New Kingdom

The discovery of the pharaoh's tomb caps off more than 12 years of work by the joint team from Dr Litherland's New Kingdom Research Foundation and Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

In a telling example of how climate catastrophe can erase an entire world order, around 1200 B.C. the eastern Mediterranean suffered a protracted drought that “caused crop failures, dearth, and famine,” sweeping away Late Bronze Age civilizations like the Greek Mycenaean cities, the Hittite empire and the New Kingdom in Egypt.

Such resin was used as a preservative in wine and, in Egypt, as incense and as varnish on funerary equipment of the New Kingdom era.

The findings raise the possibility that this shift could have contributed to the success of the ancient Egyptian agricultural economy at points between the Old and New Kingdom periods.

The New Kingdom was a period of unparalleled prosperity, military conquest, and cultural achievement in Ancient Egyptian history.