KV64

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

KV64
tomb by unknown and by Nehemes Bastet

place Valley of the Kings
Discovery date January 2011
excavation University of Basel
Previous
KV63 		The following
-
Valley of the Kings
Valley of the Kings
(Eastern Valley)

KV64 ( Kings' Valley no. 64 ) is an ancient Egyptian tomb with the number 64 in the Valley of the Kings . It was discovered in January 2011 as part of the “University of Basel Kings' Valley Project” started in 2009 by Egyptologists from the University of Basel under the direction of Susanne Bickel . The discovery is considered to be a "chance find" as there was no specific search for graves. The opening of the grave and the start of the excavations did not take place until January 2012, just under a year after the actual discovery.

KV64 is only the second tomb discovered and excavated in the valley after KV63, found in 2005 by Otto Schaden , since the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb ( KV62 ) in 1922 by Howard Carter .

Location and discovery

KV64 is on the way to grave KV34 , the grave of Thutmose III. , which was discovered by Victor Loret in 1898 . It is directly adjacent to the KV40 , which was also discovered by Loret , which is why it was originally named KV40b before it could be identified as an independent grave. The tomb was discovered on January 25, 2011, the first day of the Egyptian revolution . However, due to the political situation, it was immediately closed again and work resumed on January 8, 2012 with the approval of the Ministry of Antiques .

Excavation and finds

KV64 was found locked. The first investigations showed that the rock tomb belongs to the 18th Dynasty ( New Kingdom ). It shows no traces of water damage from flooding, as can often occur in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb consists of a shaft and a single chamber. The chamber, filled with rubble up to 80 cm below the ceiling, is 4 m in north-south and 2.4 m in east-west orientation.

In the upper area of ​​the grave, lying on a thick layer of rubble, was a black, well-preserved coffin with the carefully wrapped mummy of a woman about 1.55 m tall who died at the age of about 20. The inscriptions on the wooden coffin name the name Nehemes Bastet , so it is believed to be her coffin. According to the text on the small wooden stele (27.5 cm × 22.5 cm × 2 cm) found at the foot of the coffin, Nehemes Bastet was the daughter of a priest in Karnak (the ruling class in the area at the time) and was entitled “Singer of Amun ". A young woman and possibly Nehemes Bastet herself is depicted on the painted wooden panel.

The excavation team dates the discovery of the coffin and the small wooden stele to the 22nd Dynasty ( Third Intermediate Period ). Elina Grothe-Paulin noted that “in KV64 two burials took place approx. 500 years apart.” The first and original burial, however, is dated to the 18th dynasty due to fragments of wood and ceramics found in the rubble .

Another mutilated body that was originally mummified was found under the rubble. Possibly it was a princess and thus a member of the royal family who had died around the age of 40. Other parts of the first grave equipment, most of which were probably stolen in antiquity and before the second use, were found in the rubble of the grave, including two canopic jugs and a glass flask. Grave robbers were probably responsible for the desecration of the corpses ; while the corpses of former pharaohs were bandaged again, this was not done here. Then the grave must have stood open for a while, as indicated by wasp nests on the wall, before the second burial and re-sealing took place.

There were burials of private individuals in the Valley of the Kings mainly in the 18th dynasty, in which deserving officials had the honor of being buried here (Userhat: KV45 , Maiherperi: KV36 , Vizier Amenemopet: KV48 ) and in the Third Intermediate Period ( KV44 ) when the Valley of the Kings was no longer the burial place of kings. The well-preserved burial in KV64 belongs to the latter phase.

Assignments of the grave number

The number "KV64" has already been assigned twice in the past. The radar anomaly discovered during the work of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project (ARTP) in 2000 was given the designation KV64 by Nicholas Reeves "on an experimental basis". In 2008, Zahi Hawass , then director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) , stated in an interview that he had discovered the entrance to both KV64 and KV65. Nothing was publicly known about the excavations and investigations of both discoveries that he had announced for October of the same year.

literature

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Newly discovered Egyptian tomb contains mummy of 3,000 year old singer , January 16, 2012 (English).
  2. ↑ Interview with Steve Cross and Exclusive Photo of KV64 ( Memento from February 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English).
  3. ↑ University of Basel Kings' Valley Project: Discovery of a new tomb in the Valley of the Kings, KV 64 ( Memento from April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (English).
  4. ↑ a b Revealed - Riddles of History: Egypt's Lost Princess , United Kingdom 2018 (documentary film, 44:42 min).
  5. ^ Nicholas Reeves , Richard H. Wilkinson : The Complete Valley of the Kings , London 1996, ISBN 0-500-05080-5 , pp. 182-185 (English).
  6. ↑ KV64 ( Memento from June 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ^ Archeology: Another New Tomb in the Valley of the Kings? , August 3, 2006 (English).
  8. ↑ Guardians.net: SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW 2008 - Dr. Zahi Hawass (English).

Coordinates: 25 ° 44 ′ 0 ″  N , 32 ° 36 ′ 0 ″  E