Where were the pharaohs buried?
In the Old and Middle Kingdoms (2628-1638 BC), Egyptian kings were buried in pyramids. About 50 royal pyramids have survived. They were built on the desert edge, west of the ancient capital of Memphis. The earliest is the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara; the later pyramids, such as the Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza, are smooth sided. Most of the pyramids are much smaller than the Great Pyramid and less well preserved; all were plundered in antiquity. In the New Kingdom (1504-1069 BC), the pharaohs built their tombs in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. Not pyramids, these tombs were tunnels cut deep into the natural rock. Of the 23 royal tombs in the Valley, only that of Tutankhamen, discovered in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter, kept its treasure, virtually intact, until modern times. After 1069 BC, there were no more royal burials in the Valley of the Kings. The kings of the following period (Dynasties 21 and 22, 1069-715 BC) built their tombs within the precincts of
