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 The Discovery of Tut’s Tomb
During ancient times, the royal house hired special police to protect the Valley of the Kings. These men were relatively effective until the late New Kingdom, when, despite their best efforts, the royal tombs were at first randomly and then systematically violated.
The Robbery and Rescue of Tut’s Tomb
Thieves invaded Tutankhamun’s tomb fairly soon after his burial, but they were caught in the act. Official inspectors hastily reorganized the contents and then resealed the tomb.
Shortly thereafter, workmen constructing the nearby tomb of another pharaoh built their huts over the young king’s place of burial, thus obscuring it. Later flooding in the area erased any evidence of its existence. Tutankhamun’s tomb would remain hidden for more than three thousand years.
 Early Explorations of the Valley of the Kings
The first historical record of burial discoveries in the Valley of the Kings comes from a Jesuit priest, who found ten royal tombs already open in 1708. Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt in 1799 recorded the wall paintings and reliefs found in these tombs.
With the cracking of the hieroglyphic code in 1822 by Jean-François Champollion, the field of Egyptology was born. Hordes of Europeans and Americans pillaged the land, carrying off everything they could find.
The First Discoveries of 18th Dynasty Tombs
In 1871, an Egyptian stumbled across a hidden cache that contained many of the most famous kings of the New Kingdom. A second cache found in 1898 held the mummies of many 18th Dynasty Pharaohs, including Amenhotep II, likely Tutankhamun’s great, great grandfather.
Continue to Howard Carter’s Arrival. >>
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