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 sons. The identity of the intended princly occupant of this tomb remains unknown but it has been suggested that this might have been the later Ramesses IV. Burton's clearance of the tomb yielded no material of New Kingdom date and therefore it has been supposed that the tomb was never used for a burial. Later intrusive material from Byzantine times suggest the tomb was adapted as a Christian chapel by Copts. KV12 is located in the main valley and has been open since antiquity. It was cleared by Ernest Harold Jones in 1908-09 for Davis, while in 1920-21 Howard Carter