Egyptologists have discovered the first tomb of a pharaoh since that of the Boy-King Tutankhamun was uncovered in 1922.
It is the tomb of Thutmose II.
His tomb is the last royal tomb of the 18th Egyptian dynasty to be uncovered, located in the Western Valleys of the Theban Necropolis in proximity to Luxor, rather farther from the Valley of the Kings than anticipated and typically associated with royal women than pharaohs.
No other pharaoh has been found since 1922, although the British-Egyptian team (from the New Kingdom Research Foundation and Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry) excavated 54 tombs in the Theban mountain, thus establishing the identities of approximately 30 royal waives and court ladies.
But only pharaohs have decorated tombs, actually. The ceiling in Thutmose II’s room was intact, and is, in the classical style for a pharaoh, painted blue like the sky, with gold stars.
It is also adorned with scenes from the Admduat, a religious text reserved for pharaohs.
Alabaster jars showed the names of Thuthmose II and Hapshepsut.
Thuthmose II is an ancestor of Tutankhamun and the husband of the famous Queen Hatshepsut.
Field direction Dr. Piers Litherland described the emotional overwhelm of the surprise that lay beneath the earth, confessing that he burst into tears when emerging to light.
Up to now, we didn’t know where exactly the tombs of early 18th dynasty kings were located — although the mummy of Thuthmose II was found 200 years ago.
Dr Litherland said the discovery solved the mystery of where the tombs of early 18th dynasty kings are located.
Researchers found Thutmose II’s mummified remains two centuries ago but its original burial site had never been located. Thus, the tomb was entirely empty, because it had been built under a waterfall and therefore had been moved, just a few years after the burial.
The team expected grandeur from the first, uncovering the “large staircase and a very large descending corridor” — which was blocked by flood debris and collapsed ceilings. They managed to crawl in through a passageway.
