Exploration of the Valley of the Kings standing for King's Valley, (although the maps show 28 entrances, some of which were unexplored). These paintings and maps were later published in 'The Topography of Thebes and General Survey of Egypt', in 1830. At the same time James Burton explored the valley. His works included making KV17 safer from flooding, although, he is better known for entering KV5. Champollion himself visited the valley along with Ippolito Rosellini and Nestor L'Hôte, in the Franco-Tuscan Expedition of 1829. The expedition spent two months studying the open tombs, visiting about 16 of them in total. They copied the inscriptions and identified the
Minor tombs in the Valley of the Kings are larger, multiple chambered tombs. These minor tombs served various purposes, some were intended for burials of lesser royalty or for private burials, some contained animal burials and others apparently never received a primary burial. In many cases these tombs also served secondary functions and later intrusive material has been found related to these secondary activities. While some of these tombs have been open since antiquity, the majority were discovered in the 19th and early 20th centuries during the height of exploration in the valley. Tombs in the Valley of the Kings are assigned a numerical "KV" (for Kings' Valley)