Things just get lost and memories fade with time. This could have been the case with Tut Ankh Amun.
One last scenario. There are forces in the universe that we know little about. There could well have been some element in a metaphysical sense that wanted the tomb to be left alone until the year l922. I myself don’t put much stock in this, but I must admit that it is a possibility.
I think that when all is said and done, the answer is probably that some man made efforts were responsible in the beginning and as time passed, some strokes of fate protected the tomb. The actual location of the tomb in the Valley could be considered to be one of the most remote and uninviting places in all of Egypt. Doubtless these factors were taken into consideration when it began to be used for burials in the first place. It seemed to follow the belief that isolation was better than insulation. In the best of times, it would have been difficult to guard. Other burial locations in Egypt were very open and easily accessible. This certainly is not the case of the Valley of the Kings. If an army of guards were posted, this would only serve to draw attention to the possibility of great treasure.
Tut Ankh Amun’s tomb had steps and a passage of some 20 feet leading to the sealed entrance. Initially, this may have been open. After the second break in, the authorities were believed to have filled in both the steps and the passage. It took Carter many days to dig through this rock and stone.
Painted walls in the burial chamber.
Within the Valley, there were some sixty or more tombs, both of kings and nobles. To the best of our knowledge, all of these burial sites were plundered at some time in antiquity. It could have been days, months or many, many years after the fact that they were robbed. From the time of Tut Ankh Amun until the end of the l9th dynasty, the power structure was pretty much in place. After that, conditions in all of Egypt began to deteriorate. There were periods of anarchy. There were periods of foreign conquest and before what is now known as the late dynastic period and the Greek rule of Egypt, there were times when it may have been relatively easy to plunder the Valley. When one is able to observe the complexities of construction of the final resting place of the more powerful kings, the efforts made for the sole purpose of eluding anyone who wanted to disturb them are extremely impressive even by present day engineering standards. To enter and plunder such tombs as Seti I, Ra Meses II, for example would have taken knowledge, skill and manpower. None of the elaborate attempts to conceal the kings or their treasure succeeded. All of the nobles buried in the Valley had their tombs plundered. Many of them were relatively small and contained a tiny fraction of the riches of the pharaohs’ tombs. Why was Tut Ankh Amun’s tomb spared?
The attempt to hide it after the break ins was a factor. The protection of Horemheb was a factor. The control of the Valley maintained by the Ra Meses pharaohs was a factor. The passage of time was a factor. The fact that the workmen at the time of Ra Meses VI seemed to have no idea as to its location was a factor. They could have just as easily dumped their tailings on the other side of the entrance to the tomb they were construction if they had known that there was in fact a royal tomb near by. With the combination of all of these circumstances, there is, perhaps, some logical justification for its protection over the hundreds of years that followed the burial.
The advent of the 20th century brought with it more scientific knowledge in the field of archaeology and a more enlightened and sophisticated belief in the value of dealing with anything coming down to us from the ancient world with both respect and scholarship. For this, we are grateful. Scholars, students and all those interested in acquiring and enjoying knowledge have, and will profit from all of those who continue to dig, from those who continue to do research and indeed all of those who continue to speculate.
References
Tutankhamen, Wallis Budge, Bell Publishing, New York, l935
The Egyptians , Cyril Aldred, Thames & Hudson, London, l96l
The Discovery Of The Tomb of Tutankhamen, Howard Carter & A.C. Mace,
Dover Publishing, New York, l977
Tutankhamen, Descroches-Noblecourt, New York Graphic Society, Boston, l977
Tutankhamun, The Untold Story, Thomas Hoving, Simon and Schuster, New York, l978
Valley Of The Kings, John Romer, Henry Holt & Co. New York, l98l
The Boy Pharaoh, Tutankhamen, Noel Streatfield, Michael Joseph, London, l972
Behind The Sealed Door, Irene and Laurence Swinburne, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York
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