10 Facts about the valley of the kings

1. The valley of the kings consists of a east and west valley. The east valley is 2 hectares and the west valley is very small, no one knows the exact size yet, as it hasn't been excavated as much.

2. The valley of the kings is famous for being the resting place of tutankhamun and the ramesses family. Tutankhamun who is kv62 was the only tomb to be intact with all of its funeral equipment and furniture as well as the sarcophagus and mummie. The tomb had been broken into but luckily they didn't get very far due to rubble in the corridor, which was put there to deter robbers.

3. The valley of the kings was used for about 500 years, for the pharaohs and noble people of the new kingdom. Some tombs were also built for there families, such as ramesses II he built a tomb for his sons, which consisted of 120 corridors.

4.the valley of the kings was first built in by hatshepsut, some say thutmoses built here first. Hatshepsuts tomb is famous for the entrance being opposite the entrance to her temple. This wasn't done by anyone else, but that is still up for discussion.

5. The west valley in the valley of the kings has 2 tombs that have been found. One known as kv63, which was like a storage facility with lots of wood coffins and other funeral items. Some contain the name of pa-aten which means it could date back to the amarna period. There has also been 2 further entrances to tombs found but no excavation as of yet.

6. The area of kv63, kv 55 and kv63 were in a flood bed, so when the heavy rain and thunderstorms hit, they buried these tombs under 5metres of debri. A few years later when the pharaohs worked this out, they blocked up some of the ways the water got in and pushed it further down the valley, so the water didn't sit in the area of kv62, kv63 and kv55.

7. The earliest tombs in the valley of the kings were based in the cliffs and scree slopes, so that the water fall would pass them by. Sadly these spaces were soon taken so thats why some tombs like kv62 were on the bottom of the valley, after kv62 thats when they started building on higher ground again.

8. In the earlier tombs in the valley, they were very long with several corridors and atleast one 90degree turn, some also had a cartouche shaped burial room. Later on from tutankhamuns reign the tombs got shorter and smaller, there was no 90 degree turn or anything anymore. They also tried to stop the flooding by putting in a well room to drain it off.

9. The late tombs in the valley were decorated with a form of book, such as the book of caverns, the book of night and then the book of the heavens, they all basically describe what the journey to the after life looks like, or the journey of the night as its called. Most paintings depict their families waiting for them in the afterlife.

10. The tombs are called kings valley 1 upto 63 because it goes in order of discovery, a lot of the tombs were empty or had animal burial's. There is still a lot of information to be found out about the valley of the kings and its residents.