ROYAL CACHES

During Dynasty 21, the royal mummies in the Valley of the Kingswhose tombshad been plundered were gathered together and reburied in two separate locations, one group in a cliff tomb near Deirel-Bahriand a second in the tomb of Amenhotep II. The first group was discovered by local residents in the 1870s, who sold some of the equipment, leading to the discovery of the tomb in 1881. The second group was recovered in 1898 from KV35. The mummies include most rulers of Dynasty 18, Dynasty 19, and Dynasty 20, as well as some queens, princes, and princesses of Dynasty 18 and members of the family of the high priest of Amun of Dynasty 21. Most are identified by inscriptions, but it is not absolutely clear that all the identifications made by the priests of Dynasty 21 are correct. Modern attempts to distinguish relationships and ages through bone structure or DNAhave so far proved inconclusive. The cliff tomb at Deir el-Bahri was reexamined by a German–Russian expedition from 1998–2003.