<P> Coordinates: 25 ° 44 ′ 27" N 32 ° 36 ′ 8" E ﻿ / ﻿ 25.74083 ° N 32.60222 ° E ﻿ / 25.74083; 32.60222 </P> <P> The Valley of the Kings (Arabic: وادي الملوك ‎ Wādī al Mulūk, Coptic: ϫⲏⲙⲉ), the Valley of the Gates of the Kings (Arabic: وادي ابواب الملوك ‎ Wādī Abwāb al Mulūk), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, rock cut tombs were excavated for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom (the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Dynasties of Ancient Egypt). </P> <P> The valley stands on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (modern Luxor), within the heart of the Theban Necropolis . The wadi consists of two valleys, East Valley (where the majority of the royal tombs are situated) and West Valley . </P>

When were the first tombs built in the valley of the kings