What is the Valley of Kings in ancient Egypt?
The Valley of the Kings is the burial ground for many important kings of ancient Egypt. It was founded by the third XVIIIth Dynasty king, Tuthmosis, who kept adding glory to ancient Egypt. Kings had nice tombs, with all their important belongings, located next to their mortuary temples.
What is the Valley of the Kings known for?
royal tombs
The Valley of the Kings is famous for its royal tombs. These beautifully painted tombs have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. For over a thousand years, the kings, queens and nobles of the New Kingdom (1500-1070 B.C.) were buried in this valley, which is the world’s most magnificent burial ground.
How old is the Valley of the Kings in Egypt?
The Valley was used for primary burials from approximately 1539 BC to 1075 BC. It contains at least 63 tombs, beginning with Thutmose I (or possibly earlier, during the reign of Amenhotep I) and ending with Ramesses X or XI, although non-royal burials continued in usurped tombs.
What is the size of the Valley of the Kings?
The Valley of the Kings refers to the sloping cliffs above the western floodplain, where the bodies of the pharaohs were laid to rest in tombs cut deep into the rock. These tombs range in size from single chamber burials to massive complexes spanning several thousand square meters.
What is buried in the Valley of the Kings?
The first Pharaoh to be buried in the Valley of the Kings was Tuthmosis I. Over the next 500 years many more Pharaohs were buried here including many of the Rameses (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, IX, X), Hatshepsut, Amenhotep I, and Tutankhamun. Today tourists can visit many of the tombs including Tutankhamun’s.
Why was Tutankhamun’s tomb not robbed?
The only reason Tutankhamun’s tomb remained relatively intact (it was actually broken into twice in antiquity and robbed) was that it was accidentally buried by the ancient workers who built the tomb of Ramesses VI (1145-1137 BCE) nearby.
Are there still hidden tombs in Egypt?
All in all, of the tombs of more than 200 pharaohs known to have ruled Egypt from the 1st Dynasty to the end of the Ptolemaic Period, approximately half have yet to be found. No further royal tombs have been discovered in the Valley since.
Who is buried in the Valley of Kings?
During Egypt’s New Kingdom (1539-1075 B.C.), the valley became a royal burial ground for pharaohs such as Tutankhamun, Seti I, and Ramses II, as well as queens, high priests, and other elites of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties.
What was in the first coffin?
Early tombs were considered the eternal dwelling places of the deceased, and the earliest coffins resembled miniature homes in appearance. They were made of small pieces of local wood doweled together. The inside floor of the coffin was painted with Nut, Isis, Osiris, or the Djed pillar (Osiris’s backbone).
Where is King Tut’s mummy?
tomb in the Valley of the Kings
Today the most fragile artifacts, including the burial mask, no longer leave Egypt. Tutankhamun’s mummy remains on display within the tomb in the Valley of the Kings in the KV62 chamber, his layered coffins replaced with a climate-controlled glass box.
Was Nefertiti’s tomb ever found?
Her tomb in the Valley of the Kings has never been found. The team detected a long space in the bedrock a few metres to the east, at the same depth as Tutankhamun’s burial chamber and running parallel to the tomb’s entrance corridor. The space appears to be around 2 metres high and at least 10 metres long.
Where is King Tut’s mummy today?
Today the most fragile artifacts, including the burial mask, no longer leave Egypt. Tutankhamun’s mummy remains on display within the tomb in the Valley of the Kings in the KV62 chamber, his layered coffins replaced with a climate-controlled glass box.