Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings is a royal necropolis on the west bank of the Nile near Luxor in Upper Egypt, containing 62 documented rock-cut tombs excavated for pharaohs and nobles of the 18th through 20th Dynasties (c. 1539-1075 BC). Designed for concealment unlike the earlier pyramids, the tombs feature elaborate painted scenes from funerary texts to guide pharaohs into the afterlife. Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun's nearly intact tomb, with its golden death mask and thousands of artefacts, remains one of archaeology's greatest finds. The valley was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 as part of ancient Thebes.