With the story of the finding of the tomb of Tutankhamun
the modern history of the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings closes for the
present, though we have no warrant for the belief that the interruption is more
than a temporary one .
Since Pococke's visit in 1737 ( account published in
1743 ), it had been a chequered story . Bruce, the famous Abyssinian traveler,
who visited the valley in 1769, found the tombs partly occupied by a most intractable
set of rascals, whose behaviour showed that Pococke's sheikh, a quarter of a
century before, had ample warrant for his haste to leave the habitation of
these bandits . Bruce made copies of the figures of harpers in the tomb (
Ramses III ) which still goes by his name ; but on his departure from the
valley he and his servant had to stand off the native population with a musket
and a blunderbuss . Napoleon's savants had to get the help of the army and to
drive out the natives with artillery and burning brush-wood before work on the
tombs was practicable .
In Belzoni's time, 1815-20, the danger had shifted,
and while the excavator had more to dread from his fellow and rival excavators,
who as Mr. Howard Carter has put it, " laid for him with a gun " on
the slightest difference of opinion, the main risk was now to the tombs and
their contents, and arose from the somewhat summary methods of the early
explorers of the valley . Of these, Belzoni, was perhaps the best, and Mr.
Carter has given him the certificate that " on the whole his work was
extraordinarily good " ; but when we remember that this work included the
opening of sealed tomb-doors by means of a battering-ram of palm logs, and
testing whether the hair of mummies was real or supposititious by the simple
process of tugging it until it came away in the hand, it is evident that "
on the whole ", like charity, covers a multitude of sins . Henry Salt, Bernardino
Drovetti, Giuseppe Passalacqua and others were Belzoni's contemporaries in
these great days ; and in spite of the defects of their methods their work has
filled the galleries of European Museums with many of the best specimens which
adorn them .
The dawn of the scientific period came with
Champollion, and was distinguished by such names as those of Robert Hay, Ippolito
Rosellini, Sir John Gardner Wilkinson ( the first to number the royal tombs ),
and Alexander Henry Rhind . Then in 1844 the great German Expedition under Karl
Richard Lepsius made its elaborate survey of the valley, and its partial
clearance of the tomb of Ramses II and that of Meneptah . With the thoroughness
of Lepsius, it seemed to be taken for granted that the possibilities of the
valley had been exhausted, and investigation slumbered for thirty years until
the prosperity of the " Abd el-Rasul " family led to the discovery of
the cache at El-Deir el-Bahari which had been the family bank for years . With
that resounding discovery we are in touch with modern days .
The number of tombs in the valley has been very
variously estimated in different ages . In Strabo's time ( a Greek travelers
from the 1st century BCE, 64 BC – 24 AD ) the estimate was that forty
tombs were open ; Diodorus speaks of seventeen, and mentions that the priestly
register of tombs recorded forty-seven ; Napoleon's Expedition mentions eleven
; Belzoni's account admits that there may be eighteen, if some of the lesser
tombs, which he does not allow to be royal, be reckoned ; Pococke enumerates
fourteen, most of which are still recognizable from his careful description .
The present numbering goes up to sixty-two ; but of
these a certain number are not in any sense royal tombs, and some are only
small and uninscribed burial-pits . The number of tombs at present accessible
is only seventeen ; and while the enthusiast may wish to inspect all of these,
the ordinary visitor will probably feel that he is satisfied with the sight of
perhaps eight of them . Mr. Weigall's list of the seven tombs best worth seeing
is as follows ( Guide to the Antiquities of Upper Egypt, p.
185 ) :
·
No. 35 : Tomb of Amenhotep II as an
example of a mid-18th Dynasty tomb, in which the royal mummy still
lies in its sarcophagus .
·
No. 16 : Tomb of Ramses I, shows the
development of the entrance and passage, and of the painting .
·
No. 17 : Tomb of Seti I, the finest tomb
in the valley, with admirable 19th Dynasty relief work and paintings
.
·
No. 8 : Tomb of Meneptah with the
beautiful sarcophagus .
·
No. 11 : Tomb of Ramses III, imposing,
though of inferior workmanship to the earlier work of the tomb of Seti I .
·
No. 9 : Tomb of Ramses V, usurped by
Ramses VI, good example of late Ramesside work .
·
No. 6 : Tomb of Ramses IX, one of the
latest tombs of the valley .
These tombs are all lighted by electricity, so that
they are seen under the best conditions . The tomb of Tutankhamun No. 62 is
also lighted, and should, of course, be added to the above list, as being of
exceptional interest in view of what is left in situ, even after the removal to
Cairo of the most precious of its treasure .
Of the remaining accessible but unlighted tombs, Nos.
1-4 may be disregarded, as being of little interest : 14, 15, 19 may also be
omitted unless there is plenty of time to spare, though 19 is an interesting
example of a princely tomb . No. 34, the tomb of Tuthmosis III, is worthy of a
visit, were it only for the sake of Egypt's greatest Pharaoh ; but it is
somewhat difficult of access . No. 47 has the remain of a finely painted
ceiling and other good painted work, but is otherwise of no great interest .
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