KV7

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KV7
Burial site of Ramesses II
Location	East Valley of the Kings
Discovery Date	Open in antiquity
Excavated by	Henry Salt Carl Lepsius
Decoration	Book of Gates Amduat Litany of Ra
Previous : KV6	Next : KV8

Tomb KV7 in the Valley of the Kings was the final resting place of Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II ("Ramesses the Great") of the Nineteenth Dynasty. It is located in the main valley, opposite the tomb of his sons, KV5, and near to the tomb of his son and successor, Merenptah, KV8. The tomb's location has meant that it has been very badly damaged in the flash floods that periodically sweep through the valley.

KV7 follows the bent-axis plan of tombs of the earlier Eighteenth Dynasty. The burial chamber has a sunken central area and a vaulted ceiling. Much of the decoration has been damaged beyond repair – its section of the Valley is particularly susceptible to flash floods – but it would have been decorated with the standard Book of Gates, Amduat and Litany of Ra.

The mummy was relocated to the mummy cache in DB320, and the tomb was reused in the Third Intermediate and Roman periods for burials and by early tourists.

[edit] References

Reeves, N., and R. H. Wilkinson. The Complete Valley of the Kings. London: Thames and Hudson, 1996.
Siliotti, A. Guide to the Valley of the Kings and to the Theban Necropolises and Temples. Cairo: A.A. Gaddis, 1996.
Leblanc, Christian. "The Tomb of Ramesses II and Remains of his Funerary Treasure." Egyptian Archaeology 10 (1997): 11-13.