The discovery of Thutmose II’s tomb last week — the first burial of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh to be discovered within or near the Valley of the Kings since King Tutankhamun‘s tomb was found in 1922 — has left many unanswered questions.
Unlike dozens of early pharaohs who were buried in or around pyramids or later pharaohs who were interred at the Valley of the Kings, Thutmose II’s tomb is on its own, more than 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) to the west of the Valley of the Kings. And because this tomb was flooded shortly after Thutmose II’s burial, his mummy and the majority of his grave goods were removed by ancient officials and placed elsewhere — but their ultimate location is a mystery.
Yet another puzzle is why Thutmose II’s wife and half sister, Hatshepsut — who later became pharaoh and was arguably the first ancient Egyptian ruler to be buried at the Valley of the Kings — chose to inter her husband elsewhere.
But the mystery archaeologists may solve first is one that is looming in front of them: whether a giant mound of rubble near Thutmose II’s newly discovered tomb contains a concealed second tomb that holds the mummy of Thutmose II.
If there is a second tomb there then “this second tomb is likely to be complete and undisturbed,” Piers Litherland, an Egyptologist at the University of Cambridge and co-leader of the team that found the tomb, told Live Science in an email.
Why wasn’t Thutmose II buried in the valley?
Archaeologists originally found the tomb in October 2022, but it wasn’t until a recent analysis of one of its grave goods that they linked it to Thutmose II, who ruled around 3,500 years ago. The artifact, a large alabaster ointment jar, has an inscription that says it was Hatshepsut who had Thutmose II buried in that location.
A translation of the inscription reads, “The god’s wife the great chief wife Hatshepsut made this monument for her brother the perfect god the lord of the Two Lands [Thutmose II] given life enduringly the beloved Osiris,” Litherland said.
Zahi Hawass, a former minister of antiquities who is not a member of the research team but studied the inscription, said it’s still unclear why Hatshepsut had Thutmose II buried in this area, which is now known as Wadi Gabbanat El Qurud.
It’s “a question why she buried him here and she built her [tomb] in the Valley of the Kings,” Hawass told Live Science in an email. “It is very strange for her to bury him in this [area] that she and other kings did not use.”
While Hatshepsut may have overseen the burial, it was likely Thutmose II himself who had his tomb constructed at this location, said Aidan Dodson, an Egyptology professor at the University of Bristol who is not involved with the excavation. He noted that “at this time the Valley of the Kings had not been adopted as the standard burial place” for Egyptian pharaohs.
It appears that Hatshepsut originally planned to be buried not far from Thutmose II. Dodson noted that there is a tomb located about 1,640 feet (500 meters) from Thutmose II’s tomb that was built for Hatshepsut but was not used by her. The tomb was uncompleted, but has inscriptions indicating that it was built for her. “She only moved to the Valley of the Kings [when] she became [a] female pharaoh, seven years after her husband’s death,” Dodson said.
Litherland said tombs of other royal family members have been found in Wadi Gabbanat El Qurud and that tombs of other pharaohs may be in the area but haven’t been identified.
Gay Robins, a professor emerita of art history at Emory University who is not involved with the dig, told Live Science that “Hatshepsut seems to be the first king to connect her burial with the location we now call the Valley of the Kings, so there is nothing odd about Thutmose II not being buried there.”
The fact that Hatshepsut had Thutmose II buried away from her may lead one to speculate whether she disliked him; however there is no evidence for this, according to Filip Taterka, an Egyptology professor at the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
“We know that Hatshepsut did not persecute the memory of Thutmose II in any way, quite to the contrary, she not only provided him with a burial — as the inscription from the vase mentioned above demonstrates — but also order[ed] to construct a funerary temple for him, in order to secure his funerary cult,” Taterka told Live Science in an email.
Does Thutmose II have a second tomb nearby?
Another question the tomb discovery raises is whether Thutmose II has a second, undiscovered tomb nearby. The newfound tomb was largely empty; archaeologists found that the mummy and most of the grave goods were moved after the tomb flooded shortly after Thutmose II was buried.
Litherland told Live Science that the team is currently excavating a nearby mound that contains a pile of limestone and rubble. “We have reason to believe it was constructed to conceal something and that something is likely to be an important tomb,” Litherland said. The pile is about 75.5 feet (23 m) tall, and it would have taken “vast effort and expense” to place so much rubble there, he added.
Litherland estimates it will take more than a month to excavate the mound and find out what lies underneath. “We don’t, and can’t, know that the second tomb of Thutmose II is there but there are signs which point suggestively in that direction,” Litherland said. “Only [by] excavating the mound can we find out.”
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