You know what they say about ancient Egyptian tombs – they’re just like buses. You don’t find any for 100 years, and then suddenly you find two within days of each other.
That’s what’s happened just outside of Luxor, in the Theban Necropolis, as archaeologists now believe they’ve found two tombs dedicated to Thutmose II.
The first tomb was found behind a waterfall, about 3km west of the Valley of the Kings, and Egyptologists believe it flooded and Thutmose’s mummy had to be relocated.
His tomb was the first to be found since boy king Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered by British archeologists in 1922.
They found an inscription near the first tomb, suggesting his body was moved to a new location by his wife and half-sister Hatshepsut.
It was full of debris and had barely anything else inside, supporting their theory that it flooded and was emptied within six years of the pharaoh’s death in 1479BC.
Now archeologists think they’ll find Thutmose II’s mummy in the second tomb – and a team is working to excavate it by hand.
Archaeologist Piers Litherland believes the tomb was buried beneath 23metres of limestone, rubble, ash and mud plaster and made to look like it was part of the mountain, keeping it hidden for centuries.
He told the Observer: ‘There are 23m of a pile of man-made layers sitting above a point in the landscape where we believe – and we have other confirmatory evidence – there is a monument concealed beneath.
‘Among that ash, we found the remains of beer jars and chisel ends used by workmen who made tombs. So there’s no doubt these layers are man-made.
‘We’ve tried to tunnel into it, we’ve tried to shave away the sides, but there are overhanging rocks, so it’s too dangerous.
‘The best candidate for what is hidden underneath this enormously expensive, in terms of effort, pile is the second tomb of Thutmose II.’
The mummy of a 30-year-old man found in 1881 in Deir el-Bahari had previously been identified as Thutmose II.
But Piers now thinks that person was too old when he died, with some Egyptologists believing he only reigned for three or four years, and died shortly after fathering his only son.
‘You dream about such things. But like winning the lottery, you never believe it will happen to you,’ he added, describing his feelings about potentially finding Thutmose II’s true mummy once they finish excavating the second tomb.
Thutmose II is best known for being Queen Hatshepsut’s husband. She is considered to be one of Egypt’s greatest pharaohs, and one of the only women who ruled in her own right.
She became pharaoh after her husband died and his son, her stepson, Thutmose III, was too young to take to the throne.
Thutmose III became known as ‘the Napoleon of Egypt’ for his violent conquests and expansion across north east Africa, and he also tried to erase his stepmother’s reign from the history books, even literally having her name chiseled from temple walls.
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