Passing from the Valley of the Kings to the Valley of the Queens we passed the remains of many Pharaonic temples. We also passed by the remains of the town that used to be located here. These houses were built on top of temples and tomb complexes and the inhabitants would tunnel from their basements to find antiquities that they world sell on the black market. These folks were relocated to another site many miles away. The Valley of the Queens contained the tombs of many Queens but it also held the tombs of crown princes who died before the age of 12. In this way they could be close to their mothers in the afterlife. We only visited Queen Nefertari's tomb, she was the royal wife of Ramses II. Since he out lived her, he was around to make sure that her tomb was richly decorated and luckily for us it stayed that way.
The Temple made for Ramses II
Huts that the Priests stayed in while attending to the temples
There were balloons here as well
The remains of the village, built on top of the tombs, that had been relocated
A natural fissure in the cliff is tempting for researchers
This area is bone dry
Fresh air is pumped down into the tomb
Down we go
Queen Nefertari
The anteroom
Niches along the descent
She is shown playing senet versus an invisible opponent, one of the many barriers to the afterlife
Lots of cows
A side room
A complete vulture
Attendants
Nice earnings and vulture hat
Further down we go
A great spread is laid out
Trying on some wings
Grabbing the Ankh
A sneaky flying snake
Watching over the dead
A genii that is a barrier to the afterlife
Keep the genii behind us
Once again we are amazed at how well preserved these 3000 year old drawings are
The opening of the mouth with the ankh, the symbol of eternal live
A device used to measure the temperature and the humidity
Many rituals to be performed
Writing from the book of the dead
Having fun underground
Tattoos on the arm
The tattoos can be seen here
When illustrating the animal headed humans they were always shown with a big wig. This avoided the awkward transition at the neck
Everybody loves the ankh
A young Nefertari
Here she is shows older and hopefully wiser
In the sarcophagus
More book of the dead magic spells
QV66 is her tomb's official name
Passing by to the next site we see this
Recently uncovered mud brick housing
A black kite escorted us out
