Valley of the Kings Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings ( ; ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, rock cut tombs were excavated for the pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom (the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Dynasties of Ancient Egypt). The valley stands on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (modern Luxor), within the heart of the Theban Necropolis. The wadi consists of two valleys, East Valley (where the
Minor tombs in the Valley of the Kings and nothing is known about its possible contents. It is dated, on the grounds of its location, to the reign of Thutmose III. KV61 is located in the south-west wadi of the valley. It was discovered and excavated by Jones in 1910. It consists of a single chamber accessed by a shaft. When discovered, the doorway to the chamber was blocked but the tomb, which was partially filled with debris, yielded no finds. It has been suggested that the tomb once contained a burial, but that it was transferred elsewhere in its entirety, an idea which is perhaps unlikely. Another