The Complete Valley of the Kings: Tombs and Treasures of Egypt's Greatest Pharaohs.

• Author: Leprohon, Ronald J.
• Position: Review

By NICHOLAS REEVES and RICHARD H. WILKINSON. London: THAMES AND HUDSON, 1995. Pp. 224, 532 illustrations, 76 in color. $29.95.

Here is a study on the burial places of the rulers of Egypt from the New Kingdom, and what a handsome volume it is. Much like the first author's earlier Complete Tutankhamun (London: 1990), the present book under review belongs to the "everything you always wanted to know about . . ." category. For all those interested in the burial practices in New Kingdom Egypt, this should now be the first book to consult.

The volume is a model of clear presentation. The information is easily located in well-defined chapters subdivided into small sections, and offered in a well-written and concise manner. After introductory remarks, a chronological table, and a color map of the Valley of the Kings, the first chapter offers sections on the development of the royal tomb from the Old Kingdom pyramids onward, the topography of western Thebes, the geology of the Valley of the Kings, the community of Deir el-Medina, the symbolism of the layout of a royal tomb, the logistics of hewing out a tomb from the living rock, the graffiti and ostraca left by contemporary visitors to the site, the religious symbolism behind the decoration of the tombs, a survey of the objects brought into the tombs by their owners, and the funerary rites accompanying a royal burial.

The second chapter begins with an examination of the Greek and Roman tourists who visited the site, and goes on with the adventures and achievements of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century travelers to the site. These range from early antiquarians and dilettantes to the more scientific expeditions of the late nineteenth century. These sections are written in a vivid fashion, which clearly communicates the excitement of the times, when a new scholarly discipline was being formulated. The chapter ends with sections on Howard Carter's early years, on the tumultuous career of Theodore Davis, and on the Lord Carnarvon-Howard Carter years that culminated in the finding of Tutankhamun's tomb. Since the latter discovery generally left archaeologists feeling that nothing was left to unearth in the Valley of the Kings, the authors wisely ended their chapter on excavation here, preferring to mention the newer discoveries within the description of the actual tombs or in the epilogue.

The third chapter is a tomb-by-tomb description of the burials in the Valley of the Kings. Proceeding...