May 29, 2025 at 9:49 am

First New Tomb Of An Egyptian King In Over 100 Years Has Been Discovered Near Luxor, Egypt

by Michael Levanduski

Egyptian pyramids

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It isn’t every day that you find a previously unknown tomb of an Egyptian Pharaoh, but that is exactly what a team of British and Egyptian researchers did. This is, in fact, the first time a new tomb like this has been found in over 100 years.

The team talked to the BBC about this incredible discovery, which happened in the Western valleys of the Theban Necropolis. This is located near Luxor in Egypt.

According to the research they have performed so far, the tomb belongs to King Thutomose II. He was part of the 18th dynasty of Egypt, which lasted from 1549 to 1292 BCE. Interestingly, the last known tomb to be discovered was off Tutankhamun, who was an ancestor of Thutmose II and also ruled during the 18th dynasty.

In the BBC report, Egypt’s minister of tourism and antiquities, Sherif Fathy, said:

“It is an extraordinary moment for Egyptology and the broader understanding of our shared human story.”

It is hard to overestimate how this type of discovery can dramatically change our understanding of life at the time. This is because the ancient Egyptians put so much work into these tombs that the artifacts left behind will undoubtedly teach us a lot about the culture.

Sarcophagus of pharoah

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The mission field director who helped to work on this tomb, Peirs Litherland, talked about just how impactful the event was to him personally.

“The emotion of getting into these things is just one of extraordinary bewilderment because when you come across something you’re not expecting to find, it’s emotionally extremely turbulent really. And when I came out, my wife was waiting outside and the only thing I could do was burst into tears.”

This tomb will provide researchers with a huge amount of information that will need to be studied for years to come. One of the most important things about this find, however, is its location. Egyptologists previously did not know where many of the kings of the 18th dynasty were buried. With this find, they have a lot more data to work with, which will hopefully lead them to uncover additional tombs in the near future.

Something unique about this tomb, however, is that it was emptied long ago. The first instinct when seeing an empty Egyptian tomb is to assume that it was grave robbers, but that is not the case here. The researchers say that the ancient Egyptians actually moved everything out of this tomb because it became flooded.

They then moved it all to a second tomb, which, while not yet discovered, will likely be found soon. The researchers say that what they found in this tomb and the surrounding area gives them a general place to start looking.

It won’t be easy, however. To get into this tomb, the team explains that they had to go through some tight areas:

“It was only after crawling through a [32-foot] passageway that had a small [15-inch] gap at the top that we got into the burial chamber.”

This was undoubtedly difficult, but it did pay off in the end. If you are wondering how they know that this was the tomb of Thutmose II, it is because they found a jar with his name on it that was likely broken when they moved everything out and to the new location.

What an amazing discovery, and as far as they can tell, no terrifying curses were unlocked in the process.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about the mysterious “pyramids” discovered in Antarctica. What are they?