To the layperson it might seem hard to believe that there is anything of archaeological significance left to discover in Egypt, especially in the Valley of the Kings. However, the American archaeologist Kent R. Weeks struck lucky in 1989 when he rediscovered a tomb, referred to as KV 5, which has turned out to be the largest ever found in the Valley of the Kings. Since then, Weeks and his team of excavators have dug out over 100 chambers and the tomb may turn out to be the largest and most unusual in Egypt. Built over 3,000 years ago, it served as a royal mausoleum and final resting place for as many as 30 of the 32 sons of Ramesses II, the most famous and powerful of Egypt"s pharaohs. For Weeks, Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo: "It was the kind of discovery I had dreamed of making four decades ago when I first fantasised about becoming an Egyptologist". The Lost Tomb describes how Weeks came to rediscover the tomb, which had been partially excavated in 1825 by the British explorer James Burton. As Kent Weeks explains, his book is not an academic treatise on archaeology but a personal account with the aim of sharing "the excitement--and the frustrations--of doing archaeological work in the world"s most famous royal cemetery, the Valley of Kings...". He shows how Egyptologists work like detectives, collecting evidence, often tiny pieces of information, to reconstruct a picture of the original site, what went on there and who was involved. Weeks is an accomplished writer and truly succeeds in his aim. He manages to convey a real sense of what drives archaeologists, both professional and amateur, to spend so much time and effort grubbing about in the dirt in the pursuit of the long- gone but not forgotten glory of ancient Egypt. An excellent index and notes help the reader negotiate the complexities of dynastic names. --Douglas Palmer