It was only about a week ago that archaeologists in Egypt announced the record-setting discovery of the long-los tomb of Thutmose II, the fourth pharaoh of ancient Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, who ruled in the mid-15th century BC. But in a declaration absolutely no one saw coming, the same team of Egyptologists has announced their likely discovery of yet another royal tomb linked to Thutmose II, whose total number of final resting places apparently matches the Roman numeral attached to his name.
More work will be needed to completely confirm the authenticity of the second tomb. But British archaeologist Piers Litherland, the field director at the New Kingdom Research Foundation that has been working with Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities in the latest round round of history-making explorations, was confident enough to release the news of this additional discovery to the public and the press.
“You dream about such things,” Litherland told the Guardian Observer, in reference to the possible discovery of both Thutmose II tombs. “But like winning the lottery, you never believe it will happen to you.”
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For This Thutmose, the ‘II’ Stands for Two Tombs
The first tomb of Thutmose II was actually discovered in 2022, beneath a waterfall in the Theban region of Luxor, just two miles or so (three kilometers) west of the famous Valley of the Kings. It was only identified as the tomb of the second Thutmose recently, however, after a close inspection and analysis had been completed.
And now this feat has been repeated, as once again Litherland’s team’s historical detective work has apparently identified the location of another Thutmose II burial spot.
Entrance to the first tomb of Thutmose II in the Thebes region. (Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities).
The spot in question, according to Litherland, can be found at the bottom of a large pile of ancient debris, made up of limestone pieces, ash, mud plaster and other types of rubble, a pile that resembles a small mountain.
“There are 23 meters [75 feet] 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,” Litherland said. “The best candidate for what is hidden underneath this enormously expensive, in terms of effort, pile is the second tomb of Thutmose II.”
Perhaps even topping this assertion, Litherland expressed his belief that the new tomb, once it has been dug out and opened, will reveal the mummfied remains of Thutmose II. This would certainly represent a remarkable discovery if it turned out to be true, and it would contradict the claims of other experts who say that another mummy found in the Deir el-Bahari cache (a group burial of ancient Egyptian pharaohs) in 1881 was Thutmose II. Doubts about this identification have been raised before, and it would of course have to be abandoned if Litherland’s claim is eventually verified.
To put the gravity of this new find in perspective, before the discovery of the first Thutmose II tomb it had been more than 100 years since archaeologists had found a pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt (Tutankhamun, 1922, by famed British archaeologist Howard Carter). Now, just in the month of February 2025 alone, two such tombs have apparently been identified, which is even more unusual since both belonged to the same individual.
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So how did Thutmose II merit having two final resting places?
When the Egyptologists were searching for the initial tomb, they found an inscription that suggested the pharaoh’s body and grave goods had been moved to a second location nearby, at the behest of Thutmose II's wife and half-sister, Hatshepsut, following a flood that occurred just six years after the king’s burial. There is no question that the original tomb was flooded, and the damage this caused was one of the reasons why it wasn’t recognized as a royal burial chamber when it was first found in 2022.
As for the second tomb, the British-Egyptian excavation team is now in the process of removing the debris pile to get at it, after attempts to tunnel into it were declared "too dangerous".
"We should be able to take the whole thing down in about another month," Litherland predicted.
Finding the First Tomb: The Discovery of a Lifetime
The first tomb was found in an area where many royal women had been buried, which is one reason why it wasn’t connected to Thutmose II when it was first found. But once it had been cleared out and examined more thoroughly, the New Kingdom Research Foundation/Supreme Council of Antiquities team were astonished to find it had been decorated with the sign of the pharaohs.
"Part of the ceiling was still intact: a blue-painted ceiling with yellow stars on it. And blue-painted ceilings with yellow stars are only found in kings' tombs," Litherland explained.
Interior of the first tomb, with its blue and yellow ceiling identifying it has having belonged to an Egyptian king. (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities).
Needless to say, he was overwhelmed by the significance of his find.
"The emotion of getting into these things is just one of extraordinary bewilderment, because when you come across something you're not expecting to find, it's emotionally extremely turbulent really," he stated.
Thutmose II is best known for being the husband of Queen Hatshepsut, one of Egypt's few female pharaohs and also recognized as one of its greatest. The feats of his father and son, the aptly named Thutmose I and Thutmose III, also surpassed his. But none of these individuals had two royal tombs, which is a distinction unique to the Thutmose in the middle.
Top image: Inside of the first tomb of Thutmose II.
Source: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
By Nathan Falde
