KV35

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KV35
Burial site of Amenhotep II
Location	East Valley of the Kings
Discovery Date	March 9 1898
Excavated by	Victor Loret
Previous : KV34	Next : KV36

Tomb KV35 in the Valley of the Kings (Luxor, Egypt) is the tomb of Amenhotep II. It was discovered by Victor Loret in March 1898.

It has a dog-leg shape, typical of the layout of early Eighteenth Dynasty tombs, but several features make this tomb stand out. The burial chamber is a rectangular shape and divided into upper and lower pillared sections, with the lower part holding the sarcophagus of the king. This style of burial chamber became 'standard' for royal burials in the later New Kingdom.

Later the tomb was used as a mummy cache. Mummies belonging to the following individuals were relocated here during the Third Intermediate Period and were identified by inscriptions on their burial wrappings:

Amenhotep II (the original tomb owner found in his original sarcophagus)

Side Chamber:

Thutmose IV
Amenhotep III (the identity of this mummy is debated due to the form of mummification indicating a later date than the 18th dynasty)
Merneptah
Seti II (this mummy is perhaps incorrectly identified as it seems to be of 18th Dynasty date not 19th)
Siptah (with a club foot)
Ramesses IV
Ramesses V
Ramesses VI
Unknown Woman D (suggested by some to be Queen Tawosret)

In addition were three late 18th Dynasty mummies in the second side chamber:

Unknown Female (known as the Elder Lady who has been identified by some as Tiye. Others believe this could belong to Hatshepsut-Meryetre, Amenhotep II’s mother)
Unknown Prince (Identified by some as either Webensenu son of Amenhotep II whose canopic jars were found in the tomb or Thutmose, elder son of Amenhotep III and Tiye)
Younger “Lady” (In June 2003, British Egyptologist Joann Fletcher controversially claimed that this could be Nefertiti, wife of the "heretic pharaoh" Akhenaten. However DNA seems to now show it is actually the body of a man. Debate continues.)

Other remains in the tomb:

Unknown Male mummy on a boat which was destroyed in 1901 by tomb robbers. This has been claimed to be Setnakht as his coffin was in the tomb. But the arms on this mummy were not crossed on the chest as would have been expected of a king and this identification therefore seems doubtful. Therefore perhaps this could in fact Webensenu.

Two skulls were also found in the well chamber, one of which could have belonged to Amenhotep II’s mother Hatshepsut Meryetre as a cane found in the tomb indicates was perhaps buried here. The whereabouts of these skulls does now not appear to be known.

An additional mummified arm was also found with the three mummies in the side chamber so could belong to one of these skulls, the body in the boat or another individual.