Adventures in the Valley of the Kings


My first two visits to the Valley of the Kings cannot be forgotten. I made my first visit when I was about 17 years old. I was a student at the Faculty of Arts in Alexandria in the Greco-Roman Department. The school organized a field trip to the Valley of the Kings. Most of the students were busy running around or joking, but I was fascinated with this valley that always reveals many secrets. At that time, I never thought that I would ever excavate there. My future unknown, I felt drawn to this valley, a feeling that, even today, I cannot explain. At that time, the last discovery had been the unearthing of the tomb of Tutankhamun on November 4th, 1922. When I visited the valley in 1965, 62 tombs were known, 26 of them belonging to kings and the rest to non-royal individuals. This was possible because the king could decree that anyone could be buried in the valley. The secrets of king Tut’s tomb were amazing because the tomb was found intact while others such as Amenhotep II and the tomb of Yuya and Thuyu were found only semi-intact. Recently, Kent Weeks rediscovered KV 5, a tomb that had been opened three times before in antiquity. Kent found many rooms in the tomb and believes that at one time the sons of Ramses II were buried here but I can now say that the tomb was never used for burial; rather it was a sort of symbolic tomb for the sons of Ramses II and there is much evidence to support this.

When I returned to the Valley of the Kings, I was no longer a student but the Inspector of Antiquities. I was working with the University of Pennsylvania expedition at Malkata on the West bank and at the same time, over 20 other Egyptian archaeologists were working in Luxor with foreign missions, because, after 1973, the Egyptian government decided to concentrate the work of foreign expeditions at Giza, Luxor, and Aswan. We used to meet in the afternoon at El-Marsam hotel. This hotel belonged to Sheikh Aly Abd el-Rasoul, the last member of the Abd el-Rasoul family, who knew the secrets of the Valley of the Kings and worked inside the tunnel found within the tomb of Seti I, the very same tomb I am currently excavating.

One night on a full moon, I decided to visit the Valley of the Kings. I asked Sheikh Nagdy, the chief of the guards, to come with me. He was the son of Sheikh Abd el-Mangoud and a character that cannot be forgotten. Sheikh Abd el-Mangoud was friends with many famous foreign archaeologists and used to guard the antiquities of the West Bank with a stick. Sheikh Nagdy was also an interesting man, but he was not like his father. He had a drinking problem. I was lucky enough to catch him before he got drunk. He came with me to the valley. I stood in front of the tomb of King Tut looking at the peak on the mountain that was shaped like a pyramid. The ancient Egyptians had carved their tombs in this pyramid-shape mountain to maintain the Old and Middle Kingdoms traditions. I told Sheikh Nagdy that I wanted to climb the mountain and stay there until morning. I asked him to leave, but he refused. He went for an inspection and then came back. He stayed down in the valley until morning. It took me one hour to reach the peak and I stayed there the whole night. It was the end of the summer and the cold wind was blowing in my face, but the magic of the valley warmed me. At that time, all the tombs found in the valley had been discovered by foreigners. Not a single tomb had been found by an Egyptian and no Egyptian expedition was excavating in the valley. One wonders why this is the case? Why were there no Egyptian missions in the valley? So, I said to myself: “one day I will excavate in the valley”. At that time, the tomb of Ramses VIII was missing and I thought it could be found between the tombs of Merneptah and his father, Ramses II. To be continued.
 

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