KV63--New Tomb Discovery in the Valley of the Kings

New!
Tomb Raiders of KV 46!
How thorough were the robbers who plundered the tomb of Yuya and Tuyu? How many times was the tomb robbed, and what were the thieves after? This study of post interment activity in KV 46 provides some answers.

Updated!
Special KV 55 Section!
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Follow the trail of the missing treasures from mysterious KV 55.

KV 55's Lost Objects: Where Are They Today?

The KV 55 Coffin Basin and Gold Foil Sheets

KV 55 Gold Foil at the Metropolitan

Mystery of the Missing Mummy Bands

KV 35 Revisited
See rare photographic plates of a great discovery from Daressy's Fouilles de la Vallee des Rois.

Unknown Man E
Was he really
buried alive?

The Tomb of Maihirpre
Learn about Victor Loret's important discovery of this nearly intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

Special Section!
Tomb Robbers!
Who were the real tomb raiders? What beliefs motivated their actions? A new perspective on the ancient practice of tomb robbing!

Special Section!
Spend a Night
with the Royal Mummies
Read Pierre Loti's eerie account of his nocturnal visit to the Egyptian Museum's Hall of Mummies.

Special Section!
An Audience With Amenophis II Journey once more with Pierre Loti as he explores the shadowy chambers of KV 35 in the early 1900's.

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Most of the images on this website have been scanned from books, all of which are given explicit credit and, wherever possible, a link to a dealer where they may be purchased. Some images derive from other websites. These websites are also acknowledged in writing and by being given a link, either to the page or file where the images appear, or to the main page of the source website. Images forwarded to me by individuals who do not supply the original image source are credited to the sender. All written material deriving from other sources is explicitly credited to its author.
Feel free to use material from the Theban Royal Mummy Project website. No prior written permission is required. Just please follow the same guidelines which I employ when using the works of other researchers, and give the Theban Royal Mummy Project proper credit on your own papers, articles, or web pages.

--Thank You

This website is constantly developing and contributions of data from other researchers are welcomed.
Contact The Theban Royal Mummy Project at:
anubis4_2000@yahoo.com

Background Image: Wall scene from the tomb of Ramesses II (KV 7.) From Karl Richard Lepsius, Denkmäler (Berlin: 1849-1859.)

KV63--New Cache of Grave Goods
Discovered in The Valley of the Kings
Text and Commentary Updated 7/30/06 by
William Max Miller, M. A.

    KV63, originally reported as the first new tomb to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings since 1922, was uncovered by a University of Memphis archeological team led by Otto Schaden and Edwin Brock during excavations in the area of KV10--the tomb of 19'th Dynasty Pharaoh Amenmesses. A shaft leading to KV63 was found late in 2005 while the excavators were clearing away the remains of some 19'th Dynasty workmen's huts to the left and right of the entrance to KV10. By February 9, 2006, when news of the discovery first appeared in the media, excavations of this shaft revealed that it led to a small single chamber structure, tentatively dated to the 18'th Dynasty, which contained seven coffins and an impressive collection of approximately 20 large pottery food jars, some with seals intact.
    At the time of its discovery, a lot of speculation concerning KV63 appeared online. Robert Partridge offered the exciting theory that KV63 could be a cache of Amarna royals, perhaps even Nefertiti herself along with some of her daughters, who were originally interred at Akhetaten and subsequently removed to the Royal Valley during the reign of Tutankhamen. This theory, which admittedly was very colorful, was given some degree of plausibility by the fact that KV63 was found a mere five meters from Tutankhamen's tomb and close to KV55, a much-discussed tomb that was undoubtedly an Amarna-related cache. Taking for granted that mummies would be discovered in the coffins (an assumption never safe to make, as the history of Egyptology shows!) one theorist hypothesized that they might be the remains of nobles originally buried in KV62. Since its discovery by Howard Carter 84 years ago, Egyptologists have known that Tutankhamen's tomb had not originally been designed for a Pharaoh's final resting place. Too small for a royal interment, KV62 had most likely been the tomb of a highly placed noble and his family members (its four chambers show that it probably was intended for multiple burials.) Tutankhamen's premature death occurred before a proper king's tomb could be constructed for him, and so the diminutive KV62 was appropriated for the boy king's use. If KV62 had actually been used for the burials of its original owners, where were their mummies reburied? Perhaps, so this interesting theory offered, they were moved into nearby KV63.
    Subsequent information obtained during the actual clearance of KV63 has eliminated many of the colorful hypothesis that circulated online and in the media during the initial excitement surrounding the discovery. All the evidence seems to support that KV63 is actually a cache of embalming material and abandoned grave goods, and not the tomb that reports initially indicated. None of the coffins contained mummies, and it seems premature to label KV63 as "the tomb of Queen Kiya" (as some reports recently have) on the slender evidence for this attribution found in the deposit. Stylistic considerations would seem to date the small chamber and its contents to the 18'th dynasty, and a fragmentary inscription bearing part of a cartouche reading "pa-aten" (part of the original name of Ankhesenpaaten, Tutankhamen's young queen before she changed her name by adding the "amen" suffix) seem to narrow the chronology of the deposit to the late 18'th dynasty.
     The most reasonable conjecture concerning the nature of KV63 is that offered by Nicholas Reeves, who argues (very plausibly) that the small cache of embalming materials and unused coffins strongly indicates the presence of yet another undiscovered royal tomb nearby. Reeves, whose Valley of the Kings Foundation has searched the royal Valley for undiscovered tombs using radar, recently announced the discovery of an underground "anomaly" near the entrance to KV62 which is similar to that which had initially alerted excavators to the presence of KV63. Reeves argues that KV63 probably bears the same relationship to this "anomaly" (which is presumably another tomb) that KV54 bore to Tutankhamen's tomb. KV54, which was discovered for Theodore Davis by Edward Ayrton during their 1907-1908 excavation season, contained refuse material that had been used in the burial of Tutankhamen, and provided a highly important clue which led to Howard Carter's discovery of the boy king's final resting place in 1922. If Reeves is correct, the anomalous radar "blip" located near KV62 may very well prove to be the long sought-for burial of several missing Amarna-period royals.

Below is a collection of photos and links connected with the KV63 discovery taken from various news sources on the internet. I'll update this page as news develops. There are photos of KV63 everywhere online right now, so it's hard to track all the sources in order to give proper credit. Most of the photos used on this page were taken by Heather Alexander and Jane Akshar.

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