Discover

'Tomb KV62' in Egypt's Valley of the Kings is the 'Tomb of Tutankhamun', which became famous for the wealth of treasure it contained.^[1] The tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, underneath the remains of workmen's huts built during the Ramesside Period. This explains why it was spared from the worst of the tomb depredations of that period.
The tomb was densely packed with items, but they were in great disarray. Carter was able to photograph garlands of flowers, which disintegrated when touched. Due to the state of the tomb, and to Carter's meticulous recording technique, the tomb took nearly a decade to empty, the contents all being transported to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
It is often said that Tutankhamun's tomb was never violated, but this is not true. In fact, it was entered at least twice, and not long after he was buried. There is clear evidence that the sealed doors were breached in the upper corners, and later resealed. It is estimated that 60% of the jewelry which had been stored in the so-called "Treasury" was removed. Necropolis officials tried to set things right, but they did so hastily, repacking boxes with the wrong objects (based on inscriptions on the boxes themselves). The outermost doors of the shrines enclosing the king's nested coffins were left opened, and unsealed.
After one of these ancient robberies, some items from KV62 are believed to have been buried at KV54.

Contents

Discovery of the tomb

Investigation

Layout of tomb

Staircase

Entrance corridor

Antechamber

Burial chamber

Sarcophagus of Tutankhamun

Annex

Notes and references

Bibliography

External links

Discovery of the tomb

In 1907, just before his discovery of the tomb of Horemheb, Theodore M. Davis's team uncovered a small site containing funerary artifacts with Tutankhamun's name. Assuming that the site was Tutankhamun's complete tomb, Davis concluded the dig. The details of both findings are documented in Davis's 1912 publication, ''The Tombs of Harmhabi and Touatânkhamanou''; the book closes with the comment, "I fear that the Valley of Kings is now exhausted."^[2] But Davis was to be proven spectacularly wrong.
The British Egyptologist Howard Carter (employed by Lord Carnarvon) discovered Tutankhamun's tomb (since designated KV62) in The Valley of The Kings on November 4, 1922 near the entrance to the tomb of Ramesses VI, thereby setting off a renewed interest in all things Egyptian in the modern world. Carter contacted his patron, and on November 26 that year both men became the first people to enter Tutankhamun's tomb in over 3000 years. After many weeks of careful excavation, on February 16, 1923 Carter opened the inner chamber and first saw the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun.

Investigation

;1922

★ 4 November: Discovery of first step of the stairs^[3]

★ 5 November: Exposure of complete staircase

★ 25 November: Corridor emptied

★ 26 November: Access to Antechamber and discovered of Annexe

★ 28 November: Access to the Burial Chamber and Treasury

★ 29 November: Official opening of the Tomb

★ 30 November: First press conference

★ 27 December: Removal of the first object from tomb^[4]
;1923

★ 16 February: Official opening of the Burial Chamber^[5]

★ 5 April: Death of Lord Carnarvon
;1924

★ 12 February: Raising of the granite lid of the sarcophagus^[6]

★ 12 April: Carter argues with the Antiquities Service, and leaves the excavation for the United States
;1925

★ 13 January: Carter resumes activities

★ 13 October: Removal of the cover of the first sarcophagus

★ 23 October: Removal of the cover of the second sarcophagus

★ 28 October: Removal of the cover of the final sarcophagus and exposure of the mummy

★ 11 November: Examination of the remains of Tutankhamun
;1926

★ 24 October: Start of work in the Treasury
;1927

★ 30 October: Start of work in the Annexe

★ 15 December : Completion of work in the Annexe
;1930

★ 10 November: 8 years after the discovery, the last objects are removed from the tomb^[7]

Layout of tomb

In design, the tomb appears to have originally been intended for a private individual, not for royalty.^[8] There is some evidence to suggest that the tomb was hastily adapted for a royal occupant during its excavation. This maybe supported by the fact that only the burial chamber walls were decorated, unlike royal tombs in which nearly all walls were painted with scenes from the ''Book of the Dead.''

Staircase

Starting from a small, level platform, 16 steps descend to the first doorway, which was sealed and plastered – although it had been penetrated by grave robbers at least twice.

Entrance corridor

Beyond the first doorway, a descending corridor leads to the second sealed door, and into the room that Carter described as the Antechamber. This was used originally to hold material left over from the funeral and material associated with the embalming of the king, after the initial robberies this material was either moved into the tomb proper, or moved to KV54.

Antechamber

The undecorated Antechamber was found to be in a state of "organized chaos" and contained approximately 700 objects (articles 14 to 171 in the Carter catalog) amongst which were three funeral beds, plates in shape of Hippopotamus (the Goddess Tawaret), of lion (or leopards) and cattle (the Goddess Hathor). Perhaps the most remarkable item in this room were the components, stacked, of four chariots of which one was probably used for hunting, one for "war" and another two for parades.

Burial chamber

;Decoration
This is the only decorated chamber in the tomb, with scenes from the Opening of the Mouth ritual (showing Ay, Tutankhamun's successor acting the king's son, despite being older than him) and Tutankhamun with the goddess Nut on the north wall, the first hour of Amduat (on the west wall), spell one of the Book of the Dead (on the east wall) and representations of the king with various deities (Anubis, Isis, Hathor and others now destroyed) on the south wall. The north wall shows Tutankhamen being followed by his Ka, being welcomed to the underworld by Osiris.^[9]
;Contents

The entire chamber was occupied by a series of gilded wooden shrines. The outer shrine ([1] in the plan) measured 5.08 x 3.28 x 2.75 m and 32 mm thick, almost entirely filling the room, with only 60 cm at either end and less than 30 cm on the sides. Outside of the shrines were 11 paddles for the "solar boat", containers for scents, lamps decorated images of the God Hapi.
The fourth and last shrine ([4]) was 2.90 m long and 1.48 m wide. The walls were decorated by the king's funeral procession, and Nut was painted on the ceiling, "embracing" with her wings the granite outer sarcophagus.

Sarcophagus of Tutankhamun

The outer sarcophagus was constructed in granite ([a] in the plan). The main body and the lid were carved from different coloured stone, and the lid then painted to match the colour of the body. It was supported by blocks of stone at each corner, it appears to have been constructed for a different owner, but then recarved for Tutankhamen, the identity of the original owner is not preserved. In each corner a protective goddess (Isis, Nephthys, Serket and Neith) guard the body.
Inside the stone sarcophagus, the king's body was placed within three further mummy form sarcophagi, the innermost being famously composed of 110.4 kg of pure gold.^[10] Inside this the mummy itself was wearing the famous gold mask.

Annex

The 'Annex', originally used store oils, ointments, scents, foods and wine, was the last room to being cleared, from the end of October 1927 to the spring of 1928. Although quite small in size, it contained approximately 280 groups of objects, totaling more than 2,000 individual pieces.

Notes and references

1. Tutankhamun
2. The Tombs of Harmhabi and Touatânkhamanou, , Theodore M., Davis, Duckworth Publishing, 2001, ISBN 0-7156-3072-5
3. Howard Carter's diaries (October 28 to December 31, 1922)
4. A. C. Mace's personal diary of the first excavation season (December 27, 1922 to May 13, 1923)
5. Howard Carter's diaries (January 1 to May 31, 1923)
6. Howard Carter's diaries (October 3, 1923 to February 11, 1924)
7. Howard Carter's diaries (September 24 to November 10, 1930)
8. KV 62 (Tutankhamen)
9. KV 62 (Tutankhamen): Burial chamber J
10. Note concerning the 3rd Coffin

Bibliography

★ ''The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen'', by Howard Carter, Arthur C. Mace.

★ ''The Complete Tutankhamun: The King, the Tomb, the Royal Treasure'', by C. N. Reeves, Nicholas Reeves, Richard H. Wilkinson.

★ Reeves, N & Wilkinson, R.H. The Complete Valley of the Kings, 1996, Thames and Hudson, London

★ Siliotti, A. Guide to the Valley of the Kings and to the Theban Necropolises and Temples, 1996, A.A. Gaddis, Cairo

External links

★ KV62 – Plans of the tomb and other details

★ Burton's images of the tomb from The Howard Carter Archives

★ Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation