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36-460: KV20 is located in the easternmost branch of the valley near the later tombs KV19 , KV43 , and KV60 . It was known to the French expedition of 1799 and to Belzoni , who worked in the area in 1817. A first attempt to excavate the tomb was undertaken by James Burton in 1824, who cleared it as far as the tomb's first chamber. Although Lepsius explored it in 1844 and 1845, no further attempts to excavate

72-447: A flail; other contents included linen samples, bread, and vase rests. Some elements of the foundation deposit had washed into the first corridor and were recovered there. Carter's excavation and clearance began in early Feb 1903 and proved to be difficult, only concluding in March the following year. He found the tomb to be filled with hard, cemented debris. The first passageway was cleared by

108-464: A funerary god and picture on the sides show the chest’s owner worshipping Osiris , god of the afterlife; Ra-Horakhty , a combination of the gods Horus and Ra ; four sons of Horus , each of whom guards one of the viscera traditionally removed during mummification; the dyed pillar, which represents Osiris, and the tyet , which represents Isis . The painting is not as perfectly measured and precise as earlier Egyptian art , because Egyptian civilization

144-432: A pillared burial chamber with three small satellite storerooms. The corridors bend east-south-west in a clockwise fashion, which is a unique feature amongst the tombs in the valley. Beginning halfway down the first corridor are sockets, likely to take the timber supports used to lower the sarcophagus. Additionally, the corridors have steps cut along one side, with the remaining portion forming a ramp. Another unusual feature of

180-522: Is executed on a fine white plaster background. Painted immediately on either side of the entrance are the two halves of a door; the left leaf is covered in the hieratic text of Chapter 139 of the Book of the Dead , while the right has Chapter 123 with two extra lines. The length of the corridor is painted with seven scenes on each side; the ceiling is plain white. The paintings are of the finest Ramesside style. Overall,

216-591: The Ptolemaic Kingdom . The style and materials were different at different times, though always reflected the Egyptian ideal of perfectly measured and precise beauty. The tall wooden shrine-like chests had bright painting on their sides and a falcon crouching on top. Craftsmen coated the wood with gesso to prepare it for the pigment they later painted it with. All the decoration tells us something about ancient Egyptian religion . The falcon on top represents Sokar ,

252-479: The Twentieth Dynasty . The location of the tomb and size of the corridor suggest it was initiated for a king. However, traces of an original inscription on the door jambs reveal that the tomb was intended for Ramesses VIII when he was a prince. The tomb was rediscovered on 9 October 1817 by Giovanni Battista Belzoni , who briefly described it, making special mention of the decoration: The painted figures on

288-476: The prenomen of Ramesses IX ), Banebdjedet , Hapi , Duamutef , Meretseger , and Sekhmet . As an adult son, Mentuherkhepeshef appears alone before the gods, instead of being escorted by his father. Ayrton noted numerous graffiti scratched into the walls. On the right side is a graffito that records the name of a hitherto unknown Scribe in the Place of Truth Ptahemwia. On the left wall are two graffiti: one names

324-585: The Deir el Bahari cache or KV6 (tomb of Ramesses IX ). Fragments of at least one anthropoid coffin belonging to a mid-Eighteenth dynasty female ruler (presumably Hatshepsut), fragmentary wooden panels with decoration that links them to objects found in KV20, and a faience vessel, possibly belonging to Thutmose I, were recovered from the shaft in the burial chamber of KV4 , together with remains of royal funerary equipment belonging to several other New Kingdom rulers. Despite

360-625: The Fourth Dynasty reign of Sneferu , there is evidence to suggest that there were canopic installations at Saqqara dating from the Second Dynasty . Canopic chests had an important place in Egyptian culture. Canopic chests contained the internal organs ( viscera ) of mummies, so they relate to the Egyptian belief that the afterlife is just as important as life on earth. Egyptians believed that everything had to be perfectly preserved to journey into

396-454: The Kings , was intended as the burial place of Prince Ramesses Sethherkhepshef, better known as Pharaoh Ramesses VIII , but was later used for the burial of Prince Mentuherkhepshef instead, the son of Ramesses IX , who predeceased his father. Though incomplete and used "as is," the decoration is considered to be of the highest quality. The tomb is located under the cliffs on the eastern side of

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432-454: The Valley of the Kings, between the tombs of Thutmose IV ( KV43 ) and Hatshepsut ( KV20 ). The simple layout consists of a single corridor; quarrying had barely progressed into the second corridor when work stopped. At the end of the corridor, an oblong pit was sunk into the floor to receive the burial, which was covered with limestone slabs. The quarrying style and projected layout date it to

468-401: The burial chamber had suffered a further collapse when John Romer visited the tomb in the late 1960s. Since 1994 the burial chamber has been inaccessible due to debris deposited by flooding. The tomb has an unusual layout, consisting of a series of five curving, descending corridors, interspersed with sections of steep stairs and passing through two chambers and an antechamber before ending in

504-486: The burial chamber was unsuitable for decoration and the slabs were intended to line the walls. Similar blocks, probably from the same series, were found in KV38. Smaller finds included fragments of vases, bowls, and jars in stone and pottery, burnt pieces of coffins and boxes, the foot and face of a large wooden statue (probably a guardian statue), faience vases and ushabti coffins, and small pieces of inlay. Carter's excavation

540-421: The burial of Thutmose I was moved again, to KV38, by his grandson Thutmose III while the burial of Hatshepsut probably remained in KV20, eventually suffering from robbery (and official dismantling). An unidentified mummy, recovered from DB320 and found within coffins prepared by Thutmose III for Thutmose I is usually identified as the later king. The body of Hatshepsut has not yet been identified with certainty and

576-459: The conditions inside the tomb necessitated the installation of an exhaust fan. This third corridor was cleared by 26 January 1904; the curve to the right becomes a sharp bend at its end. Carter again found the chamber totally filled with debris and his team used pickaxes as the fill was "so hard...one could hardly tell whether the men were cutting the rock or the rubbish." Additionally, the ceiling of this chamber had collapsed. The final flight of steps

612-524: The decorative scheme is similar to that seen in the tombs of princes in the Valley of the Queens . Mentuherkhepeshef, with the sidelock of youth on his wig and wearing a fine translucent robe, is depicted making offerings to Osiris , Ptah-Tatenen , Khonsemweset-Neferhotep , Bastet , Imseti , Qebehsenuef , and Amun-Ra on the left wall; on the right he makes offerings to Ptah , Thoth (whose belt buckle bears

648-426: The door. Few portable artefacts were recovered. The finds consisted of ostraca naming Ramesses IV and Ramesses X , faience items inscribed with the name of Ramesses IV from a foundation deposit , and parts of a large stela dedicated by a necropolis workman named Hay. Ayrton theorised, based on the presence of a part of the stela being recovered from a Coptic midden in front of the tomb of Ramesses IV ( KV2 ), that

684-454: The end of February; this corridor curves to the right (clockwise) and is 49.5 metres (162 ft) long by 2 metres (6.6 ft) wide and tall. The first rectangular chamber was full of cemented debris and was cleared by 15 April. A steep flight of steps cut into the centre of the floor leads to the second corridor. Midway down the second passage, the limestone layer ends and the unstable tafle (marl) stratum below it begins; Carter characterised

720-428: The foundation deposit of Hatshepsut and the existence of another tomb for Thutmose I, (KV38), it is now generally presumed that KV 20 originally was quarried for the latter king. Re-evaluation of the architecture of KV38 and some of its content has shown that it is unlikely that this tomb pre-dates the reign of Thutmose III . It also has been noted that the proportions of the KV20 burial chamber are different from those in

756-464: The items from that king's foundation deposit had been moved to KV19 as a result of robber activity. He noted that only wooden items were found during his excavation of Ramesses IV's foundation deposit and that it was clearly originally much larger. The burial pit contained broken pottery vessels and the upper part of a mummy. Earlier visitors had found the tomb to contain intrusive burials of a later, Twenty-second Dynasty date. The exterior surfaces of

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792-524: The land after life and as part of the mummification process they removed viscera from the body. The first canopic chests were simple and wooden, but as time went on they became more elaborate. Then, around the 21st Dynasty (1069–945 BCE), the Egyptians decided to leave the viscera inside mummies. But because they had been using canopic chests for thousands of years they kept putting them in tombs, just without anything in them. Canopic chests fell out of use during

828-449: The latter as a "...stratum of rock so bad that there was fear of it falling at any moment." The second corridor was identical to previous sections, ending in a chamber with another set of stairs cut into the floor leading to a further hallway. At this point work stopped "on account of the heat and the exhaustion of the air, owing to the great numbers of workmen required to carry out the excavation." The excavation restarted in mid October but

864-424: The length of the room. The burial chamber proved to contain two sarcophagi and the canopic chest of Hatshepsut. Her sarcophagus was found at the far end of the chamber with its lid lying on the floor at the head end; her canopic chest was located in the centre of the room. The sarcophagus of Thutmose I was in the middle of the room, tipped on its side against the second pillar, likely to support that column. Its lid

900-496: The mummified liver or spleen found in DB320 might be all that remains of her, although it also has been suggested that one of two female mummies found in KV60 is her. A molar found in the wooden box containing her liver, was matched to one of these mummies in 2007, making it likely that the mummy belongs to Hatshepsut. KV19 Tomb KV19 , located in a side branch of Egypt 's Valley of

936-411: The rest of the tomb and that they display a design relationship to the architecture of Hatshepsut's pharaonic mortuary temple . Therefore it has been suggested that KV20 originally extended only to its present penultimate chamber, in which Thutmose I first was interred, and that the tomb was re-cut and refurbished during the reign of Hatshepsut to accommodate the burial of both her and her father. Later,

972-456: The tomb are plastered and undecorated. The outside of the door jambs are plain for most of their height except for roughly cut hieroglyphs outlined in red at the base. Inside, the jambs are completely covered by three columns of black hieroglyphs; below them on each side are a pair of rearing cobras spitting fire. Those on the right side are named as Isis and Nephthys ; those on the left are named as Serket and Neith . The interior decoration

1008-530: The tomb is its extreme length of 210 metres (690 ft). Carter found two items bearing Hatshepsut's cartouches during his excavation of the tomb of Thutmose IV (KV43), leading him to suspect her tomb must be nearby. A single foundation deposit was found on 2 February 1903 immediately in front of KV20. The foundation deposit was carefully placed between layers of sand and covered over with limestone chips. It contained small alabaster vases, and model items and tools including brick moulds, adzes, axes, chisels, and

1044-474: The tomb were undertaken until Howard Carter started his clearance of the rock-hard fill in the corridor in the spring of 1903. This excavation was conducted by Carter as Inspector of the Antiquities Service , but the work was sponsored by Theodore M. Davis , who published a full report of the work in 1906. After Carter's work in the tomb ended, no further activities have been carried out. The ceiling of

1080-574: The tomb's owner; the other names the Overseer of the Workshop of the Mansion of Gold Ser-[Dje]huty. Canopic chest Canopic chests are cases used by ancient Egyptians to contain the internal organs removed during the process of mummification . Once canopic jars began to be used in the late Fourth Dynasty , the jars were placed within canopic chests. Although the first proven canopic burials date from

1116-433: The walls are so perfect, that they are the best adapted of any I ever saw so give a correct and clear idea of the Egyptian taste. The tomb was later visited by explorers and researchers including Jean-François Champollion , Karl Richard Lepsius , and Eugène Lefébure as part of their respective archaeological and epigraphical missions. In 1903 Howard Carter excavated in front of this tomb, discovering KV60 . KV19

KV20 - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-437: Was cleared by February 11; it was short, at only 12 metres (39 ft) long. In this corridor Carter began encountering the remains of funerary items, mostly stone vases bearing the cartouches of Ahmose-Nefertari , Thutmose I, and Hatshepsut. The final chamber, the burial chamber, was found to be full of debris and had suffered a ceiling collapse. The ceiling of the rectangular room was supported by three columns aligned along

1188-477: Was completed at the end of March 1904, and the sarcophagi and canopic box were removed to Cairo , although the sarcophagus of Thutmose I was given to Davis for the Boston Museum. The sarcophagus of Thutmose was originally inscribed for Hatshepsut, but later altered for the former king. The interior was entirely recarved to enlarge it and new texts were added. Some of the interior decoration at the head and foot ends

1224-448: Was excavated by Edward R. Ayrton in 1906. He notes in his report that the tomb had never been fully cleared, and resolved to end his 1905–1906 fieldwork season with its excavation. By this time only the porch was visible as the rest was covered by debris. The tomb was found to be half filled with large blocks. Ayrton concluded that they could not have been washed in by accident as there was a high drystone wall only 3 feet (0.91 m) from

1260-478: Was found leaning against the wall. Carter noted that none of the items were in their original locations. One of the sarcophagi likely sat in the depression cut immediately in front of the main doorway. Also found in the burial chamber were fifteen limestone slabs bearing chapters of the Amduat in red and black ink and illustrated with 'stick figures' like those seen in the tomb of Thutmose III ( KV34 ). The soft rock in

1296-516: Was later hastily cut away, presumably during the reburial of Thutmose I, when it was discovered that it was slightly too small for his coffins. A box inscribed for Hatshepsut as pharaoh, containing the remains of a mummified liver or spleen was recovered from the DB320 royal cache. Other items associated with Hatshepsut, including the legs and footboard of a couch or bed and a fragmentary cartouche-shaped lid are of uncertain origin, but might come from either

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