Jane Akshar has posted a write up of today's media event in the Valley of the Kings on her blog.

KV63 the new Tomb in the Valley of Kings, Jane Akshar, Luxor News, Egypt, February 10, 2006.

Italian researchers have recovered part of a lost ancient Greek treatise, the earliest cartography of the Greek-Roman era, and a sketchbook for ancient painters — all by piecing together 50 fragments of a first- century B.C. parchment used in a mummy's wrapping.

Known as the papyrus of Artemidorus, the 2.5-meter- (eight-foot-) long and 32.5-centimeter- (13-inch-) wide parchment will go on display for the first time this week in Turin at the exhibition "The three lives of the papyrus of Artemidorus," which is part of the cultural events accompanying the Winter Olympics.

The papyrus "helps write new pages of Greek literature, cartography and art history," according to Claudio Gallazzi, a professor of Papyrology at the University of Milan and the exhibition's curator...

Papyrus Reveals Ancient Stories, Discovery Channel News, USA, February 08, 2006.

Eminent Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, the charismatic head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has told reporters his views on what has been dubbed the world’s first gay kiss. According to author Greg Reeder, speaking at a recent conference, a 4,000-year-old tomb in the necropolis at Saqqara, south of Cairo, decorated with images of two men holding hands and locked nose to nose could be art’s first homoerotic embrace. The tomb, which contains two men, was discovered in 1964 by the archaeologist Ahmed Moussa. And what is Mr Hawass’s take on the ancient paramours? He believes that the couple in question were brothers or even conjoined twins. The tomb is the burial place of the Fifth Dynasty King Niuserre’s manicurists and has become known as the “tomb of the hairdressers”...

Hawass disputes gay tomb, The Art Newspaper, UK, February 09, 2006.

Archaeologists have discovered an intact, ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

It is the first such discovery since the tomb of King Tutankhamun was found in 1922. Ian Pannell reports from Cairo.

Pharaonic tomb find stuns Egypt, BBC News, UK, February 10, 2006.

Through a partially opened underground door, Egyptian authorities gave a peek Friday into the first new tomb uncovered in the Valley of the Kings since that of King Tutankhamun in 1922. U.S. archaeologists said they discovered the tomb by accident while working on a nearby site.

On Friday, Egyptian antiquities authorities allowed journalists a first look into the tomb through the opening in the door, located at the bottom of a 30-foot shaft.

"It's ironic. A century ago, people said, 'The Valley of the Kings is exhausted, there's nothing left,'" [Kent Weeks] said. "Suddenly Carter found Tutankhamun. So then they said, 'Now there's nothing to find.' Then we found KV5. Now we have KV63."

Is this the first official use of KV63 as a number for the tomb? Click the picture above for nine new pictures from Reuters via Yahoo! News.

Journalists Get Peek Into Egyptian Tomb, AP via FOX News, USA, February 10, 2006.

Chicago is abuzz with excitement for The Field Museum's highly anticipated exhibition, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs. The Field Museum announces it has sold 100,000 tickets to this blockbuster exhibition! More than 3,000 years after his reign, Tutankhamun, the celebrated "boy-king," has proven to be a cultural phenomenon in Chicago and around the world.

The 100,000 tickets sold to Tut include more than 565 groups of people from 32 different states. Visitors will travel to see Tut from as far away as Alaska, California, Florida and Pennsylvania. Memberships have also been selling at a record rate. The Museum has sold 17,461 memberships, including its popular premium memberships, Tut at Twilight and Royal Tut. Both Tut at Twilight and Royal Tut memberships include benefits such as discounted tickets, priority admission and exclusive member viewings...

100,000 Tut Tickets Sold!, WKYT 27, Kentucky, USA, February 09, 2006.

Nine new photographs from today's press on Getty Images.

New Tomb Discovered In Valley Of The Kings, Getty Images, USA, February 10, 2006.

Looking at the following image there definitely appears to be six sarcophagi.

Thanks to C Wayne Taylor at the HallOfMaat for the image.

“It was a wonderful thing. It was just so amazing to find an intact tomb here after all the work that’s been done before. This was totally unexpected,” [Edwin] Brock [the co-director of the University of Memphis team] said.

The new tomb did not appear to be that of a pharaoh, he said. “I don't think it’s a royal tomb, maybe members of the court.”

“Contemporaries of Tutankhamun are possible — or of Amenhotep III or even Horemheb,” he said. Based on their style, the jars appear to date to the late 18th Dynasty.

The coffins appear to have some damage from termites, Brock said. “Its going to take a lot of conservation work to consolidate these things before we can take them out,” he said of the sarcophagi.

Egyptian tomb 'probably of Pharaoh's court', icWales, UK, February 10, 2006.

Also there is confusion about the number of sarcophagi — CNN are suggesting six.

Photos released by the Supreme Council of Antiquities showed the interior of the tomb — the bare stone walls undecorated — with at least five sarcophagi of blackened wood amid white jars, some apparently broken. What appeared to be a sixth sarcophagus was set on top of two of the other coffins, though the council's statement mentioned only five.

Five mummies found at famed Egyptian site, CNN, USA, February 09, 2006.

"It's very, very exciting," said Patricia Podvorzski, curator of Egyptian Art at the University of Memphis. "It was completely unexpected, so long after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. Many archaeologists said the valley was done 100 years ago." Dr Schaden's find is the 63rd tomb to be opened in the valley...

Although the discovery came as a huge surprise, there had been a suspicion that something else might be found. "Some time ago a British team did remote sensing around the tomb and said they thought there might be something down there," said Dr Podvorzski...

Whatever the new tomb may contain, its fate is certain: Egypt's policy on undisturbed tombs is clear. "This stuff will stay in Egypt," said Dr Podvorzski.

Mummies found just yards from Tutankhamun's tomb, The Independent, UK, February 10, 2006.

cf. U of M-sponsored Find in Egypt Promises More "Wonderful Things", U of M News, University of Memphis, Tennessee, USA, February 09, 2006.

Thanks to Nicole B. Hansen at Glyphdoctors for a couple of those links.