NeoKemetAI
Documentary · Ancient Engineering

Valley of the Kings: How They Carved Tombs Into a Mountain

Valley of the Kings: How They Carved Tombs Into a Mountain
23 min

For five hundred years the kings of the New Kingdom were buried in one dry valley on the west bank of the Nile, in corridors cut by hand deep into the limestone. This documentary follows the men who cut them, the crew of Deir el-Medina: why the pyramids were given up, why the natural pyramid of el-Qurn watched over the valley, how a tomb was planned on papyrus, cut by lamplight with copper and bronze chisels and painted with the books of the underworld, and why almost every tomb was robbed except one.

Chapters

  1. 0:00 Into the mountain
  2. 1:33 The problem with pyramids
  3. 3:53 Choosing the mountain
  4. 6:30 The village of the tomb builders
  5. 9:26 Cutting the rock
  6. 13:26 Painting the dark
  7. 16:49 The robbers came anyway
  8. 19:20 The one that survived
  9. 21:41 Echoes in the rock

Visuals in NeoKemet films are AI-assisted archaeological reconstructions, not photographs or footage. Narration is written for the channel and sources are listed in each video's YouTube description.

18th Dynasty

Thutmose III

The Napoleon of Egypt · c. 1479–1425 BCE

Crowned as a child and overshadowed for two decades by his stepmother Hatshepsut, Thutmose III went on to become Egypt's greatest military king. His victory at Megiddo opened…

18th Dynasty

Tutankhamun

The boy king · c. 1336–1327 BCE

Born Tutankhaten, probably a son of Akhenaten, the young king changed his name to Tutankhamun as the court returned to Thebes and Memphis and the old gods were restored.

Nineteenth-century photograph of the seated colossi of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel.

19th Dynasty

Ramesses II

Ramesses the Great · c. 1279–1213 BCE

The third king of the 19th Dynasty, Ramesses II ruled for 66 years and outlived many of his children, becoming, in later memory, the model of what a pharaoh should be. Nine later…

Painted copy of a tomb scene: Ramesses III leads his young son before the goddess Hathor.

20th Dynasty

Ramesses III

Last great pharaoh of the New Kingdom · c. 1184–1153 BCE

Ramesses III, second king of the 20th Dynasty and son of its founder Setnakhte, is often called the last great pharaoh of the New Kingdom. He fought off the migrating Sea Peoples…

KV34

Tomb of Thutmose III

Valley of the Kings, western Thebes

Cut high in a cleft of the cliffs and reached by a steep stair, KV34 was designed to be hidden. Its oval burial chamber is painted with the complete Amduat, the guide to the sun…

Cut-away 3D model of the tomb of Seti I descending through the hillside, from the entrance stairway to the pillared burial chamber and the tunnel beyond.

KV17

Tomb of Seti I

Valley of the Kings, western Thebes

Seti I, father of Ramesses II, commissioned the most ambitious tomb in the valley. The Theban Mapping Project describes it as the longest and deepest tomb in the valley, and…

KV7

Tomb of Ramesses II

Valley of the Kings, western Thebes

One of the largest tombs in the valley, KV7 was visible in antiquity but has been repeatedly flooded, leaving its decoration badly damaged. A French mission led by Christian…

Cut-away 3D model of the tomb of Thutmose IV, whose corridors turn twice at right angles before reaching the pillared burial chamber.

KV43

Tomb of Thutmose IV

Valley of the Kings, western Thebes

Thutmose IV, father of Amenhotep III, was buried in a tomb whose axis bends twice at right angles, a layout typical of the mid 18th Dynasty. Only two rooms were painted: the well…

Cut-away 3D model of Tutankhamun's tomb beneath the valley floor, showing the stairway, corridor, antechamber, annexe, painted burial chamber and treasury.

KV62

Tomb of Tutankhamun

Valley of the Kings, western Thebes

Small for a royal tomb, KV62 may originally have been prepared for someone else and adapted after the king's early death. Only the burial chamber is decorated, with scenes…