Pictures: Secret Tunnel Explored in Pharaoh's Tomb

Down the Rabbit Hole

Photograph by James Burke, Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

An ancient brick archway leads to the tunnel beneath Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I's tomb in a 1960 picture of workers clearing debris in hopes of reaching tomb treasures.

Knowledge of the tunnel dates back to 1817, when Venetian explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni discovered and excavated Seti I's tomb, Egyptian antiquities official Zahi Hawass says in a video from November 2009.

The 1960s excavations reached only about a 330 feet (100 meters) into the tunnel. To press on farther, the recent excavations had to take new precautions, most notably bracing the tunnel roof with metal supports to prevent collapse, as in mines.

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Published July 7, 2010

Snakes in a Tomb

Photograph courtesy Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities

Snakes await at the foot of a steep tunnel in a scene painted on the walls of Pharaoh Seti I's tomb, above the real-life tunnel (file photo).

The image adds to evidence that the tunnel may have been planned from the beginning, according to Egyptian archaeologist Mustafa Waziri. The scene may refer to the ancient Egyptian Book of Hours, in which a snake guides good people into the afterlife, Waziri said.

While the rest of the tomb is covered with ornate reliefs, the tunnel is almost entirely blank. Archaeologists, however, did find red graffiti on the steps and what appear to be instructions from the architect: "Move the doorjamb up, and make the passage wider."

(Also see "Nefertiti's Real, Wrinkled Face Found in Famous Bust?")

Published July 7, 2010

Kingly Cutaway

Illustration by Christopher Klein, National Geographic

Ancient Egyptian workers carve out and embellish the tomb of Seti I in a cutaway illustration.

Painstakingly chipped into high limestone cliffs above the Valley of the Kings, also home to the tomb of King Tut, Seti I's tomb is among the hardest to reach but most rewarding. The tomb is the most ornate and largest in the valley—and it's growing.

The newly excavated stairway beneath the tomb isn't the only tunnel to surprise archaeologists and expand the tomb's square footage in recent years. In 2008 experts announced they'd found a new tunnel in the tomb proper, which expanded the crypt's length from 328 feet (100 meters) to 446 feet (136 meters).

Published July 7, 2010

Pharaoh's Little Helper

Photograph courtesy Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities

Shabti, or ushabti, figurines—such as this one rescued from rubble in the newly excavated tunnel—became popular in the tombs of pharaohs starting in the 18th dynasty (1550-1069 B.C.). Seti I was the second pharaoh of the 19th dynasty (1295-1069 B.C.).

Ancient Egyptians believed shabtis, usually found in groups of several hundred, were embodiments of farmers and other laborers meant to aid the pharaoh in the afterlife.

Dated to the 19th dynasty, the shabtis in Seti I's tunnel were found alongside pottery from the same period and cartouches bearing Seti I's name (translate your name into hieroglyphs).

Published July 7, 2010

Nothing Left Behind

Photograph by Amr Abdallah Dalsh, Reuters

Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), ascends the upper reaches of the newly excavated secret tunnel of Seti I in August 2009.

Discovering that the tunnel was left unfinished solves an archaeological mystery. But, said SCA archaeologist Mustafa Waziri, "we were hoping the treasures of the king, Seti I, were there—this is the feeling that we had in the beginning.

"But we reached the end of the tunnel using scientific techniques without finding anything more, so I don't think we left something behind."

(Download Egypt wallpapers.)

Published July 7, 2010