What’s the story?

Dan Snow: Into The Valley of the Kings.

Tell me more.

Historian Dan Snow follows in the footsteps of adventurers, archaeologists and treasure hunters as he explores the inhospitable desert burial ground that was the resting place for Egyptian pharaohs, queens and high priests from the 16th to 11th century BCE.

What can we expect?

Snow shines a spotlight on Giovanni Belzoni, a prolific Italian explorer and pioneer archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities during the early 19th century, who unearthed the richly decorated-yet-empty tomb of Seti I.

Then there were sites that held surprising secrets, such as that of Amenhotep II. Discovered by French Egyptologist Victor Loret in 1898, the tomb was found to contain a cache of several important royal mummies, hastily reburied centuries earlier to save them from robbers.

Anything else?

No trip to the Valley of the Kings would be complete without retelling the story of one of the greatest finds of all: Tutankhamun. Snow learns more about how Howard Carter, then a little-known draughtsman, made his remarkable discovery in 1922.

The presenter then descends by the same route that Carter followed, edging inch-by-inch down the tunnel that leads to the burial chamber of King Tut.

When can I watch?

Dan Snow: Into The Valley of the Kings, Channel 5, tomorrow, 9pm.