Mohammed Zacheria Gomeim, an Egyptian Egyptologist, made excavations at Saqqara between 1951 to 1955. He found there an incomplete pyramid that belonged to Sekhemkhe. He was a third dynasty king who ruled at the start of the Old Kingdom. It is reasonable to identify Sekhemkhe as Djoser-Teti, and this explained why the pyramid was unfinished. The king's sudden death stopped the construction of the pyramid.
Near the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahri, Brugsch, an archaeologist and Egyptologist found the coffins and mummies of Tuthmosis III, Amenhotep I, Amosis, Seti I, and the inestimable mummy of Ramesses II. Tuthmosis III was the great pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty. Amenhotep I was the founder of the workman's village of Deir el Medina. Amosis was the pharaoh who liberated Egypt from Hyksos domination at the start of the New Kingdom. Seti I was the constructor of the beautiful Osiride Temple of Abydos. Ramesses II was perhaps the greatest of the pharaohs because of numerous temples and buildings he erected throughout Egypt.
The Pharaohs allowed Bedouin tribesmen of Sinai and Palestine from time to time to bring their flocks to the fringes of the Delta in the search of pasture. But when the nomads grew numerous, the Egyptian army would be sent to chase them away. The tribes of Jews were one of those tribes that settled there during famine in Palestine (cc 1800 BC) and remained there to labor for the Egyptians until about 1500 BC. The Pharaoh during whom the great Exodus took place is likely to be Ramesses the II, or his son Merneptah. Ramesses II is one of the most impressive of all pharaohs. During his 67 years reign, trade and industry flourished, and a vast number of temples were built. His most important accomplishment is the repeal of the Hitties against which he won a major battle in 1300 BC near the city of Kadesh in Syria. Another great achievement of his is the treaty with the Hitties. The treaty was cemented by the marriage of Ramesses II to the daughter of the Hittie king Hattushil.
Victor Loretet found in the Valley of the Kings the sarcophagus of Amenhotep II, the mummy of Queen Tiye, and the coffins of Ramesses IV and Seti II. Queen Tiye was the wife of Amenhotep II's grandson, Amenhotep III, and the mother of the infamous Akhenaten.
On November 4, 1922, Howard Carter made the greatest discovery of an intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings. He found the sarcophagus and the burial chambers of the boy-king Tutankhamun.
Merneptah, Ramesses II's son, attacked Libya in the fifth year of his reign. He justified this in view of the attack prepared by the Libyan King Merai, who was gathering the Sea People under one commander.