mummy they had completely forgotten about back in
the early 20th century, and when they found the mummy, the missing tooth was a perfect match.
There was no doubt that this was, in fact, Hatshepsut’s mummy. Not only did the tooth match,
but all of the mummy’s characteristics also fit the description of Hatshepsut in her later years.
An overweight woman who died at around 50, there were signs of diabetes and signs of cancer,
both of which Hatshepsut had. There were still some who doubted it was actually Hatshepsut,
but the overall consensus seems to be that it was.
Most of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings are not open to the public. Even some of the
tombs that were found mostly intact have been stripped of most of their artifacts, in order to
better preserve them in museums rather than in the harsh conditions present in the valley. However,
as Egypt saw a rapid decline in tourism in the past decade mainly due to political instability,
the Egyptian government is now looking towards creating more tourist attractions in the country,
and the Valley of the Kings may be turned into a new “hub” of tourism for Egypt.
There are some plans on converting the valley into a massive tourist attraction and to restore
some of the tombs to how they initially were, but so far, these are just plans and
such a project would interfere with a lot of the archeological excavations going on in the valley.
The Valley of the Kings is not the only “royal valley” found in Egypt.
There is another valley called the “Valley of the Queens” located in a nearby location.
In ancient Egypt, this location was called “The Place of Beauty”, and it was where many wives
of the pharaohs were buried instead of the Valley of the Kings. There have been over 91 tombs found
in the main valley, and over 19 tombs found in a secondary valley connected to it, and all of
these tombs date back to the times of the 18th Egyptian dynasty during the New Kingdom. Many of
the most famous consorts in Egyptian history are buried here, although not all of them are named
and they’re not nearly as “grand” as their male counterparts. The reason why Hatshepsut was not
buried here is that she wasn’t just a queen, but the ruler of Egypt. She had adopted many
male traits, dressed up like a male pharaoh, and even wore a fake beard during her rule of Egypt.
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