Luxor Thutmose II Tomb Among Top 10 Archaeological Discoveries of 2025

The tomb of King Thutmose II on Luxor’s West Bank has been ranked among the top 10 archaeological discoveries of 2025 by Archaeology magazine. The discovery was announced by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in February. It is the first royal tomb from Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty to be identified since the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. One of the inscriptions uncovered inside the tomb was featured on the cover of Archaeology magazine’s January to February 2026 issue. The tomb was located by a joint Egyptian and British archaeological mission representing the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the New Kingdom Research Foundation during excavation and research at Tomb C4 in the Theban Mountain on Luxor’s West Bank. Early in the excavation, researchers considered that the burial might belong to a royal consort from the Thutmoside period due to its proximity to the tombs of the wives of King Thutmose III and to the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut, which had originally been prepared for her as a royal wife before she became king and was later buried in the Valley of the Kings. Continued work revealed decisive archaeological evidence identifying the tomb’s owner as King Thutmose II. Finds from the site include fragments of plaster with traces of blue inscriptions and yellow stars symbolising the night sky, along with decorative elements and texts from the Book of Imyduat, a funerary text associated with royal burials. The tomb’s simple architectural layout is considered an early prototype for royal designs adopted by several later Eighteenth Dynasty kings.