KV54
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| KV54 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Burial site of Tutankhamun embalming cache | ||
| Location | East Valley of the Kings | |
| Discovery Date | December 21 1907 | |
| Excavated by | Edward R. Ayrton for Theodore M. Davis | |
| Previous : KV53 |
Next : KV55 |
|
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.
Not so much a tomb but a small pit located near the tomb of Seti I, it contained about a dozen large sealed storage jars. Within the jars were contained assorted equipment and objects that had been carefully packed. It contained pottery, dishes, bags of natron, animal bones, floral collars and linen containing text dated to the final years of the then little-known pharaoh Tutankhamun. One of the jars also contained a small cartonage mask, which was recorded in a published report in 1941 to be a painted canopic top typical of bundles of viscera from the New Kingdom.[1] At the time Davis declared that he had found the tomb of Tutankhamun. In 1909 Davis donated the finds he was allowed to take out of Egypt (the contents of six of the storage jars)[2] , which were of little intrinsic value, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.[3]
In 1923, the Metropolitan's Egyptological Director Herbert Winlock, who had subsequently found similar contents in other excavations throughout the Theban necropolis, instead identified the cache as the refuse left over from the mummification of the pharaoh, rather than his "tomb". The food and other related items likely came from a funerary banquet held at the pharaoh's interment. He estimated that there had been a total of eight official mourners who had attended the burial.[4]
Contents |
[edit] Gallery of images
 Floral collar found in tomb KV54. |
 Linen from KV54 containing hieratic writing bearing Tutankhamen's prenomen (Nebkheperure) and the regnal date Year 6. |
 A long-necked bottle with a decorative floral pattern from KV54. |
 Pottery, dishes and other miscellaneous items from KV54. |
[edit] References
- Davis, Theodore M. The Tombs of Harmhabi and Touatânkhamanou. London: Duckworth Publishing, 2001. ISBN 0-7156-3072-5
- Reeves, N & Wilkinson, R.H. The Complete Valley of the Kings, 1996, Thames and Hudson, London
- Siliotti, A. Guide to the Valley of the Kings and to the Theban Necropolises and Temples, 1996, A.A. Gaddis, Cairo
[edit] Notes
- ^ Forbes, Dennis C. Tombs, Treasures, Mummies: Seven Great Discoveries of Egyptian Archaeology. p.321 KMT Communications, Inc. 1998. ISBN 1-879388-00-7
- ^ Forbes, Dennis C. Tombs, Treasures, Mummies: Seven Great Discoveries of Egyptian Archaeology. p.517 KMT Communications, Inc. 1998. ISBN 1-879388-00-7
- ^ Forbes, Dennis C. Tombs, Treasures, Mummies: Seven Great Discoveries of Egyptian Archaeology. p.321 KMT Communications, Inc. 1998. ISBN 1-879388-00-7
- ^ Forbes, Dennis C. Tombs, Treasures, Mummies: Seven Great Discoveries of Egyptian Archaeology. p.322 KMT Communications, Inc. 1998. ISBN 1-879388-00-7
[edit] External links
- KV54 – Plans of the tomb and other details (Theban Mapping Project).
