KV27

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KV27
Burial site of Unknown
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KV27
Coordinates 25°44′23.1″N32°36′11.2″E / 25.739750°N 32.603111°E / 25.739750; 32.603111 Coordinates: 25°44′23.1″N32°36′11.2″E / 25.739750°N 32.603111°E / 25.739750; 32.603111
Location East Valley of the Kings
Discoveredbefore 1832
Excavated by Donald P. Ryan (1993, 2006)
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KV26
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KV28

Tomb KV27 is located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. This tomb was visited by John Wilkinson, but was not fully explored until the 1990s, by Donald P. Ryan of Pacific Lutheran University. The tomb consists of four rooms and is undecorated; nothing is known about its occupant.

Contents

Location, discovery and layout

KV27 is located between tombs KV21 and KV28 in a side wadi that branches off the main valley. The tomb has a simple layout, consisting of a shaft and four rooms. [1] It is most similar to KV30 and appears to be an expanded version of a shaft tomb with a single room, or it may represent an architectural halfway between a single-roomed shaft tomb and those which have multiple rooms opening from one or more corridors. [2] An unusual feature of the tomb is the plastered ramp (initially thought to be a sealed burial shaft) leading from the main chamber (B) to a side chamber (C). Pottery excavated from the tomb dates to the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty. [1]

The original excavator for this tomb is unknown, and no records exist of its discovery. [3] Richard Pococke perhaps observed its location during his tour of Egypt. [4] It was certainly known to Wilkinson, and described briefly by Eugène Lefébure as containing pieces of a mummy. [5] [6] This tomb was probably investigated by Auguste Mariette in 1859. [1]

Re-investigation and contents

Excavation of the tomb was undertaken by the Pacific Lutheran University's Valley of the Kings Project in 1993 and 2006. The tomb entrance was known to be used by local antique sellers to escape the heat. However, humans weren't the only ones who used the tomb as a family of dogs were found living there in 1990. [3] During the 1993 season the shaft was partially excavated, yielding small amounts of pottery and fragmented remnants of the burial including wood, gold leaf, and wrappings. [1]

The Project returned in 2006 to undertake a fuller excavation. The shaft was fully cleared and contained modern items such as rubbish, and modern souvenirs. Remains of the original mudbrick blocking were encountered at the base of the shaft. The tomb was found to be almost entirely full of flood debris. The first chamber (Chamber B) was almost entirely excavated, leaving only a small column of debris as a stratigraphic record. This chamber contained very few artefacts; only fragmentary stone vessels, pottery, faience, were found, along with some human metacarpals. [1]

Side Chamber C was almost entirely full of pottery sherds, mostly from white-washed storage jars. The presence of large stones mixed with the ceramics suggests that the tomb suffered a "catastrophic flooding event with a powerful torrent of water pouring into the tomb... which violently smashed and mixed the tomb contents." [1] Pieces of Late Period and Coptic pottery found scattered throughout the fill indicate that the tomb was still relatively free of debris in these periods. This chamber proved to contain the majority of the human remains uncovered thus far; these included a partial skull, vertebrae, ribs, and the right arm. The remains are thought to be from a single individual aged at least thirty years. Animal bones were also present, although these are likely the remains of food mummies for the deceased. [1] The chamber also contained two inscribed fragments of a canopic jar naming a certain "god's father" Userhet; Userhet is thought to be the owner of KV45 where three of his canopic jars were excavated in 1902. [1] [7] The excavation of the remaining two chambers was saved for a future season. At the conclusion of the 2006 excavation, a steel door was added to secure the tomb. The wall around the shaft was repaired; additionally, a diversion wall was built to protect from flooding. [1]

As of 2007, the tomb stores the pottery found in it; other finds are stored in KV21 for flood protection. [1]

Related Research Articles

KV55 Ancient Egyptian tomb

KV55 is a tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was discovered by Edward R. Ayrton in 1907 while he was working in the Valley for Theodore M. Davis. It has long been speculated, as well as much disputed, that the body found in this tomb was that of the famous king, Akhenaten, who moved the capital to Akhetaten. The results of genetic and other scientific tests published in February 2010 have confirmed that the person buried there was both the son of Amenhotep III as well as the father of Tutankhamun. Furthermore, the study established that the age of this person at the time of his death was consistent with that of Akhenaten, thereby making it almost certain that it is Akhenaten's body. However, a growing body of work soon began to appear to dispute the assessment of the age of the mummy and the identification of KV55 as Akhenaten.

KV60

Tomb KV60 is an ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. It was discovered by Howard Carter in 1903, and re-excavated by Donald P. Ryan in 1989. It is one of the more perplexing tombs of the Theban Necropolis, due to the uncertainty over the identity of one female mummy found there (KV60A). She is identified by some, such as Egyptologist Elizabeth Thomas, to be that of the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Hatshepsut; This identification is advocated for by Zahi Hawass.

WV23

Tomb WV23, also known as KV23, is located in the Western Valley of the Kings near modern-day Luxor, and was the final resting place of Pharaoh Ay of the Eigheenth Dynasty. The tomb was discovered by Giovanni Battista Belzoni in the winter of 1816. its structure is similar to that of the tomb of Akhenaten, with a straight descending corridor, leading to a "well chamber" that has no shaft. This leads to the burial chamber, which currently contains the reconstructed sarcophagus, which has been smashed in antiquity. The tomb had also been anciently desecrated, with many instances of Ay's image or name erased from the wall paintings. Its decoration is similar in content and colour to that of Tutankhamun (KV62), with a few differences. On the eastern wall there is a depiction of a fishing and fowling scene, which is not shown elsewhere in other royal tombs, normally appearing in burials of nobility.

KV42

Tomb KV42 is an ancient Egyptian tomb located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was constructed for Hatshepsut-Meryetre, the wife of Thutmose III, but she was not buried in the tomb. It was reused by Sennefer, a mayor of Thebes during the reign of Amenhotep II, and by several members of his family. The tomb has a cartouche-shaped burial chamber, like other early Eighteenth Dynasty tombs.

WV25

Tomb WV25 is an unfinished and undecorated tomb in the West Valley of the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. It is clearly the beginning of a royal tomb, and is thought to be the start of Akhenaten's Theban tomb. It was discovered by Giovanni Battista Belzoni in 1817; he found eight Third Intermediate Period mummies inside. The tomb was excavated in 1972 by the University of Minnesota's Egyptian Expedition (UMEE) led by Otto Schaden. The project uncovered pieces of the eight mummies, along with artefacts from a late Eighteenth Dynasty royal burial.

KV20

KV20 is a tomb in the Valley of the Kings (Egypt). It was probably the first royal tomb to be constructed in the valley. KV20 was the original burial place of Thutmose I and later was adapted by his daughter Hatshepsut to accommodate both her and her father. The tomb was known to the Napoleonic expedition in 1799 and had been visited by several explorers between 1799 and 1903, but a full clearance of the tomb only was undertaken by Howard Carter in 1903-1904. KV20 is distinguishable from other tombs in the valley, both in its general layout and because of the atypical clockwise curvature of its corridors.

KV19

Tomb KV19, located in a side branch of Egypt's Valley of 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.

KV56

Tomb KV56, also known as the Gold Tomb, is a tomb located in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt. It was discovered by Edward R. Ayrton in January 1908 and contained what is thought to be the intact burial of a royal child from the late Nineteenth Dynasty. The burial and casket have disintegrated, leaving a thin layer of gold leaf and stucco in the original location. Most famously the tomb contained spectacular gold and silver jewellery including earrings, rings, silver bracelets with the names of Seti II and Twosret inscribed, and a pair of small silver gloves. The original occupant of this tomb is unknown but was possibly an Eighteenth Dynasty queen.

KV61

Tomb KV61 is an unused tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. It was discovered by Harold Jones, excavating on behalf of Theodore M. Davis, in January 1910. The tomb consists of an irregularly-cut room at the bottom of a shaft. It was apparently unused and undecorated, thus its intended owner is unknown.

Exploration of the Valley of the Kings

The area of the Valley of the Kings, in Luxor, Egypt, has been a major area of modern Egyptological exploration for the last two centuries. Before this, the area was a site for tourism in antiquity. This area illustrates the changes in the study of ancient Egypt. Starting as antiquity hunting, and ending as scientific excavation of the whole Theban Necropolis. Despite the exploration and investigation noted below, only eleven of the tombs have actually been completely recorded.

KV47

Tomb KV47, located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, was used for the burial of Pharaoh Siptah of the Nineteenth Dynasty; Siptah's mummy had been found earlier, cached in KV35. KV47 was discovered on December 18, 1905 by Edward R. Ayrton, excavating on behalf of Theodore M. Davis. It was the last of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasty kings tombs to be uncovered in the Valley. Ayrton stopped his excavation in 1907 due to safety fears, and Harry Burton returned in 1912 to dig further. The cutting of a side passage was halted after the workmen cut into Side Chamber Ja of the tomb of Tia'a (KV32). The tomb was unfinished at the time of its use.

KV45

Tomb KV45 is an ancient Egyptian tomb located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was originally used for the burial of the noble Userhet of the Eighteenth Dynasty and was reused by Merenkhons and an unknown woman in the Twenty-second Dynasty. The tomb was discovered and excavated by Howard Carter in 1902, in his role as Chief Inspector of Antiquities, on behalf of Theodore M. Davis. The tomb was later re-investigated by Donald P. Ryan of the Pacific Lutheran University Valley of the Kings Project in 1991 and 2005.

KV29

Tomb KV29 is an ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings, located in the Theban Necropolis in Egypt. It is located near the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty tombs of Tiaa (KV32), Thutmose II or Merytre-Hatshepsut (KV42), and Thutmose III (KV34). The tomb was given the number KV29 in 1899 but no records of an earlier excavation exist. The entrance shaft was previously planned by the Theban Mapping Project prior to 1994. The tomb was first excavated by the University of Basel King's Valley Project in 2011.

KV37

Tomb KV37 is an ancient Egyptian tomb located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. The presence of bone fragments and white-washed storage jars indicate that the tomb was used for a burial, probably in the Eighteenth Dynasty. However, its original occupants are unknown.

KV44

KV44 is an ancient Egyptian tomb located in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. It was discovered and excavated by Howard Carter in 1901 and was re-examined in the 1991 by Donald P. Ryan. The single chamber accessed by a shaft contained three intact Twenty-second Dynasty burials; the remains of seven mummies from the original interment were found within the fill. The original cutting of the tomb is dated to the Eighteenth Dynasty.

KV21

Tomb KV21 is an ancient Egyptian tomb located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was discovered in 1817 Giovanni Belzoni and later re-excavated by Donald P. Ryan in 1989. It contains the mummies of two women, thought to be Eighteenth Dynasty queens. In 2010, a team headed by Zahi Hawass used DNA evidence to tentatively identify one mummy, KV21A, as the biological mother of the two fetuses preserved in the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

KV54

Tomb KV54 is located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. It was originally excavated by Edward R. Ayrton on behalf of the American lawyer Theodore M. Davis, who funded the work.

KV53

Tomb KV53 is located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. It has never been fully planned, but consisted of a single chamber at the end of a shaft.

Valley of the Kings Necropolis in ancient egypt

The Valley of the Kings, also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings, is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, rock-cut tombs were excavated for the pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom.

KV63

KV63 is a recently opened chamber in Egypt's Valley of the Kings pharaonic necropolis. Initially believed to be a royal tomb, it is now believed to have been a storage chamber for the mummification process. It was found in 2005 by a team of archaeologists led by Dr. Otto Schaden.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ryan, Donald P. (2007). "Pacific Lutheran University Valley of the Kings Project: Work Conducted during the 2006 Field Season". Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte. 81: 357–361.
  2. ↑ Reeves, Nicholas; Wilkinson, Richard H. (2010). The Complete Valley of the Kings: Tombs and Treasures of Egypt's Greatest Pharaohs (Paperback reprint ed.). London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. p. 109. ISBN   978-0-500-28403-2.
  3. 1 2 Ryan, Donald P. (1992). "Some Observations Concerning Uninscribed Tombs in the Valley of the Kings". In Reeves, Carl Nicholas (ed.). After Tut'ankhamun: Research and Excavation in the Royal Necropolis at Thebes. London: KPI. pp. 21–27.
  4. ↑ Reeves, Nicholas; Wilkinson, Richard H. (2010). The Complete Valley of the Kings: Tombs and Treasures of Egypt's Greatest Pharaohs (Paperback reprint ed.). London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. p. 53. ISBN   978-0-500-28403-2.
  5. ↑ Lefébure, Eugène (1889). Les hypogées royaux de Thèbes (Tome Troisième): Notices des hypogées (in French). Paris. p. 187.
  6. ↑ Reeves, C. N. (1990). Valley of the Kings: Decline of a royal necropolis. London: Kegan Paul International. p. 154. ISBN   0-7103-0368-8.
  7. ↑ Carter, Howard (1903). "Report on General Work Done in the Southern Inspectorate". Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte. Le Service. IV: 43–50. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
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