Word: tombes
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That hope is based largely on the paintings and carvings adorning the tomb walls. Because of floods, vibrations from buses, and a leaky sewage pipe built over the tomb's entrance, only hand-size fragments remain of some of the scenes painted by ancient artists. Others, however, are nearly whole. "Some of the paint," says Weeks, "is as bright and fresh as the day it was applied...
Hieroglyphics above each painting make it clear that the pharaoh's first, second, seventh and 15th sons, at the very least, were buried in Tomb 5. Many of the engravings show Ramesses presenting one or another of the newly deceased young men to Re-Harakhty, the god of the sun; Horus, the falcon-headed god of the sky; or Hathor, goddess of motherhood, who is often depicted as a cow. These scenes reflect the belief that pharaohs were demigods while alive and that life was merely a short-term way station on the road to full deity...
Anything that researchers learn in Tomb 5 about Ramesses' oldest son, Amen-hir-khopshef, could be especially significant to religious scholars. Although Egyptian records don't even mention the empire's dealings with the troublesome slaves known as the Israelites, Exodus 12: 29 says that "at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon." Cautions Weeks: "I'm not saying that we'll prove the validity of the Bible." But scholars are hungry...
...pharaoh access to the netherworld; tiny statuettes known as ushabti, which would come alive to help the dead king perform labors for the gods; offerings of food and wine; jewelry and even furniture to make the afterlife more comfortable. It's likely, say scholars, that Ramesses II's tomb was originally far richer and more elaborate than King...
Unlike several other tombs in the valley, Ramesses' has never been fully excavated. A French team is clearing it now, and the entire tomb could be ready for visitors within five years, but it is not expected to offer archaeologists any surprises. Tomb 5, though, is a completely different story. "It's unique," asserts Weeks. "We've never found a multiple burial of a pharaoh's children. And for most pharaohs, we have no idea at all what happened to their children." Archaeologists either have to assume that Ramesses II buried his children in a unique way, Weeks says...