The surprise discovery of the tomb of Thutmose II

This article is from Ancient Egypt issue 148

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One thing is certain about the recent discovery of the erstwhile Tomb of Thutmose II: no one was expecting it! It is true that his was one of the few unknown tombs of the Eighteenth Dynasty, but as his mummy was thought to be one of those rehoused in the Deir el-Bahri cache, it was assumed that his ancient tomb had been emptied and probably reused.

But now we have a tomb, consisting of four chambers and two corridors, that has been positively identified as belonging to the king – and a possible location for a second tomb that may actually be his final resting place. So how did these momentous discoveries come about?

The Western Wadis

The Valley of the Kings, Deir el-Medina, Deir el-Bahri, and the Valley of the Queens are all famous sites to the east and south of the al-Qurn mountain, visited by many tourists. However, the western side has previously received much less attention, and its valleys have perfunctory names like Wadi 300, Wadi A, Aa, Ab, C, D, and so on. There are few landmarks other than rocks, more rocks, and the occasional footpath or cave, but now we know this landscape intimately.

The New Kingdom Research Foundation, in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, has been exploring the Western Wadis of the Theban Mountain for the past 12 years, investigating cracks, crevices, and tunnels on the less famous side, and documenting archaeological remains for publication. The west of the mountain is rich in material from several periods that seem to be separated by gaps when the area was uninhabited.

The earliest signs of habitation date to the Early Pleistocene (100,000-400,000 years ago), when pre-sapiens humans littered hand-axes around the shores of a large lake that filled the area. After something of a gap, the lake re-formed and, during the mid-Pleistocene (40,000-80,000 years ago), was the focus for a group that made heavy spear-like points from a pre-shaped (Levallois) core. During the last Ice Age, the lakes dried up, and the area was very arid until global warming, around 10,000 years ago, re-formed the lakes at a lower level. Once again people were attracted to the lake shores and flint for tools, depositing tools characteristic of the Holocene. In time, these lakes drained and there was little activity in the mountain area until the Eighteenth Dynasty, when there was a sudden expansion into the mountains, and a pathway leading 40 kilometres across, that came into regular use.

Climate change

The New Kingdom remains include tombs, huts, wells, roadways, and hunting shelters, and thousands of examples of graffiti. But why did people come here and why did they describe their cemeteries as ‘beautiful places’? The area now is arid and there is little to hunt, but contemporary images depict the deserts as full of vegetation and teeming with game.