© Getty Images

The greatest Egyptian archaeological discovery in over 100 years -

The discovery of a royal tomb that archaeologists have confirmed is that of Thutmose II is being hailed as Egypt's biggest archaeological discovery since 1922.

© Getty Images

A 3,500-year-old tomb -

Egyptian archaeologists, alongside British experts, unearthed the 3,500-year-old tomb in the Western Valleys of the Theban Necropolis near the city of Luxor.

© Getty Images

The tomb of King Thutmose II -

The team identified the tomb as belonging to King Thutmose II, an ancient Egyptian king who reigned sometime between 2000 and 1001 BCE.

© Getty Images

Misinterpretation -

The entrance and main corridor to the tomb was first discovered in 2022 in an area associated with the resting places of royal women, the so-called Valley of the Queens, and it was originally assumed what they'd found belonged to one of the wives of the kings.

© Getty Images

Connection with Queen Hatshepsut -

This belief was based on its proximity to Queen Hatshepsut's tomb and the tombs of King Thutmose III's wives. Indeed, as we shall see, Hatshepsut figures significantly in this fascinating story.

© Getty Images

Three-year dig -

It took the team a further three years to work through a deep entrance staircase, collapsed ceilings, and clear away flood debris before they reached the burial chamber, the interior of which was decorated—the sign of a pharaoh. However, there were no artifacts salvaged, save for a few fragments of alabaster. What might have been included in the tomb remains a mystery.

© NL Beeld

Last in a missing link -

It's the first time a pharaoh's tomb has been found in Luxor since Tutankhamun's was uncovered over a century ago (pictured). It is also the last missing king's tomb of the 18th dynasty to be revealed.

© Getty Images

Who was Thutmose II? -

Thutmose II was the fourth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt. Debate surrounds the length of time he reigned. Some experts suggest he ruled for 13 years; others have suggested his time in power lasted just three years. He died before he was 30.

© Getty Images

Thoth -

The name Thutmose derives from ancient Egyptian and means "Thoth is born." Thoth is a deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis and worshipped as the god of the moon, wisdom, knowledge, writing, hieroglyphs, science, magic, art, and judgment.

© Getty Images

Thutmose I -

Thutmose II was born c. 1492 BCE to Thutmose I, his predecessor, and his minor wife, Mutnofret.

© NL Beeld

Royal marriage -

In ancient Egypt history, a minor wife, also known as a secondary queen, refers to a woman of more common standing rather than one achieving the status of great royal wife. Thutmose II was therefore a lesser son of Thutmose I and chose to marry his fully royal half-sister Hatshepsut, herself later to become one of Egypt's greatest pharaohs.

© NL Beeld

What we know about Thutmose II -

Little is known about Thutmose II. His few military campaigns include deploying an army to suppress a revolt in Nubia, Egypt's territory to the south, and sending a punitive expedition to Palestine against some nomads.

© Getty Images

Husband of Hatshepsut -

Thutmose II is in fact best known for being the husband of Queen Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was one of just a few female pharaohs in thousands of years of ancient Egyptian history, and she wielded great influence over her young husband's life—and death.

© Getty Images

The real power behind the throne -

Indeed, some archaeologists believe that Hatshepsut was the real power behind the throne during Thutmose II's rule.

© Getty Images

Minimum monuments -

Monuments constructed in the name of Thutmose II are few and far between, inscriptions even less so. This lends weight to the theory that his reign was short, perhaps only three or four years.

© Getty Images

Pictorial obscurity -

His pictorial obscurity can also be ascribed to the fact that his wife and successor, Hatshepsut, placed her own name on monuments begun by Thutmose II.

© NL Beeld

Thutmose III -

Furthermore, Thutmose III, fathered by Thutmose II and a minor wife named Iset, later reassigned in his own name monuments originally created to honor Thutmose II.

© Getty Images

A gateway for a king -

During his reign, Thutmose II did start construction of a limestone gateway across the forecourt in front of the Fourth Pylon at the Karnak Temple Complex near Luxor. The monument was not completed until the time of Thutmose III.

© Getty Images

Dismantled -

However, under Amenhotep III, ninth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, the gateway was dismantled and its building blocks became part of the foundation of the Third Pylon.

© NL Beeld

Gaston Maspero (1846–1916) -

The discovery of Thutmose II's tomb did not yield a mummy, and there's a very good reason for this: there wasn't one! In 1881, renowned French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero and a team of archaeologists discovered a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located at Deir el-Bahari on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor.

© Public Domain

Discovery at Deir el-Bahari -

Maspero and his team, seen here at the entrance to the tomb, had pinpointed a veritable treasure trove of ancient Egyptian artifacts.

© Public Domain

The Royal Cache -

The tomb was designated DB320, later TT320, but quickly became known as the Royal Cache. Inside were mummified remains of more than 50 kings, queens, and other royal family members of the New Kingdom, together with a significant amount of funeral equipment and other artifacts. The mummies included those of Ramesses I and Ramesses II, Amenhotep I, and Thutmose I, Thutmose II, and Thutmose III.

© Public Domain

Sensational find -

The discovery of the Royal Cache caused a sensation. Realizing the rarity and significance of the find, Maspero set about documenting the mummies, all of which eventually became a highlight of the new Egyptian Museum, then in Giza. Maspero himself was a director of the museum, from 1899 to 1914.

© Getty Images

The Egyptian Museum -

The Egyptian Museum today is located in Cairo and houses the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world. With 107 halls, visitors can explore the history of Pharaonic Egypt through the 120,000 artifacts exhibited, from Narmer to  Akhenaten and Ramses. On the upper floor is the famous collection of King Tutankhamen treasures.

© Getty Images

Queen of the Nile -

And what of Thutmose II's wife, Queen Hatshepsut? After the death of her husband, she eventually assumed the position of pharaoh and reigned over a period of great prosperity and sustained peace.

© NL Beeld

Karnak Temple Complex -

An enthusiastic architect, Hatshepsut oversaw ambitious large-scale construction projects such as the Karnak Temple Complex (pictured).

© Getty Images

Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut -

Most famously, she ordered the construction of the famous Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, located near where her husband's mummified remains were discovered and where his tomb has recently been unearthed.

Sources: (BBC History) (CNN) (Al Jazeera) (The Conversation) (Britannica) 

See also: The women who ruled ancient Egypt

© Getty Images