Ancient tomb discovered in Egypt contains 50 mummies

Scientists have discovered an ancient tomb in Egypt's Valley of Kings that contains dozens of mummies, including those of royal children, that date back to the 14th century BC.
Close to the royal tombs in the valley, excavations by Egyptologists from the University of Basel have identified the burial place of several children as well as other family members of two pharaohs.
Scientists have been working on tomb KV 40 in the Valley of the Kings close to the city of Luxor for three years.
From the outside, only a depression in the ground indicated the presence of a subterranean tomb.

The Egyptologists assumed that it was a non-royal tomb dating back to the 18th dynasty.
They first cleared the six metre deep shaft which gives access to five subterranean chambers and then recovered the countless remains and fragments of funerary equipment.

Scientists discovered mummified remains of at least 50 people in the center chamber and in three side chambers.
Based on inscriptions on storage jars, Egyptologists were able to identify and name over 30 people.
Titles such as "Prince" and "Princess" distinguish the buried as members of the families of the two pharaohs Thutmosis IV and Amenhotep III who are also buried in the Valley of Kings.

Both pharaohs belonged to the 18th dynasty (New Kingdom) and ruled in the 14th century BC, researchers said.
The analysis of the hieratic inscriptions (related to hieroglyphics) revealed that tomb KV 40 contains the mummified remains of at least 8 hitherto unknown royal daughters, four princes and several foreign ladies.
Most of them were adults, however, mummified children were also found.
"We discovered a remarkable number of carefully mummified new-borns and infants that would have normally been buried much simpler," said Professor Susanne Bickel.
"We believe that the family members of the royal court were buried in this tomb for a period of several decades," said Bickel.

The identification of people buried in the proximity of the royal tombs gives the team of researchers important insight into who had the privilege to spend eternal life close to the pharaoh.
"Roughly two thirds of the tombs in the Kings' Valley are non-royal. Because the tombs do not have inscriptions and have been heavily plundered we so far have only been able to speculate on who lies buried in them," said Bickel.