The tomb of the tomb of Pharaoh, who married Queen Hatsheps about 3,500 years ago and ruled Egypt, was discovered west of the Valley of Kings.
Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Ancients said in a translated statement.
However, unlike King Tuto’s burial, the new tomb is almost empty and without a body. The tomb was photographed somewhere as archaeologists discovered the tomb had been flooded shortly after Thutmose II was buried, the statement said.
“The whole contents of the tomb were removed. The tomb was not taken away,” Piers Litherland, an Egyptian scholar at Cambridge University and co-leader of the team that found the tomb, told Live Science via email. “The burial was completely removed.”
Archaeologists first discovered the tomb in October 2022, the statement said, but researchers could identify the burial site from the late 2024 to early 2025 excavation season. The one that was analyzed was as the tomb of the Pharaoh, which was not analyzed. One of the pieces of ceramic “drawn a label indicating that it contained natron, which was used as a preservative,” Litherland said. “This confirms that the burial first happened at the grave.”
The grave is approximately 95.1 feet (29 meters) long and includes a burial chamber of 17.4 x 17.1 x 11.2 feet (5.3 x 5.2 x 3.4 meters).
There could be a second undiscovered grave where the object was moved after the flood, Litherland noted. The mummy has been rebuilt in a cache at a nearby site, Deir El-Bahari, and has been identified by some Egyptologists as Thutmose II. However, the mummy is too old for Thutmose II (probably 40 years old), and his mummy and second grave may lie undisturbed elsewhere, he added. .
Little is known about Thutmose II’s reign, according to the Egyptian National Museum of Civilizations. How long he ruled was a matter of debate, and it could have been less than five years, the museum reports.
However, some scholars believe his reign lasted much longer, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City estimates that he ruled from 1492 to 1479 BC.
Historical records show that during his reign, Thutmose II crushed the uprising in Nubia, the region of today’s Southern Egypt and North Sudan, which was then ruled by Egypt. Historical records show that he worked with his army in the Eastern Mediterranean and ventured to modern-day Syria.
Thutmose II is probably most famous for marrying his sister Hatshepsut. After the death of Thutmose II, Hatshepsut became a female pharaoh.
Source: Live Science