Amazon.co.uk Review
To the layperson it might seem hard to believe that there is anything of archaeological significance left to discover in Egypt, especially in the Valley of the Kings. However, the American archaeologist Kent R. Weeks struck lucky in 1989 when he rediscovered a tomb, referred to as KV 5, which has turned out to be the largest ever found in the Valley of the Kings. Since then, Weeks and his team of excavators have dug out over 100 chambers and the tomb may turn out to be the largest and most unusual in Egypt. Built over 3,000 years ago, it served as a royal mausoleum and final resting place for as many as 30 of the 32 sons of Ramesses II, the most famous and powerful of Egypt's pharaohs. For Weeks, Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo: "It was the kind of discovery I had dreamed of making four decades ago when I first fantasised about becoming an Egyptologist".
The Lost Tomb describes how Weeks came to rediscover the tomb, which had been partially excavated in 1825 by the British explorer James Burton. As Kent Weeks explains, his book is not an academic treatise on archaeology but a personal account with the aim of sharing "the excitement--and the frustrations--of doing archaeological work in the world's most famous royal cemetery, the Valley of Kings...". He shows how Egyptologists work like detectives, collecting evidence, often tiny pieces of information, to reconstruct a picture of the original site, what went on there and who was involved.
Weeks is an accomplished writer and truly succeeds in his aim. He manages to convey a real sense of what drives archaeologists, both professional and amateur, to spend so much time and effort grubbing about in the dirt in the pursuit of the long- gone but not forgotten glory of ancient Egypt. An excellent index and notes help the reader negotiate the complexities of dynastic names. --Douglas Palmer
Review
Archaeological high drama abounds as Weeks recounts his life and work as an Egyptologist. Within the West Bank area of Egypt lies the Valley of the Kings. Here the ancient pharaohs created elaborate tombs for themselves, their wives, and their children. It is, in short, an archaeological gold mine. By now most of the area is well known and exhaustively studied, yet in 1995 Weeks and his colleagues discovered a tomb of unrivaled magnificence and importance: "KV5," the burial site of the sons of Ramses II. The size of KV5 is unprecedented. While most tombs in the valley have only 6 or 8 chambers, and none more than 30, at KV5, so far, 108 chambers have been unearthed. Constructed in the time of the ancient Jewish exodus, the size and antiquity of KV5 give it the potential, the author suggests, to fundamentally after our knowledge of ancient and biblical history. Weeks tells the story of this discovery well. Some of it is very much out of Indiana Jones, crawling through airless, lightless tunnels as great blocks of stone threaten to dislodge and fall upon the disturbers of these tombs. Mostly, though, the author describes the monotonous, decidedly unromantic tasks of modern archaeology. This work is less about discovering mummies and fabulous treasures than about sifting the sand in a site to uncover the evidence that microscopic bits of seed or grain may offer up. It is Weeks's dogged attention to such detail, however, that draws the reader in. He is less effective "above ground." Modern Egypt seems to serve only as a disconnected background for the discovery of Egypt's past. A highly readable story of one person's passion for the past. (Kirkus Reviews)
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