section_path: Discovery
section_name: Discovery
paragraph_text: Discovery
  
  The tomb was discovered during broader archaeological expeditions conducted across the Western Wadis, near the Nile in southern Egypt. Initial exploration began in October 2022 with the discovery of its entrance and main passage in Wadi C west of Luxor, designated as Wadi C-4. The tomb was believed to have remained sealed since the Third Intermediate Period. Repeated flooding filled the main axis with densely packed debris that had hardened to a concrete-like consistency. This also compromised the structural integrity of the tomb's ceilings, resulting in partial collapses.
  
  The archaeological team originally suspected the tomb belonged to a royal wife due to its proximity to the tombs of three wives of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut 's intended queenly burial site. Meticulous excavations continued for nearly three years before the tomb's royal ownership was confirmed.
  
  The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities claimed that this was the first discovery of a pharaoh's tomb since the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922. However, several royal tombs had been discovered since Tutankhamun's, such as that of Psusennes I (Third Intermediate Period) in 1940 and that of Senebkay (Second Intermediate Period) in 2014. Thutmose II's tomb was however, the first royal tomb from the New Kingdom discovered since that of Tutankhamun.