The present numbering system for the 111 tombs in the Valley of the Queens and subsidiary wadis was first established by Ernesto Schiaparelli and Francesco Ballerini in 1903-1905 during the Italian Archaeological Expedition excavations. Schiaparelli and Ballerini installed plaques at the entrances to the 19th and 20th Dynasty tombs that were then known, including the newly discovered QV 43, QV 44, QV 55, and QV 66. The numbers were assigned geographically, from the entrance on the southern side of the main Wadi to the head of the wadi and up the northern side back to the entrance. The tombs in the Valley of Prince Ahmose, Valley of the Rope, and the northern tombs in the Valley of the Three Pits were numbered according to this system. The most recently numbered include the southern tombs in the Valley of the Three Pits, which follow a different numbering system established by the Franco-Egyptian Mission (QV A through QV L).
Schiaparelli and Ballerini's is not the only system of tomb designation that has been used in the Valley. Several explorers assigned numbers or descriptive labels, as the below chart indicates. However, Schiaparelli and Ballerini's and the Franco-Egyptian Mission's is the only system still in use.
The present numbering system in the Western Wadis is based on the wadi designations established by Howard Carter in his 1917 survey map. Carter lettered the wadis geographically and the tombs he surveyed numerically. The current system was established by the Theban Mapping Project in 1982, then known as the Berkeley Theban Mapping Project. Letters are used to indicate which wadi a tomb is situated in and is followed by a number. Newly discovered or excavated tombs follow this system. The current system is not the only method of tomb designation that has been used in the Western Wadis. Both Howard Carter and Elizabeth Thomas assigned numbers and letters, as the left chart indicates.