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 is located in the wadi that leads up towards KV34. It was discovered and excavated by Victor Loret in 1898, in 2000-01 it was re-excavated by the Swiss MISR Project. The tomb consists of an unfinished chamber with a central pillar and small side room that is reached by a series of stairwells and corridors. The latter quarried tomb KV47 (tomb of Siptah accidentally collided with the small side room of KV32. The recent clearance of the tomb yielded a canopic chest belonging to queen Tiaa, the wife of Amenhotep II and mother of Thutmose IV, allowing the identification of