6th Grade Social Studies March 2014 | Page 23

The Valley of Kings Would you like to learn about The Valley of Kings of Ancient Egypt? I know I enjoyed learning about it! It was interesting to compare ancient burial traditions with the way things are done today. Did you know that the tombs were made of rock, like limestone, and were decorated with the king’s riches? Only someone of great importance was buried there. There were many similarities with these tombs. What all of the Valley of the Kings tombs had in common were their large size, their depth in the ground, their location and event how they were lined up in the valley. Unfortunately, what they also had in common was that they were especially interesting to local thieves, which is all explained in this article. The kings were buried deep underground. Did you know that sometimes the tombs, which were made of rock, were more than 9 feet long? There was a lot of space for the king’s body, but just as important was the need to have plenty of space for the king’s belongings. Only the highest class including priests, scribes, and pharaohs had these beautiful tombs. This was mentioned in the book, Atlas of Ancient Egypt, Another fact about these tombs, where the kings were buried, was that they were decorated with gold and jewelry. This was discussed in