The discovery of The Valley of the Kings was indeed momentous in the study of Egyptian civilisation. Since then, this site has become the heart of archaeological exploration and one of the most popular archaeological sites in the world. The valley is located on the western bank of the river Nile directly opposite to the Thebes, the modern day Luxor within the heart of the Theban Necropolis. It consists of the East Valley where most of the tombs are situated and the West Valley.

The valley is also known as The Valley of the Gates of the Kings. It was declared as the World Heritage Site in the year 1979. Various tombs and burials have been discovered and some of the famous Pharaohs buried in the location include Ramesses II, Ramssess IV, Ramesses IX, Ramesses VI, Tuthmose III, Seti I, Amenhotep II and so on. Amenhotep I, who was considered as the patron-god of the valley by the actual builders of the tombs. The Valley was used for primary burials from approximately 1539 BC to 1075 BC, and contains some 60 tombs.

Besides having the tombs of Pharaohs, the spot also has the tombs of famous nobles and officials and their wives and children. The quality of the rock in the Valley is very inconsistent ranging from finely-grained to coarse stone. Tombs were built, by cutting through various layers of limestone, each with its own quality. The shale layers expand when they comes to contact with water. During floods, tombs are damaged due to this. Most of the tombs were cut into the limestone following a similar pattern: three corridors, an antechamber and a sunken sarcophagus chamber.

These catacombs were harder to rob and were more easily concealed. East Valley is visited by more tourists as it has more tombs buried. The West Valley only contains the tombs of Amenhotep III and Ay, and some pits. The Valley began to be heavily plundered by the end of the New Kingdom. So the priests of the 20th and 21st Dynasty to open most of the tombs and move the mummies into three tombs in order to better protect them. Later most of these were moved to a single cache near Deir el-Bari. During the later Third Intermediate Period and later intrusive burials were introduced into many of the open tombs.


 The last known king to have built a tomb in the Valley was Ramesses XI. Almost all the tombs have been plundered heavily by robbers including the tomb of King Tut. The Valley today is a famous tourist centre. It is one of the most valuable sources from which knowledge on Egyptian life can be comprehensively obtained.