Archaeologists may have found pharaoh’s last tomb

A British archaeologist and his team who uncovered the longlost tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh believe they are close to finding a second buried 23 metres beneath a man-made mountain.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

Last week Piers Litherland revealed he had found the tomb of Thutmose II, the last undiscovered king of the 18th dynasty, in the Western Valleys of the Theban Necropolis.

It was the first time in over a century that archaeologists have discovered the final resting place of another Egyptian pharaoh, since the unearthing of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.

However, Mr Litherland has now revealed they are trying to unearth a second site which they believe holds the pharaoh's mummified body and grave goods.

Archaeologists believe the first tomb was emptied six years after burial, due to a flood, and relocated to a second.

The experts believe this second tomb has been hiding in plain sight for 3,500 years, secretly buried beneath 23 metres of limestone flakes, rubble, ash and mud plaster and made to look like part of the mountain.

“There are 23 metres of a pile of man-made layers sitting above a point in the landscape where we believe – and we have other confirmatory evidence – there is a monument concealed beneath,” he told The Observer.