Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings, also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings, is an area in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Twentieth Dynasty, rock-cut tombs were excavated for pharaohs and powerful nobles under the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt [1]. It is a wadi sitting on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes and within the heart of the Theban Necropolis [1]. With the 2005 discovery of a new chamber and the 2008 discovery of two further tomb entrances, the Valley of the Kings is known to contain 65 tombs and chambers, ranging in size from the simple pit that is KV54 to the complex tomb that is KV5 [1]. It was the principal burial place for the New Kingdom's major royal figures as well as a number of privileged nobles [1]. The royal tombs are decorated with traditional scenes from Egyptian mythology and reveal clues to the period's funerary practices and afterlife beliefs [1]. The Valley of the Kings garnered significant attention following the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 [1].