The unearthing of the long-lost tomb of ancient Egyptian King Thutmose II is being described as one of the most important archaeological discoveries in recent years.
Thutmose II's mummy was discovered in 1881 but his original tomb was unknown until now.
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities announced Tuesday the discovery of the tomb of ancient King Thutmose II, who is thought to have reigned from about 1493 BC to 1479 BC.
It is the first royal burial chamber discovered since King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 and the “last missing tomb of the kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty in Egypt,” authorities said in a Facebook post.
A joint team of British and Egyptian archaeologists spent two years excavating a tomb, dubbed No. C4, located just west of Luxor, initially believing it belonged to the wife of an ancient king.
But earlier this year, the archaeologists found evidence identifying Thutmose II as the “deceased king” and the “owner of the cemetery,” said Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Egypt’s Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Archaeological Archaeology.
Tile fragments depict blue engravings and yellow stars of the sky, as well as motifs and paragraphs from the book "Amy Dawat," one of the most important religious books dedicated to the tombs of kings in ancient Egypt.
The fourth Pharaoh of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, King Thutmose II died before the age of 30, say historians. He is generally considered less historically important than his father, Thutmose I; his son, Thutmose III; and his half-sister and wife, Hatshepsut, often considered the real power behind the throne
Archaeologists found Thutmose II’s mummified remains two centuries ago, but his original tomb had never been found until now. Preliminary studies suggest that the essential contents of the tomb had been relocated to another location during ancient Egyptian times due to flooding that submerged the cemetery shortly after King Thutmose II’s death.
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