There has been a flurry of excitement in the national press recently about the discovery of another royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings. In reality, this is only partially true: the tomb (C4) is not in the Valley that is a prime tourist attraction, but lies some distance to the west, in the Wadi Gabbanet el-Qurud, which was used as a royal burial place before any tombs were created in the eastern Valley of the Kings. The tomb was originally found in 2022, but it has now been identified as the original Tomb of Thutmose II. What is more, the excavation team has just announced that they believe they have also discovered where the king might have been finally laid to rest. Find out more in two articles on Thutmose II and his tombs in this issue.
After preparing the last issue (AE 147), we received the sad news of the death of one of the most significant Egyptologists of our time: Professor Kenneth Kitchen, who passed away on 6 February 2025 at the age of 92. Ken was a student at the University of Liverpool, and spent the whole of his illustrious career there as a lecturer, and ultimately as Brunner Professor of Egyptology. He was a world authority on the kings of the Ramesside Period and on ancient Egyptian chronology, and was able to translate texts written in all the languages of the ancient Middle East. His loss is deeply felt by all who knew him.
As usual, this issue contains articles on a very wide range of topics: the Israel Stela and the ‘Labyrinth’ of Hawara; the highlights of the new Grand Egyptian Museum; why we should thank the Romans for ginger cats; and the (disturbing) reason that museum collections contain so many ancient Egyptian human skulls. Hilary Wilson tells us more about types of ‘horned beasts’ familiar to the ancient Egyptians, and Nancy Arthur Hoskins re-creates some of the colourful fabrics depicted in the ancient New Kingdom tomb scenes.
Finally, Sarah Griffiths and I are delighted to announce that Professor Aidan Dodson has joined our editorial team as Consultant Editor, alongside Rosalie David. Aidan is well known to our readers as a prolific author and lecturer, and he has contributed many articles to the magazine, as well as being an invaluable source of information (and photographs) that have greatly assisted us in our roles as Editors.