The premise of the television special was based on remains found within a rock-carved tomb in the New Kingdom royal burial ground known as the Valley of the Kings, on the Nile’s west bank across from ancient Thebes. Unlike the stone-built pyramids of Egypt’s Old and Middle Kingdoms, Pharaonic tombs in the Valley of the Kings were rock-carved horizontal shafts cut deep into the mountainside. The tomb of interest is named KV5 (King’s Valley #5). First identified in 1825, it was thought to be one of the smaller tombs in the Valley. It had been plundered in antiquity and was considered anonymous. In 1922 Howard Carter buried KV5’s entrance with rubble from King Tutankhamen’s tomb. It was not seen again until 1985, when Egyptologist Kent Weeks re-identified and excavated it as part of the Theban Mapping Project.