Long-lost Tomb of Thutmose II Found in Luxor

Media House is delighted to represent the New Kingdom Research Foundation, the British academic foundation led by Piers Litherland, which has discovered the lost tomb of the Pharaoh Thutmose II.

The announcement generated significant international media coverage including the Washington Post, CNN, ABC, Mail Online US, BBC World Service, National Geographic and media outlets in Europe, the Middle East and Australia. In the UK, the news story was covered by BBC News Online, BBC Radio 4, The Times, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Independent, The Guardian, Sky News, Metro, The Week, MSN and Yahoo News among others.

We await further developments from the Theban Necropolis with great interest.

LONG-LOST TOMB OF THUTMOSE II FOUND IN LUXOR

A major breakthrough in the ancient necropolis

A British-led mission has found the tomb of an Egyptian Pharaoh, the first such tomb to be found since Tutankhamun a hundred years ago.

The tomb of Thutmose II, Pharaoh of the illustrious XVIIIth dynasty, has been located in the Western Valleys of the Theban Necropolis, Egypt. His tomb was the only king’s tomb of the XVIIIth dynasty still missing. Although the tomb was found empty the explanation for this has extraordinary implications.

Thutmose II died 3,500 years ago and his final resting place has remained the subject of debate and speculation for generations. Thutmose II was the husband and half-brother of Hatshepsut, considered one of Egypt’s greatest Pharaohs.

The discovery has been made by a joint-mission formed by the New Kingdom Research Foundation (NKRF), a British independent academic foundation, and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Egypt.

The joint-mission is affiliated to the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge. The leader and Field Director of the mission, Piers Litherland, is an Honorary Research Associate of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University. The co-head of the mission is Dr Judith Bunbury, Fellow of Wolfson College.

This discovery and the identification of its owner is the culmination of 12 years of work in the Western Valleys by the NKRF mission.

Piers Litherland said: “This discovery solves a great mystery of ancient Egypt: the location of the tombs of the early XVIIIth dynasty kings. The tomb of this ancestor of Tutankhamun had never been found because it was always thought to be at the other end of the mountain near the Valley of the Kings.

“Initially we thought we might have found the tomb of a royal wife, but the wide staircase and the large doorway suggested something more important. The discovery that the burial chamber had been decorated with scenes from the Amduat, a religious text which is reserved for kings, was immensely exciting and was the first indication that this was a king’s tomb.”

Artefacts discovered in the tomb, including fragments of alabaster jars bearing inscriptions with the names of Thutmose II and his principal wife, Hatshepsut, provided definitive evidence of the tomb’s ownership. These are the only artefacts connected with Thutmose II’s burial which have ever been found.

Sometime before Year 6 of Thutmose III’s reign, archaeological evidence suggests there was a catastrophic flood in this tomb after which the contents were moved to a second tomb. The discovery by the mission of  an intact foundation deposit suggests that this second tomb is hidden in the same valley.

This casts further doubt on the identity of the CG61066 body found in the Royal Cache in 1881 and previously identified as Thutmose II. That body has been dated consistently as over 30 years of age. Yet Thutmose II was described a “the falcon in the nest” when he came to throne and ruled just long enough to father the infant Thutmose III before dying after a reign unlikely to have been more than four years.

“The possible existence of a second, and most likely intact, tomb of Thutmose II is an astonishing possibility,” said Mohsen Kamel, the Assistant Field Director of the mission.

“This is the first royal tomb to be discovered since the ground-breaking find of King Tutankhamun’s burial chamber in 1922,” Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy said.

“It is an extraordinary moment for Egyptology and the broader understanding of our shared human story.”

The rulers of the XVIIIth dynasty include some of the most famous and powerful pharaohs of ancient Egypt, such as Tutankhamun, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III and Amenhotep II. This was a period of immense wealth.

The reign of Thutmose II is thought to date from approximately 1493 to 1479 BCE. His life has been overshadowed by his more famous father Thutmose I, his wife Hatshepsut, (one of the few women who reigned in her own right), and his son, Thutmose III.

The NKRF mission previously established the identities of more than 30 royal wives and court women of this period and has excavated a total of 54 tombs in the western part of the Theban mountain in Luxor. The team comprises Egyptian and international experts and local workers.

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