The trouble turned out to be a simple lack of focus.

Well, to be more precise, the mistake was all about where they had put their focus.

Egyptologists had been uncovering the tombs of Pharaohs there since the late 1700s,

and they'd made one big discovery after another.

But each tomb also bore the distinctive and frustrating efforts of ancient tomb robbers.

And you know what, that was life in the Valley of the Kings.

Honestly, to put a few dozen royal tombs all in the same small area,

and then just expect them to stay untouched for thousands of years was a bit optimistic.

Sure, there was still a lot that archaeologists could learn from the leftovers,

but it wasn't what they had dreamed of.

And like I said, they were focused, but it wouldn't be until 1922

when they would realize their focus on the obvious had caused them to miss something spectacular.

Because that was the year that they uncovered the tomb by which all others would forever be judged,

a small, forechambered burial site at the bottom of a narrow set of stairs,

belonging to a young Pharaoh known to the world over as King Tut.

The folks before Howard Carter missed it because the entrance had been filled in

with the debris from ancient construction and countless floods,

but ultimately they missed it because it wasn't where they thought they should be looking.

There were more visible things to pursue, and that kept them from noticing something better.

Sometimes it pays to explore the shadows that few others have paid attention to,

to go against the flow, to look for the outliers,

because as the story of the famous young Pharaoh's tomb has shown us,

...