What happened to the royal mummies?
After the pharaohs abandoned the Valley of the Kings, tomb robbery became a problem. To safeguard the royal mummies, the new kings (who were buried at Tanis) ordered the priests to remove the royal mummies from their individual tombs and hide them where they could be better protected. In the process, the mummies were stripped of their remaining gold, which was recycled into the economy. Rewrapped and labeled, the mummies were placed in new or refurbished coffins and reburied. In 1881 a first group of royal mummies (including Ramesses II) were discovered in a well-concealed private tomb at Thebes. In 1898 a second batch of royal mummies (including Amenhotep III) was found in the tomb of Amenhotep II. All the royal mummies, except for that of Tutankhamen, which still rests in his tomb, are now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
