A British-Egyptian team of archeologists have found the first pharaoh's tomb in Egypt since King Tutankhamun's was found in 1922. The newly discovered tomb belonged to King Thutmose II, who reigned from 1493 to 1479 BC.
Erin Clack is a Staff Editor for PEOPLE. She has been writing about fashion, parenting and pop culture for more than 15 years.Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock A British-Egyptian team of archeologists has discovered the first pharaoh's tomb since King Tutankhamun's was found more than 100 years ago in 1922.
The team found the nearly 3,500-year-old tomb — now known to have belonged to King Thutmose II — in the Western Valleys of the Theban Necropolis near the city of Luxor in Egypt, per the. British archaeologist Dr. Piers Litherland, who had been working in the area for more than a decade, said they first discovered a staircase and descending corridor that led to the tomb. While the team spent months clearing flood debris from the corridor, they assumed the tomb belonged to a royal wife. However, when Litherland finally got into the burial chamber, he saw that its ceiling was painted blue with yellow stars and decorated with scenes from the Amduat, a religious text reserved exclusively for kings. That's when the tremendous significance of his discovery set in. 'Extraordinary' Tomb of Ancient Egyptian Called 'Lady of the House' Found 4,000 Years After Her Death, saying, "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," Litherland added.Thutmose II was an ancestor of King Tut who reigned from 1493 to 1479 BC. He was married to Queen Hatshepsut, one of the few women to rule in her own right, and the father of King Thutmose III. His mummified remains were found two centuries ago, but not his burial site, per the BBC. When the archeology team got to work clearing the flood debris and collapsed ceilings that were blocking the chamber, they had expected to find the crushed remains of a burial. Instead, Litherland told the outlet, the tomb was "completely empty."to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.The team then determined that the tomb had been built beneath a waterfall and flooded about six years after the king's burial. The remains were moved to another location at the time. In the tomb, researchers sifted through tons of broken limestone and found fragments of alabaster jars, which were inscribed with the names of Thutmose II and Hatshepsut.Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities/AFP via Getty"And thank goodness they actually did break one or two things because that's how we found out whose tomb it was," he said. Litherland and his team have an idea of where the second tomb is and believe it could still be intact with artifacts, per the BBC. “The possible existence of a second, and most likely intact, tomb of Thutmose II is an astonishing possibility," Mohsen Kamel, assistant field director, said, according to Egypt's minister of tourism and antiquities, Sherif Fathy, described the discovery of Thutmose II's original tomb as "an extraordinary moment for Egyptology and the broader understanding of our shared human story," per the BBC.At Least 8 People Dead, Including a Mom and Her Young Child, in 'Severe' Kentucky Storm Likelihood of Asteroid 2024 YR4 Colliding with Earth Keeps Changing — But It Remains Big Enough to Destroy a City Chance of a Recently-Discovered Asteroid Hitting Earth in 2032 Has More Than Doubled, According to NASA Trucker Survives Near Fatal Hit After Ice Crashes Through Windshield: 'My Adrenaline Was Through the Roof'U.K. Fossil Tour Guide Discovers Rare Dinosaur Track Imprinted in Clay on the Isle of WightThird Victim in Deadly Wyoming Tunnel Crash Found: Officials Over 150 World War II Bombs 'Containing Charges' Found Beneath Children's Park, Authorities Say 'We Could Still Find Another Pit'At Least 3 People Killed and 79 Injured After Roof Collapses at Shopping Mall: Reports Family of 'Incredible' Father of 3 Who Died in D.C. Plane Crash Files $250M Claims Against the FAA and ArmyDog and His Owner Help Save Pa. Man Trapped in His Car amid Frigid Conditions Survivors Recall Being 'Ready to Die' After Red Sea Dive Vessel Sank, Leaving Them in the Dark for 35 Hours
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