The West Valley May Harbor Two Impressive King Tombs, but It Is a Poor Cousin to the Valley of the Kings
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Copyright © 2021 Michael J. Marfleet Published July 2nd, 2021 The West Valley may harbor two impressive king tombs, but it is a poor cousin to the Valley of the Kings. It will likely remain so. II. The West Valley 'Valley of the Aten' by MICHAEL J MARFLEET To date six 'tombs' have been discovered in the West Valley, (Figs. 1 & 2): KV22 - The extensive king tomb of Amenhotep III; KV23 - The king tomb of Ay, fore- shortened and perhaps half the size it was originally intended to be; KV24 - A pit/shaft 'tomb' located between the entrances to KV23 & KV25; KV25 - An un- finished king tomb never used for a king burial; KV65* and KVA, pit/shaft 'tombs' intended to house the sacred refuse from mummification and the funer- ary feast, (Technical Essay 1 appearing November 5th). The only two kings known to have been buried in the valley were both closely associated with the monotheistic Aten faith. Could the West Valley have been a separate necropolis set-aside exclus- ively for those of monotheistic belief; ie: the royals of the AMARNA Period? Amenhotep III and his father, Tuthmosis IV represent the earliest and Ay the latest of the pharaohs most directly associated with the Aten faith. The inter- vening kings, Amenhotep IV, Tutankhamun and Smenkhkare (Fig. 3), were buried elsewhere - Amenhotep IV in the Royal Wadi at Akhetaten (Fig. 4), and Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings (VoK). The whereabouts of the tomb of Smenkhkare, indeed the very existence of this king, remains a mystery, (Essay V, August 13th). Fig. 1 Fig. 2 At the death of Amenhotep III at least five kings - Tuthmosis I/KV38, Tuthmosis II/?KV33, Tuthmosis III/KV34, Amenhotep II/KV35 & Tuthmosis IV /KV43 - and at least three queens - Hatshepsut/KV20, Tia'a/KV32 & Hatshepsut meryet-Ra/KV42 - already lay entombed in the extremities of the VoK, (Fig. 3). Because of his faith Amenhotep III may have made a conscious decision not to be buried in the VoK alongside his polytheistic predecessors. His father, Tuthmosis IV, at one time appears to have had the same idea. It was he who commissioned the cutting of KV22, but for some reason he changed his mind and cut a tomb of very similar architecture in the easternmost extremity of the VoK, KV43. Fig. 3 With exclusively Aten kings buried in the West Valley, albeit just the two, it appears Amenhotep III may purposely have chosen this wadi not only for himself but also as the final resting place for subsequent monotheistic kings - a new cemetery designed to be distinct and apart from the polytheistic kings buried in the VoK just like Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Islamic, etc faiths have preferentially segregated their cemeteries. Is the West Valley indeed the 'Valley of the Aten'? To find a plausible answer to this question we need to take our first 'leap of faith'… When Amenhotep III chose to be buried in KV22 he wasn't to know that his son, when he became Amenhotep IV (Fig. 4), would take the Aten faith to another level and to a newly created center of worship, Akhetaten, four hundred kilometers or so to the north of Thebes (Fig. 5), and there commission a new royal necropolis.** As a result the mummy of the father of the Aten faith*** was to lie in lonely solitude in KV22 (Fig. 6) for the next twenty-eight years, until the death of Pharaoh Ay and his burial in KV23 (Figs. 7 & 8), at the southern end of the valley. But for the premature death of Tutankhamun, Amenhotep III would have enjoyed company somewhat sooner. The boy king had been preparing two more tombs in the 'Valley of the Aten', one for the reburial of Amenhotep IV and one for himself, KV23 & KV25, (Fig. 8 & Technical Essay 8, February 11th, 2022). Soon after the deaths of Amenhotep IV and Neferneferuaten nefertiti, Tutankhamun had the center of worship restored in Thebes. He returned the remains of the AMARNA Royals, re-wrapped following their violation by plunderers, to the VoK, storing them temporarily in an enlarged KV55 while their final resting places were being prepared. The aging Ay had never expected to become pharaoh, but with the early demise of Tutankhamun he became the sole qualifier. Realizing he had little time left, Ay grasped the opportunity to appropriate the tomb being cut for Amenhotep IV for himself. As for the burial of the boy king, his intended resting place, KV25, was barely begun. Time was short and there was little choice but to abandon KV25 altogether, take over a near complete noble's tomb in the VoK that was being prepared for Tutankhamun's parents, and have it quickly enlarged for the burial equipage of Pharaoh Nebkheperure, birth name: Tutankhamun; (Technical Essay 6, January 14th, 2022). Following the death of Ay - the last royal member with a familial line linked to the monotheists - Horemheb, commander in chief of the Egyptian army, seized the throne. Horemheb was the last pharaoh of the XVIIIth Dynasty****. The new pharaoh returned the country to its earlier polytheistic faith, wiped the AMARNA Kings from the official king list and purged the tombs in the 'Valley of the Aten'. The re-wrapped mummies of the AMARNA Royal Family and Ay were re-interred in a unique mausoleum located well to the south and set high up facing the rising of their Aten, distant from polytheistic kings past, present (Horemheb himself), and future - KV39, (Technical Essay 8). During the time of Horemheb at the close of the XVIIIth Dynasty (Fig. 9), the 'Valley of the Aten' became effectively decommissioned as a New Kingdom necropolis. Given this scenario it appears most unlikely further New Kingdom king burials remain to be found in the West Valley. In the VoK all New Kingdom king burials (mummies and/or tombs), are accounted for.***** Some Egyptologists still believe there are more king tombs to be discover- ed in the West Valley - those of Amenhotep IV, Neferneferuaten nefertiti and Smenkhkare being favored candidates. It would be foolish of me to echo the in- famous 1914 statement of Theodore Davis, "The Valley of the Kings is exhausted", but I have my doubts, (Essay IV, July 30th). However, tombs of some of the AMARNA elite remain a possibility; ie: those who may have survived following evacuation of Akhetaten, (Technical Essay 7, January 28th, 2022). There were later burials in the West Valley. During the Third Intermediate Period following the XXth Dynasty (post the New Kingdom), KV24 & KV25 were appropriated for intrusive burials. At least five mummies were recovered from KV24 and eight more from KV25.****** More West Valley hypogea may lie as yet undetected - the recently dis- covered KV65 and the scattered ruins of workmen's huts in the West Valley that are located remote from established tomb entryways suggest one or more undis- covered tombs could lie nearby, (Fig. 2). But it is the VoK that may yet prove by far the more fruitful, (Essay IV). Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 - Entrance to tomb of AMENHOTEP III - KV 22 Fig. 7 - Entrance to Tomb of AY - KV 23 Fig. 8 - West Valley head - Sites of KV23 & KV25 Fig. 9 - Pharaohs reigning during the New Kingdom & the AMARNA Period (Conventional thinking) Tombs noted in text --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Currently there is some confusion regarding the location of KV65, Fig. 2). It had been reported about a decade ago that the presence of KV65 had been detected in the VoK and that the 'tomb' was yet to be excavated. However, in 2019 KV65 was identified on a Google Earth image of the southern extremity of the West Valley where excavations of workers' huts have been taking place. It is described as being a small, unfinished, undecorated embalming cache containing funerary objects and tools - 'PHARAON Le Maga- zine de l'Egypte Eternelle' - Oct. 13th, 2019; www.pharaon-magazine.fr ** The modern settlement of el-Amarna has given its name to the 'AMARNA Period', (Fig. 8) - the time covering the reign of Amenhotep IV and the three (more likely two, [Essay V appearing August 13th]) kings who were to follow him - Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun & Ay. They all lived in Akhetaten alongside Amenhotep IV until his death in c1334bc. *** The Aten appears much earlier in the New Kingdom, but the first example of truly public worship is attributed to Amenhotep III. **** Dynastic breaks are XIXth & XXth Century AD creations, and their definitions are not rigidly consistent, (Essay IV). Being unrelated to those pharaohs who had gone before him, perhaps General Horemheb as pharaoh should be recognized as the first member of the XIXth Dynasty. But since Horemheb, like Ay before him, produced no heir, convention places his successor, Ramses I, also ex-army, as the initiator of the XIXth Dynasty, (Fig. 8). ***** That is, but for Amenhotep IV, Neferneferuaten Nefertiti & Smenkhkare, (Essay V & Essay VII [appearing September 10th], & Technical Essay 8). ****** 'Archaeological Research in the Valley of the Kings and Ancient Thebes' Ed. Pearce Paul Creasman, University of Arizona Expedition Wilkinson Egyptology Series Vol. I, 2013 (www.aca- demia.edu) Next: ESSAY III 'The Restorations' published July 16th, 2021 .