Egypt announces the first discovery of the royal grave since King Tutankhamun was found more than a century ago

Egyptian officials announced on Tuesday the discovery of King Thutmose II’s tomb, the last of the lost tombs of the Kings of the ancient Egypt, the eighteenth dynasty, which reigned for more than two centuries between about 1550 BC and 1292 BC. Kr. It is the first royal Egyptian tomb to be discovered since the last resting place of King Tutankamun was found in 1922.

The common archeological mission of the Egyptian British mission revealed the Tomb of Thutmose II in the hill of you, west of Luxor and the famous valley of the kings. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, who announced, said that the evidence was revealed, which clearly indicated that it was the tomb of King Thutmose II during the excavation of what was previously known only as a grave no. C4.

The entrance and the main passage to the structure were discovered in 2022, and the internal excavations have since raised carefully.

Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary General of Egypt of the Supreme Council for Antiquity, said when the mission found the entrance to the grave and his main excerpt three years ago, the team believed that he could belong to one of the women of the kings, given the proximity of the tomb of King Thutmose’s wife Thutmos III and the proximity of the tomb Queen Hatshepsutwho was prepared for her as a royal woman before becoming the ruler of the ancient kingdom. In the end, she was buried in the valley of the kings, because of her climb to the throne.

As the excavations and testing of artifacts continued, the mission found new evidence that identified the owner of the mysterious tomb as King Thutmose II, suggesting that his funeral rituals were performed by Queen Hatshepsut, who was his wife and half -sister.

Khaled said that parts of Alabaster found in ruins have inscriptions that carry the name of King Thutmose II and identify him as a “late king”, along with his wife’s name, Hatshepsut, for whom he said he helped confirm Thutmose II as the owner of the tomb .

He described the discovery as one of the most important archeological finds in recent years. The artifacts discovered are important additions to knowledge around the history of the area and reign of King Thutmose II.

King Thutmose II’s mom was discovered during the 19th century, not far from another archeological site known as the Kashika Deir El-Bahari, to which it was probably moved for centuries after being robbed by the tomb, he states relatively new national museum Egyptian civilization. His mom is now exposed, among those other ancient royal kingdoms, in the museum.

The tomb is in a poor conservation state, mainly due to the exposure of floods shortly after Thutmose II’s death, according to Mohamed Abdel Badie, the head of the Egyptian antiques sector in the Supreme Council of the Antiquities and Head of the Egyptian team operating on the dig. Abdel Badie said that initial studies also show that most of the original tomb content were moved to another place after the ancient floods.

He said that the teams discovered a mortar in the tomb with the remains of blue inscriptions and yellow stars, and some passages from the book “IMYDWAT”, which is one of the most important funeral books found in ancient Egyptian tombs, written to help in the lead of the late Royals through their way underground.

Dr. Piers Literland, head of the English team at that place, said that the tomb was characterized by a simple architectural design typical of those who chose the consecutive rulers of Egypt who came after Thutmose II.

Latherland said the mission would continue its survey work and try to determine where the rest of the content from the Thutmose II tomb were moved and discovered all the further secrets that were closed under Earth for millennia.