KV39

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KV39
Tomb of Amenhotep I (?)

place Valley of the Kings
Discovery date 1899
excavation Victor Loret
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KV38 		The following
KV40
Valley of the Kings
KV39 ↓
Valley of the Kings
(Eastern Valley)

KV39 is the name of an ancient Egyptian tomb that is located on the edge of the Valley of the Kings , at the entrance to Wadi Biban el-Mulak . The exact assignment of the tomb is uncertain; it may have belonged to Pharaoh Amenophis I from the 18th dynasty .

Assignment

The report contained in the Abbott Papyrus about an inspection of the royal tombs at the time of Ramses IX. gives an important clue as to the location of Amenhotep's tomb. This should therefore be exactly 120 cubits below a prominent geographical point, which is called ahay . British Egyptologist Arthur Weigall identifies the ahay with a group of workers' huts perched on a ridge above KV39. However, a “Temple of the Amenhoteps Garden” mentioned in the Abbott Papyrus has not yet been found. Another possible burial place of Amenhotep I is the grave AN B in Dra Abu el-Naga .

architecture

Isometric representation, floor plan and sectional drawing of the tomb

KV39 was discovered by Victor Loret in 1899 and is characterized by its unusual layout. It was initially started as a simple corridor grave and should run from the grave entrance in a western direction. However, construction was abandoned early and the first chamber remained unfinished. A little later the grave was expanded considerably. Running parallel to the first corridor in the opposite direction was an approximately forty-meter-long corridor with two flights of stairs and a slightly shorter south corridor at right angles to it. Both corridors each end in a chamber. The southern chamber contains a recess in the floor covered with stone slabs, which was intended to hold a sarcophagus . This feature is quite unusual for a grave from the 18th dynasty and is more reminiscent of graves before the time of the New Kingdom .

Finds

The uncovering of KV39 at the end of the 1980s unearthed around 1,350 sacks of finds. These contained pottery shards , fragments of calcite , parts of wooden coffins, textiles , metal splinters, clay jar seals, cords, traces of plants and the remains of several human skeletons . Among them were also unusual sandstone labels with blue royal cartouches of Thutmose I , Amenophis II and possibly Thutmose II. A calcite fragment with the title of the grave owner and a gold signet ring with "the name of a famous pharaoh of the 18th dynasty" were also found.

See also

literature

  • Nicholas Reeves , Richard H. Wilkinson : The Valley of the Kings. Mysterious realm of the dead of the pharaohs . Bechtermünz, Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-8289-0739-3 , p. 88-89 .
  • John Rose : Tomb KV 39 in the Valley of the Kings. A Double Archaeological Enigma . Western Academic & Specialist Press, Bristol 2000, ISBN 0-9535418-2-7 .
  • Ian Buckley: Excavations at Theban Tomb KV 39 . In: Ashley Cooke (Ed.): Current research in Egyptology II: January 2001 . BAR, Oxford 2005, ISBN 1-84171-820-3 , pp. 21-28 .

Web links

Commons : KV39  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c N. Reeves, RH Wilkinson: The Valley of the Kings. Mysterious realm of the dead of the pharaohs. Augsburg 2000, pp. 88-89.

Coordinates: 25 ° 44 ′ 16 ″  N , 32 ° 36 ′ 6 ″  E