By: Ali Abu Dashish
Searching for the Pharaohs secrets is always done through excavations, reading papyrus' texts, and inscriptions on tombs' walls. These sources give several and important details about the Pharaohs' life.
When people carefully reads the Egyptian history, they will feel that they are traveling in another world , enjoying an unbelievable adventure.
Adventures at the Valley
One of the most important researchers who is always keen on finding new details about the Pharaoh's life in Egypt is the archeologist Zahi Hawass.
Hawass said "I felt a strong awe when I stepped in the Valley of the Kings for the first time. Maybe because the valley did not yet reveal its secrets! Still there are many tombs that are not discovered there, especially because the western part is the ideal place for burial and more suitable for entombment than the eastern part."
"I started to tour the western part for the first time when fellow archeologists started to think about working there in 2009. I realized that archeologists did not embark on excavating there because of the massive sand quantities encountered there, a fact that will absorb the budget of any archeological mission.
" Also at the site there are many large and collapsed rocks that represent an obstacle against excavations' process," said Hawass. "The western part's terrains are very complicated. It is considered one of the giant valleys composed of a small, narrow, and low valley topped by another enormous and massive one."
"I noticed many cracks, clefts, and faults found between the rocks because of the frequent floods and rains. As I mentioned before, the large quantities of ruby that consists of sand and stone blocks are obstacles against any archeological work. To discover a new tomb, because of the western part's nature, this goal requires high financial costs and long time."
Speaking about the western part's advantages, it is an ideal place to hide a tomb, bearing in mind that a pharaoh's principle goal was to protect and hide his tomb far from thieves. In this regard the valley is naturally protected, it is located far from the Nile Valley, it contains rocks made of limestone, and it contains four pyramidal picks while the eastern part has only one!
Because pharaohs wanted to preserve the idea of burying below the hierarchical shape according to the old and middle states' traditions, a pyramidal peak was one of the most important conditions for digging a royal tomb. As both, the eastern and western parts, include natural pyramidal peaks, pharaohs choose the Valley of the Kings to bury dead bodies.
According to what mentioned in the religious books, especially what is written at the pyramids, pharaohs considered hierarchy as a staircase that the soul would use to move to the sky.
The valley has another advantage. It is situated close to the workers' village at a city near the western part. Distance between king Ay's tomb and king Sengem's tomb at the city is only 1600 meters.
Egyptian workers were walking this distance estimated at only 40 minutes. It was even discovered that they were walking to reach the mountain's peak at the western part. They then constructed downhill stairs to enter the valley. As the western part is close to the village where they resided, there was no reason to live there. On the other side, in the houses where workers stayed while constructing tombs were found in the eastern part.
Translator: Maydaa Abo El-Nadar
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