Newest Research in the Royal Cache Wadi, Luxor 289 S cenes of important events are often diminished in proportion to the importance of what happened. In 1881, the mummies of a large number of kings were discovered in a tomb (TT 320) near the bottom of a small rocky valley or bay, immediately south of Deir el-Bahari on the West Bank at Luxor—a central area in the spatial organisation of the eban necropolis (fig. 1). e reasons for transferring royal bodies to this place from their original tombs could have been multiple and several possibilities have been mooted, most of which focus on a presumed intention to hide the bodies of the monarchs to protect them from looting. is spectacular discovery, known since 1881 simply as the Royal Cache, seemed to be the definitive feature of a site often known since then as the Royal Cache Wadi, and has continued to arouse the interest of researchers ever since. In the very first report of the discovery, Gaston Maspero stated that “jamais cachette ne fut mieux dissimulée”, 1 and this interpretation has discouraged further analysis of the valley itself by apparently precluding the prospect of other significant human activity in an area that functioned as a ‘hiding place’. Because the Royal Cache Wadi—or C2 Valley according to the nomenclature used in the Graffiti de la Montagne ebaine (GMT)— 2 has otherwise been considered archaeologically deserted, the subsequent interest of researchers has focused on matters immediately related to tomb TT 320. In January 1920, Ambrose Lansing did explore the possible existence of other significant structures or elements in the valley and the outcome was negative, though the site was said to have been explored “yard by yard”. 3 Graffiti in the valley were surveyed several times as part of the complete survey of graffiti on the West Bank: initially Wilhelm Spiegelberg 4 published his results from a survey mostly made in the winter of 1895-96; 5 and most recently the Centre de Documentation et d’Étude sur l’Ancienne Égypte (CEDAE) published Graffiti de la Montagne ebaine. 6 Nevertheless, a more * Universidad Complutense, Madrid. ** CEDAE, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Egypt. 1. Maspero 1881-1887, p. 7. 2. Černý, Desroches Noblecourt, Kurz 1969-1970; Černý et al. 1971; Coque et al. 1972 and 1973. 3. Winlock 1920. 4. Spiegelberg 1921. 5. Peden 2001, p. 30. 6. See: Spiegelberg 1921; Černý 1956; Sadek, Shimy 1974. Newest Research in the Royal Cache Wadi, Luxor e C2 Project José Ramón Pérez-Accino * , Hisham el-Leithy **