Location The earliest tombs were located in cliffs at the top of
scree slopes, under storm-fed waterfalls (
KV34 and
KV43). to the burial chamber. In the earlier tombs, the corridors turn 90 degrees at least once (such as
KV43, the tomb of
Thutmose IV), and the earliest ones had
cartouche-shaped burial chambers (for example,
KV43, the tomb of
Thutmose IV). This layout is known as "Bent Axis", After the burial, the upper corridors were meant to be filled with rubble and the entrance to the tomb hidden. After the
Amarna Period, the layout gradually straightened, with an intermediate "Jogged Axis" (the tomb of
Horemheb,
KV57 is typical of this layout and is one of the tombs that is sometimes open to the public), to the generally "Straight Axis" of the late Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasty tombs (
Ramesses III's and
Ramesses IX's tombs,
KV11 and
KV6 respectively). As the tombs' axes straightened, the slopes also lessened. They almost disappeared in the late Twentieth Dynasty. Another feature that is common to most tombs is the "well", which may have originated as an actual barrier intended to stop flood waters from entering the lower parts of the tomb. It seems to have developed a "magical" purpose later as a symbolic shaft.
Decoration The majority of the royal tombs were decorated with religious texts and images. The early tombs were decorated with scenes from
Amduat ('That Which is in the Underworld'), which describes the journey of the sun god through the twelve hours of the night. From the time of Horemheb, tombs were decorated with the
Book of Gates, which shows the sun god passing through the twelve gates that divide the nighttime and ensures the tomb owner's own safe passage through the night. The burial of Ramesses III saw the
Book of the Earth, where the underworld is divided into four sections, climaxing in the sun disc being pulled from the earth by
Naunet. The ceilings of the burial chambers were decorated (from the burial of Seti I onwards) with what became formalised as the
Book of the Heavens, which again describes the sun's journey through the twelve hours of night. Again from Seti I's time, the
Litany of Re, a lengthy hymn to the sun god began to appear.
Tomb numbering The modern abbreviation "KV" stands for "Kings' Valley". In 1827, Wilkinson painted KV numbers over the entrances to the 21 tombs that lay open in the East Valley at that time, beginning at the valley entrance and moving southward, and labeled four tombs in the West Valley as WV1 through WV4. The tombs in the West Valley were later incorporated into the East Valley numbering system as
WV22 through
WV25, and tombs that have been opened since Wilkinson's time have been added to the list. The numbers range from
KV1 (Rameses VII) to
KV64 (discovered in 2011). Since the early 19th century AD, antiquarians and archaeologists have cleared and recorded tombs, with a total of 61 sepulchers being known by the start of the 20th century.
KV5 was only rediscovered in the 1990s after being dismissed as unimportant by previous investigators. Some of the tombs have ambiguous burial contexts, others remain unidentifiable as regards their owners, and still others appear to be unfinished, reused, or of unknown function.
Eighteenth Dynasty The Eighteenth Dynasty tombs within the valley vary quite a bit in decoration, style, and location. It seems that at first there was no fixed plan. The
tomb of
Hatshepsut has a unique shape, twisting and turning down over 200 metres from the entrance, so that the burial chamber is 97 metres below the surface. The tombs gradually became more regular and formalised, and those of
Thutmose III and
Thutmose IV,
KV34 and
KV43, are good examples of Eighteenth Dynasty tombs, both with their bent axis, and simple decoration. Perhaps the most imposing tomb of this period is that of
Amenhotep III,
WV22, located in the West Valley. It was re-investigated in the 1990s by a team from
Waseda University,
Japan, but it is not open to the public. At the same time, powerful and influential nobles began to be buried with the royal family; the most famous of these tombs is the joint tomb of
Yuya and
Tjuyu,
KV46. They were possibly the parents of Queen
Tiy. Until the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, this was the best-preserved of the tombs that had been discovered in the Valley.
Amarna Period The return of royal burials to Thebes after the end of the
Amarna Period marks a change to the layout of royal burials, with the intermediate 'jogged axis' gradually giving way to the 'straight axis' of later dynasties. In the Western Valley, there is a tomb commencement that is thought to have been started for
Akhenaten, but it is no more than a gateway and a series of steps. The tomb of
Ay,
Tutankhamun's successor is close by. It is likely that this tomb was started for Tutankhamun (its decoration is of a similar style), but later usurped for Ay's burial. This would mean that
KV62 may have been Ay's original tomb, which would explain the smaller size and unusual layout for a royal tomb. The other Amarna Period tombs are located in a smaller, central area in the centre of the East Valley, with a possible mummy cache (
KV55) that may contain the burials of several Amarna Period royals –
Tiy and
Smenkhkare or
Akhenaten. In close proximity is the burial of Tutankhamun, perhaps the most famous discovery of modern Western
archaeology. It was discovered by
Howard Carter on 4 November 1922, with clearance and conservation work continuing until 1932. This was the first royal tomb to be discovered that was still largely intact, although tomb robbers had entered. Until the excavation of
KV63 on 10 March 2005, it was considered the last major discovery in the valley. The opulence of his grave goods notwithstanding,
Tutankhamun was a relatively minor king, and other burials probably had more numerous treasures. In the same central area as KV62 and KV63, is
"KV64", a radar anomaly believed to be a tomb or chamber announced on 28 July 2006. It was not an official designation, and the actual existence of a tomb at all was dismissed by the
Supreme Council of Antiquities, prior to finally excavating and describing it during 2011–2012. The nearby tomb of
Horemheb, (
KV57) is rarely open to visitors, but it has many unique features and is extensively decorated. The decoration shows a transition from the pre-Amarna tombs to those of the 19th dynasty tombs that followed.
Nineteenth Dynasty The Nineteenth Dynasty saw a further standardisation of tomb layout and decoration. The tomb of the first king of the dynasty,
Ramesses I, was hurriedly finished due to the early death of the king and is little more than a truncated descending corridor and a burial chamber. However,
KV16 has vibrant decoration and still contains the
sarcophagus of the king. Its central location makes it one of the more frequently visited tombs. It shows the development of the tomb entrance and passage and of decoration. His son and successor,
Seti I's tomb
KV17 (also known as ''Belzoni's tomb
, the tomb of Apis
, or the tomb of Psammis, son of Necho''), is usually regarded as the finest tomb in the valley. It has extensive relief work and paintings. When it was rediscovered by Belzoni in 1817, he referred to it as "a fortunate day." The son of Seti,
Ramesses II (Ramesses the Great), constructed a massive tomb,
KV7, but it is in a ruinous state. It is currently undergoing excavation and conservation by a Franco-Egyptian team led by
Christian Leblanc. The tomb is vast in size, about the same length, and a larger area, of the tomb of his father. 's stone sarcophagus in
KV8 At the same time, and just opposite his own tomb, Ramesses enlarged the earlier small tomb of an unknown Eighteenth Dynasty noble (
KV5) for his numerous sons. With 120 known rooms, and excavation work still underway, it is probably the largest tomb in the valley. Originally opened (and robbed) in antiquity, it is a low-lying structure that has been particularly prone to the flash floods that sometimes hit the area. Tonnes of debris and material has washed in over the centuries, ultimately concealing its vast size. It is not currently open to the public. Ramesses II's son and eventual successor,
Merenptah's
tomb has been open since antiquity; it extends 160 metres, ending in a burial chamber that once contained a set of four nested
sarcophagi. Well decorated, it is typically open to the public most years. The last kings of the dynasty also constructed tombs in the valley, all of which follow the same general pattern of layout and decoration. Notable amongst these is the
tomb of
Siptah, which is well decorated, especially the ceiling.
Twentieth Dynasty and
Setnakhte, KV14; scenes from the Book of Caverns are depicted on the far wall The first ruler of the dynasty,
Setnakhte, had two tombs constructed for himself. He started excavating the eventual tomb of his son,
Ramesses III, but abandoned that dig when it unintentionally broke into another tomb. He then usurped and completed the tomb of the Nineteenth Dynasty female pharaoh,
Twosret,
KV14. Therefore, this tomb has two burial chambers, the later extensions making this one of the largest of the Royal tombs, at over 150 metres. KV11 was later restarted and extended and on a different axis for Ramesses III. , KV11 The tomb of
Ramesses III (
KV11, known as ''Bruce's Tomb or The Harper's Tomb'' due to its decoration) is one of the largest tombs in the valley and is open to the public. It is located close to the central 'rest–area', and its location and superb decoration make this one of the tombs most visited by tourists. The successors and offspring of
Ramesses III constructed tombs that had straight axes. They all had similar decorations. Notable amongst these is
KV2, the tomb of
Ramesses IV, which has been open since antiquity, containing a large amount of
hieratic graffiti. The tomb is mostly intact and is decorated with scenes from several religious texts. The joint tomb of
Ramesses V and
Ramesses VI,
KV9 (also known as the
Tomb of Memnon or
La Tombe de la Métempsychose) is decorated with many sunk-relief carvings, depicting illustrated scenes from religious texts. Open since antiquity, it contains over a thousand examples of graffiti written in ancient Greek, Latin and Coptic. The spoil from the excavation and later clearance of this tomb, together with later construction of workers huts, covered the earlier burial of KV62 and seems to have been what protected that tomb from earlier discovery and looting. , KV6 The tomb of
Ramesses IX,
KV6, has been open since antiquity, as can be seen by the graffiti left on its walls by Roman and Coptic visitors. Located in the central part of the valley, it is between and slightly above KV5 and KV55. The tomb extends a total distance of 105 metres into the hillside, including extensive side chambers that were neither decorated nor finished. The hasty and incomplete nature of the rock-cutting and decorations (it is only decorated for a little over half its length) within the tomb indicate that the tomb was not completed by the time of Ramesses' death, with the completed hall of pillars serving as the burial chamber. Another notable tomb from this dynasty is
KV19, the tomb of
Mentuherkhepshef (son of
Ramesses IX). This small tomb is simply a converted, unfinished corridor, but the decoration is extensive. The tomb has been newly restored and opened for visitors.
Twenty-first Dynasty and the decline of the necropolis By the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt had entered a long period of political and economic decline. The priests at Thebes grew more powerful, and they effectively administered Upper Egypt, while kings ruling from
Tanis controlled Lower Egypt. Some attempt at using the open tombs was made at the start of the
Twenty-first Dynasty, with the
High Priest of Amun,
Pinedjem I, adding his cartouche to
KV4. The Valley began to be heavily plundered, so during the Twenty-first Dynasty the priests of
Amun opened most of the tombs and moved the mummies into three tombs in order to better protect them. Most of the treasure was removed from the tombs. Most of these were later moved to a single cache near
Deir el-Bahari (known as
TT320). Located in the cliffs overlooking the
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, this mass reburial contained a large number of royal mummies. They were found in a great state of disorder, many placed in other's coffins, and several are still unidentified. Other mummies were moved to the
tomb of
Amenhotep II, where over a dozen mummies, many of them royal, were later relocated. During the later
Third Intermediate Period and later periods, intrusive burials were introduced into many of the open tombs. In
Coptic times, some of the tombs were used as churches, stables, and even houses. Several
papyri have been found that describe the trials of tomb robbers. These date mostly from the late Twentieth Dynasty. One of these, Papyrus Mayer B, describes the robbery of the tomb of
Ramesses VI and was probably written during year eight or nine of
Ramesses X, around 1118 BC. Papyrus BM 10053 from Year 17 of
Ramesses IX records that 8 of the workmen of
Deir el-Medina had "been apprehended by the local authorities somewhere within the west Theban necropolis, and [were] duly escorted across the river to the main city of Thebes." The workmen were interrogated for robbing a royal tomb--that of Queen
Isis,
Ramesses III's chief royal wife. They then disappear from history and were presumably executed by
impalement for their crimes. The foreigner Nesamun took us up and showed us the tomb of King Ramesses VI ... And I spent four days breaking into it, we being present all five. We opened the tomb and entered it. ... We found a cauldron of bronze, three wash bowls of bronze ... Confessing to their crimes, the thief goes on to add that a small quarrel arose amongst the robbers when it came to equally dividing the spoils collected from the tomb. Tombs were filled with valuables, therefore a prime motivation to rob them. Thieves often looted the chambers and bodies of mummies and took with them precious metals and stones, the most common gold and silver, linens and ointments or unguents. Often tombs were robbed when they were still fresh because many of the valuables buried with the mummies were perishable. The valley also seems to have suffered an official plundering during the
virtual civil war, which started during the reign of
Ramesses XI. The tombs were opened, all the valuables were removed, and the mummies were collected into two large caches. One in the tomb of
Amenhotep II, contained sixteen mummies, and others were hidden within
Amenhotep I's tomb. A few years later most of them were moved to the
Deir el-Bahari cache, containing no fewer than forty royal mummies and their coffins. Only tombs whose locations were lost (
KV62,
KV63,
KV46 and
KV54, although both KV62 and KV46 were robbed soon after their actual closure) were undisturbed during this period. Tombs were ransacked for their valuables but also for their original primary purpose. Once robbed, an empty tomb could be used as a burial place for another mummy, which is exactly what happened in the smallest of the pyramids of Giza. == Tourism ==