The mummies of Amenhotep I., and Thothmes III., of Sekenenra, and Aahhotep have survived the dwellings of solid stone designed for their protection.
Towards the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty, however, all the best places were taken up, and some unoccupied site in which to establish a new royal cemetery had to be sought.

At first they went to a considerable distance, namely, to the end of the valley (known as the Western Valley), which opens from near Drah Abu'l Neggeh.

Amenhotep III., Ai, and perhaps others, were there buried.

Somewhat later, they preferred to draw nearer to the city of the living.

Behind the cliff which forms the northern boundary of the plain of Thebes, there lay a kind of rocky hollow closed in on every side, and accessible from the outer world by only a few perilous paths.