Valley of Kings

The Valley of the Kings is the burial site used by Egyptian rulers of the New Kingdom period (1570-1070 BC). It was part of the ancient city of Thebes and was the burial site of almost all the kings (pharaohs) of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties (1539–1075 BC), from Thutmose I to Ramses X. It is located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the modern town of Luxor. The 62 known tombs exhibit variety both in plan and in decoration. The Valley of the Kings actually has two components - the East Valley and the West Valley.

In the 18th Dynasty, King Amenhotep I (reigned 1551-1524BC) departed from tradition, building his temple closer to the riverbank and concealing his tomb farther north and west, in the cliffs. His successors continued this practice of separation, but they located their tombs within the valley the kings of the New Kingdom, fearing for the safety of their rich burials, adopted a new plan of concealing their tombs in a lonely valley in the western hills behind Dayr al-Bahri. There, in tombs sunk deep into the heart of the mountain, pharaohs were interred, as were two queens, a few officials of high rank, and the numerous sons of Ramses II. Although no longer marked by a pyramid constructed of millions of carved blocks, the tombs stand below a pyramidal mountain called today The Horn (Arabic Al Qurn). The plan of the tombs varies considerably but consists essentially of a descending corridor interrupted by deep shafts to baffle robbers and by pillared chambers or vestibules. At the farther end of the corridor is a burial chamber with a stone sarcophagus in which the royal mummy was laid and store chambers around which furniture and equipment were stacked for the king's use in the next world.

The Valley of the Kings actually has two components - the East Valley and the West Valley. Those in the East Valley, the one most visited by tourists, begin with the letter KV, while those in the West Valley to the north begin with WV. The numbering system was begun in the 1820s by John Gardner Wilkinson who painted the number of his sequence up to 21 at the entrance to the tombs he was aware of in the East Valley. For the West Valley, Wilkinson used the designations W1 to W4, but today they are given as WV 22 to WV 25.

Here is a listing of all the kings and their tombs in different dynasties found at the Valley of Kings:

TOMB	OWNER	DYNASTY	TOMB	OWNER	DYNASTY
KV 1	Ramses VII	20	KV 32	Unknown	18
KV 2	Ramses IV	20	KV 33	Unknown	18
KV 3	Constructed for a son of Ramses III	20	KV 34	Tuthmosis III	18
KV 4	Ramses XI	20	KV 35	Amenhotep II	18
KV 5	Sons of Ramses II	19	KV 36	Maiherperi	18
KV 6	Ramses XI	20	KV 37	Unknown	18
KV 7	Ramses II	19	KV 38	Tuthmosis I	18
KV 8	Merenptah	19	KV 39	Unknown	18
KV 9	Ramses V/VI	20	KV 40	Unknown	18
KV 10	Ageneses	19	KV 41	Unknown	18
KV 11	Ramses III	20	KV 42	Unknown	18
KV 12	Unknown	18	KV 43	Tuthmosis IV	18
KV 13	Bay	19	KV 44	Unknown	18
KV 14	Tausert / Setnakht	19	KV 45	Unknown	18
KV 15	Seti II	19	KV 46	Yuya and Thuya	18
KV 16	Ramses I	19	KV 47	Siptah	19
KV 17	Seti I	19	KV 48	Amenemopet	18
KV 18	Ramses X	20	KV 49	Unknown	18
KV 19	Mentuherkhepshef	20	KV 50	Unknown	18
KV 20	Thutmoses I/ Hatshepsut	18	KV 51	Unknown	18
KV 21	Unknown	18	KV 52	Unknown	18
WV 22	Amenhotep III	18	KV 53	Unknown	18
WV 23	Ay	18	KV 54	Unknown	18
WV 24	Unknown	18	KV 55	Amarna Cache	18
WV 25	Unknown	18	KV 56	Unknown	18
KV 26	Unknown	18	KV 57	Horemheb	18
KV 27	Unknown	18	KV 58	Unknown	18
KV 28	Unknown	18	KV 59	Unknown	18
KV 29	Unknown	18	KV 60	Unknown	18
KV 30	Unknown	18	KV 61	Unknown	18
KV 31	Unknown	18	KV 62	Tutankhamun	18