The tomb of King Thutmose II has been named one of 2025’s top 10 archaeological discoveries worldwide, according to the American magazine “Archaeology”.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery of the tomb back in February.
It is the first royal tomb to be found from the 18th Dynasty since the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.
The Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mohamed Ismail Khaled, said that this selection is further confirmation of the exceptional value of Egyptian archaeological discoveries and Egypt’s leading archaeological position.
He added that this is the fruit of cooperation and tireless efforts by Egyptian and foreign archaeological missions, which have resulted in groundbreaking discoveries that have contributed towards reinterpreting ancient Egyptian history and enriching human knowledge.
A grand discovery
The tomb of King Thutmose II was discovered by a joint Egyptian-British archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the New Kingdom Research Foundation during excavations and archaeological studies in the Theban Mountains, west of Luxor.
At the beginning of the excavations, the team believed the tomb might belong to the wife of one of the Thutmose kings, given its proximity to the tombs of the wives of King Thutmose III, as well as to the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut, which was prepared for her as a royal wife before she ascended to the throne and was buried in the Valley of the Kings.
However, with the completion of the excavations, the mission uncovered new and decisive archaeological evidence that identified the tomb’s owner as none other King Thutmose II himself. The excavations yielded fragments of mortar bearing remnants of inscriptions in blue and yellow stars, along with decorations and texts from the Book of Amduat.
The tomb features a simple architectural design, which served as a model for the architectural designs of the tombs of several kings who ruled Egypt after Thutmose II during the Eighteenth Dynasty.
