Movie profile

Le Harem du Pharaon-Soleil

January 2011: a team from the University of Basel makes two spectacular discoveries. The first was a previously unknown tomb, which was given the number KV64 and contained two mummies. It had originally been created at the time of Amenhotep III for a princess of the 18th dynasty and was reused a few centuries later for the burial of a noblewoman of the 22nd dynasty. Right next to it is the already known burial site KV40, where the Basel researchers have now carried out excavations for the first time. They discovered dozens of mummies - an unusual find in the Valley of the Kings, where most tombs were built for just one pharaoh. Initially, the archaeologists estimated the number of dead at 30, but after months of collaboration with evolutionary scientist Frank Rühli from the University of Zurich, they came to the conclusion that there must actually be more than 90. Who were these women?

Directed by Richard Reisz