From 1500BC on the pharaohs realized they needed to hide their tombs from robbers. They learn their lesson from the Great Pyramids!
However, they still weren't successful. In the Valley of the Kings are 62 burial chambers of all the subsequent kings to Tuthmosis I, and all but 3 had been broken into by thieves, the most famous being King Tutankhamun.
Indeed, they found another tomb in 2006, not of a king, for they have all been accounted for, but probably of a high priest.
Sorting through artifacts
And, as recently as last week, they uncovered another possible entrance to a tomb.
This is right out of the movie, "The Mummy"! And Caltrans was there, they had numerous supervisors.
We were able to go into three tombs. Our guide, Heba chose which three. Cameras are not allowed in the tombs, so no pictures. Indeed what we saw were plastered walls with innumerable hieroglyphics, and many, many people. Some tombs were immense and very elaborate, others quite small. The size depended on the length the King ruled. The only exception was a king that ruled only a few years but his tomb was the largest of all 62. Reason: he put all of his energy and time into his own tomb and built no palaces for himself or his gods.
Here is Heba explaining all to our little group. On the right is Laura, the student from NYU, and Mindy, a microbiologist from Indianapolis who joined us for the day. Oh, Heba has a four year degree in Egyptology and is getting married in March.
