Exploration of the Valley of the Kings Period tombs in the main valley. Various expeditions have continued to explore the valley, adding greatly to the knowledge of the area. In 2001 the Theban Mapping Project designed new signs for the tombs, providing information and plans of the open tombs. On February 8, 2006, the Supreme Council of Antiquities announced that an American team led by the University of Memphis had uncovered a pharaonic-era tomb (KV63), the first uncovered there since King Tutankhamun's in 1922. The 18th Dynasty tomb included five intact sarcophagi with coloured funerary masks along with 28 large storage jars, sealed with pharaonic seals. It
Minor tombs in the Valley of the Kings belonging to the Twenty-second dynasty, are evidently secondary burials since they were placed on rubbish filling about one fifth of the tomb. In this rubble the remains of seven earlier mummies were found, without coffins or funerary equipment. Several bee nests on the ceiling indicate that the tomb had lain open for some time in antiquity. The original cutting of the tomb is dated to the Eighteenth dynasty. Nothing is known of the original occupants of KV44 but it has been suggested that this was a tomb for Anen. KV45 is located next to KV44 and like that tomb it