First Pharaoh’s Tomb found in Egypt since Tutankhamun’s

Egyptologists have discovered the first tomb of a pharaoh since Tutankhamun’s was uncovered over a century ago.

King Thutmose II’s tomb was the last undiscovered royal tomb of the 18th Egyptian dynasty.

A British-Egyptian team has located it in the Western Valleys of the Theban Necropolis near the city of Luxor. Researchers had thought the burial chambers of the 18th dynasty pharaohs were more than 2km away, closer to the Valley of the Kings.

The crew found it in an area associated with the resting places of royal women, but when they got into the burial chamber they found it decorated – the sign of a pharaoh.

“Part of the ceiling was still intact: a blue-painted ceiling with yellow stars on it. And blue-painted ceilings with yellow stars are only found in kings’ tombs,” said the field director of the mission Dr Piers Litherland.

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He told the BBC’s Newshour programme he felt overwhelmed in the moment.

“The emotion of getting into these things is just one of extraordinary bewilderment because when you come across something you’re not expecting to find, it’s emotionally extremely turbulent really,” he said.

“And when I came out, my wife was waiting outside and the only thing I could do was burst into tears.”

Dr Litherland said the discovery solved the mystery of where the tombs of early 18th dynasty kings are located.

Researchers found Thutmose II’s mummified remains two centuries ago but its original burial site had never been located.

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