Tutankhamun's Tomb KV62 and Treasures

In 1929 Howard Carter discovered an almost-intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings. This was a monumental moment in Egyptian Hstory because the tomb was full of "wonderful things" as Howard Carter himself described them when he took his first look into the tomb.

This Ancient Egypt lens by Kate Phizackerley, author of the leading Valley of the Kings blog, describes the tomb, known as KV62, and the amazing treasures Howard Carter found within it.

If you would like to know more about the life of the boy King Tutankhamun himself the investigations into the cause of his death, please visit my lens all about King Tutankhamun

In 1911 the Egyptologist Howard Carter entered into a famous partnership with the English aristocrat, Lord Carnarvon to explore the Ancient Egyptian burial grounds on the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor in Upper Egypt. With the retirement of the American Egyptologist Theodore Davis, they gained the most important diggin concession in the area - that of the main valley in the Valley of the Kings - with Davis famously commenting that "I fear the Valley of the Tombs is now exhausated,"

With the turmoil caused by the war and Carnarvon suffering from recurrent bouts of ill health, they only started exploring the Valley of the Kings in earnest in 1919. The Valley of the Kings had already been extensively dug but Carter realised that many of these explorations had not been down to bedrock and that, beneath the debris a tomb - or tombs - may lie undetected. And Carter though he knew of one tomb which may be still there, that of a little known pharaoh (king) by the name of Tutankhamun. Although today Tutankhamun is famous throughout the world, that was not the case in 1922. His contribution to the built archaeology of temples was minor and he had died young. Moreover, only a few very minor items had been found in the Valley of the Kings. Some Egyptologists even doubted whether Tutankhamun had really existed. Carter was convinced he had existed.

There was also the possibility that Tutankhamun's tomb had already been found. Today we know it was full of treasures, but before the discovery of KV62 two other tombs were possible candidates.

In 1907 Theodore Davis had discovered a tomb known today as KV55. Today it is thought this was the tomb of Akhenaten or Smenkhare or Kiya ... in short it's a huge mystery. The seals on KV55 dated to Tutankhmun's reign so initially it was believed to have been his own tomb.

Another "tomb" discovered by Davis, KV54, did hold burial items relating to Tutankhamun. We now believe that a feast was held after the king was interred in the KV62. The remnants of this feast, and some embalming materials, were initially left in the corridor of KV62. When the corridor was later filled with limestone chippings to deter tomb robbers, these were moved to KV54 which is little more than a small pit.

By the end of the 1921/22 winter digging season, Tutankhamun's tomb remained elusive and doubts were mounting. Carnarvon - who was again struggling for funds - determined to abandon the efforts. Howard Carter visited him at Highclere and persuaded him to finance one last season. Days into the season, on 4th November 1922, the water boy discovered rough stone steps leading down into the rubble which fills the Valley of the Kings ....

A number of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings have stood open for thousands of years. Robbed early of their treasures and decorations blackened by the torches and candles of early explorers they were a tantalising clue of the riches beneath the barren rock. Although the Valley of the Kings today seems a dry and arid place, it has often been subjected to flash floods. Today the tombs are - hopefully - protected by concrete flood barriers but many tombs have been damaged very badly by water. KV62, Tutankhamun's tomb was, however, perhaps saved by floods. In 2008, Steve Cross published a paper in Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (page 303) entitled "The Hydrology of the Valley of the Kings, Egypt'. Cross arguses that the 18th Dynasty tombs in the central area of the Valley of the Kings (KV55, KV62, KV63) were burried under flood sediment shortly after the burial of Tutankhamun and were therefore protected from robbery. Cross goes on to suggest that a further Amarna era tomb may still exist in this area (and like KV62 could therefore be largely intact). Of the other two tombs in this area, KV63 is identified as an embalmers cache and it is impossible to tell whether it has been disturbed over the past 3,500 years but probably it hasn't been. On the other hand, KV55 has been thoroughly ransacked but it is possible this occurred during, or shortly after, Tutankhamun's lifetime. Tomb KV55 may even have been raided by "the authorities" to provide Tutankhamun with suitable funerary goods. (The occupant of KV55 remains the subject of considerable debate with rival theories suggesting Akenaten and Smenkhare.) Cross's theory explains how Tutankhamun's tomb may have escaped plunder and does indeed raise the hope that a further tomb in this area may also be substantially intact. Radar surveys in this area have revealed potential anomalies as explained on my lens detailing the hunt for tomb KV64.

Tutankhamun's tomb was further protected in the 19th Dynasty when workmen built huts on top of the entrance. These huts were cleared by Howard Carter. Whether they were deliberately sited there to obscure the tomb, or whether by then the tomb had already been forgotten, we may never know.

Ankhesenamun, a daughter of Nefertiti was Tutankhamun's Great Royal Wife. All the indications are of a very loving young couple. Later in the lens you will see a number of objects from the tomb which depict the royal couple but if you are interested, I have compiled a biography about Ankhesenamun.

There is, however, another probably connection between Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun. Tutankhamun's tomb is much smaller than a typical king's (pharaoh's) tomb; the layout is cramped, and it lacks a well-chamber which was a standard feature of kings' tombs. This tomb was probably not intended for Tutankhamun. It feels more like a tomb dug for a senior queen, and that suggests it was originally dug for Ankhesenamun.

There are other possibilities. It is believed that Tutankhamun probably brought the mummies of the Amarnan royal women back to Luxor. It is possible that Tutankhamun had the tomb dug for Nefertiti or one of her other daughters. However, no remnants of any burial other than Tutankhamun's have been found in the tomb and the strongest chance is that it had been dug in anticipation of the burial of Ankhesenamun.

The tomb Tutankhamun had probably commissioned for himself was what we now know as WV23 in the Western Valley of the Kings which was used for the burial of the Pharaoh Ay, Tutankhamun's successor. Even by the time it was used for Ay, WV23 is barely complete, with minimal decoration. Possibly WV23 simply was so incomplete when Tutankhamun died that using it for his burial was impossible; however, it is possible that the elderly Ay, knowing that he would not have long enough to dig an imposing tomb of his own, appropriated WV23 from Tutankhamun when the boy-king died.

I have an alternative theory that KV62 could have been dug for Smenkhare. I'll do a lens on the theory but for now the link will take you to me blog where I outline it.

By 17th February 2003, Howard Carter was ready to start dismantling the Burial Chamber and work soon progressed to entering the Golden Shrine which contained the King's sarcophagus. In this official photograph Carter and one of his workmen are shown entering the shrine. It had no seal but was fastened with a bolt.

The shrines and coffins were nested as shown in the diagram:

❶ Outer shrine (pictured above)

❶ Linen Pall

❸ Second shrine

❹ Third shrine

❺ Inner shrine

Ⓐ  Sarcophagus

Ⓐ  FIrst coffin

Ⓑ  Second coffin

Ⓒ  Third coffin


Inside the third coffin was the mummy overlaid with the golden mask.

Diagram from Wikimedia Commons on a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike license 2.5.

Few people seem to know that the mummy of Tutankhamun wasn't the only mummy found in his Valley of the Kings tomb, there were also two mummified foetuses. They are both young girls, thought to be twins. One is believed to have gestated to around 7 months, the other was probably carried to full term but died during or soon after birth. Were they the children of Tutankhamun? I'll be doing a lens about them soon.

Some of the objects found aren't just beautiful, but told us about life in Ancient Egypt. An example is this alabater perfume jar which stand 61cm high. As an object it is beautifully carved with two concubines and papyrus columns supporting the jar itself. The lid is carved in the shape of an ibex (a type of African antelope).

On examination is was found to contain a solid perfume which retained it's fragrance. It was based around spikenard, the same fragrance Mary of Bethany (usually taken to be Mary Magdelene) used to annoint the feet of Jesus. For more about spikenard and the perfume found in this jar, please see my lens about Spikenard.

Photograph © Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, 2002 published in Flickr under a Creative Commons Attribution license 2.0. Please visit his site.

If you have any extra information or questions about this lens you can contact Kate Phizackerley, the lensmistress, using the contact form I have provided.

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