Although part of the reason Tutankhamun's tomb hadn't been completely ransacked in antiquity is that its entrance was obscured by a later burial (see previous note), that still does not explain the intervening century between Tutankhamun's burial and the excavation of the subsequent tomb. Many tombs were, in fact, robbed relatively soon after their pharaohs were interred. Evidence of this can be seen in Tutankhamun's tomb itself which was broken into, probably fairly soon after his burial. While it wasn't completely despoiled like all other pharaonic tombs discovered so far, the jumbled disorder of artifacts in Tutankhamun's tomb, well-evidenced in Carter's photographs of his first entrance into the site, shows there must have been some sort of break-in. Perhaps the ruling priests after Tutankhamun's life felt they owed him some debt and protected his tomb more eagerly than others'.

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