When Howard Carter unsealed the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 it proved to be one of history’s greatest discoveries.
For a hundred years no other such Egyptian Pharaoh tomb had been found – despite archeologists knowing that there were more to unearth.
But now, after a century of searching, another has finally been unsealed after a mission led by Scots Egyptologist Piers Litherland.
The long-lost tomb of Thutmose II, Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, was found in the Western Valleys of the Theban Necropolis.
Thutmose II died 3,500 years ago and his final resting place remained subject of debate and speculation for generations – and his tomb was the only king’s tomb of the 18th dynasty which was still missing.
The discovery was made in October 2022 but nobody realised the tomb belonged to him and instead thought thought it belonged to one of the queens or princesses of the era.
Mr Litherland, from Galashiels, in Roxburghshire, said: ‘This discovery solves a great mystery of ancient Egypt: the location of the tombs of the early 18th 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.
Piers Litherland headed a British-led mission which found the tomb of an Egyptian Pharoah, the first such tomb to be found since Tutankhamun a hundred years ago
King Thutmose II, the fourth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Thutmose II’s tomb was the last of the lost tombs of the kings of ancient Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty
‘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.’
Thutmose II was the husband and half-brother of Hatshepsut, considered one of Egypt’s greatest Pharaohs.
Artifacts discovered in the newly discovered tomb, including fragments of alabaster jars bearing inscriptions with the names of Thutmose II and his principal wife Hatshepsut, gave definitive evidence of its ownership.
These are the only artefacts connected to the burial which have ever been found.
During Thutmose III’s reign, archaeological evidence suggests, there was a catastrophic flood in the tomb which meant the contents were moved to a second one.
The discovery by the mission of an intact foundation deposit suggests that this second tomb is hidden in the same valley.
Mohsen Kamel, the assistant field director of the mission, said: ‘The possible existence of a second, and most likely intact, tomb of Thutmose II is an astonishing possibility.’
On November 4, 1922, Carter’s group found steps that led to Tutankhamun’s tomb and spent several months cataloguing the antechamber
The find also casts further doubt on the identity of a body found in the Royal Cache in 1881 which had previously been identified as Thutmose II.
That body has been dated consistently as more than 30 years of age.
However, Thutmose II was described as being ‘the falcon of the nest’ when he came to the 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 reign of Thutmose II is thought to date from around 1493 to 1479BC.
But his life has been overshadowed by his more famous father Thutmose I, his wife Hatshepsut who is one of the few women who reigned in her own right, and his son Thutmose III.
The latest discovery was made on a joint mission between the New Kingdom Research Foundation, a British independent academic foundation, and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
It is the culmination of 12 years of work in the Western Valleys by the mission which has previously established the identities of more than 30 royal wives and court women of this period and excavated 54 tombs in the western part of the Theban mountain in Luxor.
Sherif Fathy, Egyptian minister of tourism and antiquities, said: ‘This is the first royal tomb to be discovered since the groundbreaking find of King Tutankhamun’s burial chamber in 1922.
‘It is an extraordinary moment for Egyptology and the broader understanding of our shared human story.’
The rulers of the 18th dynasty include some of the most famous and powerful Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, including Tutankhamun.
