HOUSTON—When the French priest Claude Sicard rediscovered the Valley of the Kings in Egypt during the early 18th century, it practically placed a European welcome mat among the pharaonic ruins of Thebes, now known as Luxor. The new curiosity about Egypt gave rise to a new archaeological discipline called Egyptology, especially after French soldiers discovered the Rosetta Stone in 1799 in northern Egypt.
Over the next 200 years, the Valley of the Kings was scoured by French and British archaeologists. They quickly came to realize that most of the tombs had been looted for many of its valuables.
