The Valley of the Kings

The earliest references we have to modern European visitors in the Valley of the Kings date to the eighteenth century. Early maps, such as that drawn by the scholars who accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte's 1799 expedition to Egypt, or those of Giovanni Belzoni (1818) and John Gardner Wilkinson a decade later, indicate that about twenty-five tombs were accessible since ancient times. Wilkinson was able to see twenty-one tombs and he numbered them in geographic order from the entrance of the Valley southward, then toward the east. Since then, tombs have been numbered in the order of their discovery, KV 64, an unnamed tomb containing the burial of a Chantress (singer) of Amun, being the most recent.

Many people have dug in the Valley of the Kings. One of the first was Giovanni Belzoni, who in 1816-17 discovered eight tombs, the most spectacular being KV 17, the tomb of Sety I. In the late nineteenth century, Victor Loret uncovered sixteen tombs, including a cache of royal mummies in KV 35, the tomb of Amenhetep II. From 1902 on, Theodore M. Davis sponsored thirteen seasons of work during which thirty-five tombs were cleared or discovered. One of his excavators was Howard Carter. In 1907, Carter began working with Earl Carnarvon. In 1922, their work led to the discovery of Tutankhamen's intact burial (KV 62), the only virtually intact royal tomb ever found in the Valley.

Apart from projects engaged in copying specific texts or documenting particular tombs, such as the work of Alexander Piankoff in the tomb of Rameses VI, published in 1954,  the Polish epigraphic project in the tomb of Rameses III (KV 11) between 1959 and 1981, the work of Hartvig Altenmüller (KV 14)  and Eric Hornung (KV 17, KV 22 and KV 35) there was relatively little archaeological activity in the Valley from 1922 (when the tomb of Tutankhamen was discovered) until the 1970s. Since the 1970s there was a resurgence of activity. In 1972, a project of the University of Minnesota, directed by Otto Schaden, began work in the West Valley in the tomb of Ay (KV 23).

The Theban Mapping Project, under the direction of Kent Weeks, has worked in the Valley of the Kings since 1980. Its publications include the Atlas of the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the King: a Site Management Handbook in English and Arabic, and reports on the clearing of KV5, the tomb of the sons of Rameses II. A project led by John Romer for the Brooklyn Museum (1978-80) worked in the last royal tomb constructed in the Valley, that of Rameses XI (KV 4). Following documentation in the tomb of Tausert (KV 14) from 1983-1987, Hartwig Altenmüller of the University of Hamburg started excavating the tomb of Bay (KV 13), completing this task in 1994. In 1989, Donald Ryan of Pacific Lutheran University began a re-excavation and recording of several un-inscribed tombs, including KV 21, 27, 28, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, and 60. KV 39, thought by some to be the burial place of Amenhetep I, was excavated by John Rose beginning in 1989. In 1992 and 1993, Lyla Pinch Brock re-examined and carried out conservation in KV 55.

Nicholas Reeves and Geoffrey Martin examined the area between the tombs of Horemheb (KV 57) and Rameses VI (KV 9). The late Edwin Brock studied royal sarcophagi with particular emphasis on the remains in the tombs of  Merenptah (KV 8) and Rameses VI (KV 9), where he reconstructed the inner Sarcophagus. Richard Wilkinson and Kent Weeks edited the Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings (2016) which contains over 30 essays on the development, decoration, symbolism, and history of the KV tombs. An expedition from Waseda University, Tokyo, under the direction of Jiro Kondo cleared, documented, and conserved the tomb of Amenhetep III in the West Valley (KV 22), and the area around it. Zahi Hawass has been clearing areas in both the East and West Valleys of the Kings. A Finnish-Swiss project has cleared and mapped the Village de Repos, a collection of workmen’s huts on the slopes of the Qurn.

There are several archaeological projects currently at work in the Valley of the Kings. Christian Leblanc is clearing and recording the tomb of Rameses II (KV 7) for the CNRS (National Scientific Research Center in France), while across the road, the Theban Mapping Project (TMP) is excavating, recording, and conserving KV 5 (the sons of Rameses II). The tomb of Amenmeses (KV 10) was excavated by the late Otto Schaden, who also discovered KV 63. This work continues under the direction of Salima Ikram. The Ramesses III (KV 11) Publication and Conservation Project, headed by Dr. Anke Weber, has been excavating, documenting, and conserving the tomb of Rameses III (KV 11). Elina Paulin-Grothe and Susanne Bickel direct a project of the Ägyptologische Seminar der Universität Basel, clearing and documenting tomb KV 31, and in the tombs of  Rameses X (KV 18), Siptah (KV 47), and Tia’a (KV32), and the surrounding areas. Andreas Dorn has made a thorough study of the Workmen’s Hunts in the East Valley.