The Scheme of the Tombs in the Valley of the Kings

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We can not find two equal tombs in the Valley of the Kings . Because of the nature of the stone in the site of the tomb , each tomb has its own axis and orientation .
In the early Dynasty 18 , tombs were cut at the base of sheer cliffs , deliberately sited at points where rainfall might send water . The tombs of Thutmes III (KV 34) , Amenhetep II (KV 35) , and Thutmes IV (KV 43) lie at the extreme southern , western , and eastern limits of the Valley of the Kings respectively , about as far from each other as it is possible to be and still lie within the valley . The three sites may have been chosen because they boast sheer cliffs with "waterfalls" at the top . The tombs were cut at the base of the cliffs , where fissures and cracks in the bedrock would conceal their entrance from a casual viewer . Debris washed over the waterfall during a torrential rain would further hide the entrance . Later tombs were dug in quite different localities because changes in funerary beliefs meant that the first part of a tomb had to remain accessible after interment for further services by priests .
In the early Dynasty 18 , The Tombs were relatively small and their plan incorporates an axis that makes one or two right-angle turns to the left .
Early tombs have either a set of curving corridors or a floor plan in which the axis makes a right angle turn at the chamber preceding the burial chamber . These are carry-overs from the Middle Kingdom plans and , like all features of royal tombs from the Middle and New Kingdoms , architectural reflections of the path the deceased was thought to take from this life to the next . Only few chambers in these early tombs were decorated . Many walls were not even smoothed or plastered . Usually , the decorated rooms included the well chamber and the burial chamber , but even they were often incompletely done . The decoration consisted largely of texts and scenes from the Imydwat , the "Book of That Which is in the Netherworld , " also called the "Book of the Secret Chamber . " It gives an hour-by-hour description of the nighttime journey of the sun through the Netherworld . This emphasis on the Imydwat did not diminish until the end of Dynasty 18 .
Later Dynasty 18 tombs and early Dynasty 19 tombs , are not associated with any particular topographical features . Their types of the royal tomb is significantly larger than either of the previous types . A series of long , wide corridors extend along a single axis (or an axis that makes a short jog to the left about halfway along its length) to the burial chamber . Such tombs lie at the base of the valley's more gently sloping hills .
However much they differed from one another during the New Kingdom , tombs in the Valley of the Kings also showed many similarities . This can be seen , for example , in the functions served by the chambers and corridors that each tomb possessed .
The Royal Tomb used to have the following components:
A-: The entrance , which Egyptologists call entryway , was called by the ancient Egyptians "the Passage of the Way of Shu , " and it was open to the sky until the middle of Dynasty 18 and partially covered thereafter .
B-: A Corridor , the "Passage of Ra , " usually marked the farthest sunlight that could penetrate into the tomb .
C-: It was at first a chamber with a stairway and/or ramp , later a corridor called the "Hall wherein [the gods of the Litany of Ra] reside . "
D-: It was simply the second passage .
E-: A chamber , often with a deep well cut into its floor . It was called the "Hall of Hindering , " and may have served as a symbolic burial place of Osiris .
F-: Next comes a pillared chamber called the "Chariot Hall . " Actual chariot halls have been found in the tombs of Thutmes IV , Amenhetep III , and Tutankhamen .
G , H , and I served unknown function . H was a stairwell early in the New Kingdom later a corridor . I was a chamber that later became a corridor .
J-: The burial chamber , was called the "Hall in which One Rests"