The University of Basel Kings Valley Project Finds A New Tomb in the VOK : KV64

by Susanne Bickel & Elina Paulin-Grothe Photos © The University of Basel Kings’ Valley Project he first who chose the as their burial place still adhered to the tradition of having members of their families and pro- fessional entourages interred in the vicinities of their own tombs. It is only after the Amarna period that the Valley became an (almost) exclusively royal necropolis. The numerous non-royal tombs there have received very T little scientific attention until recently.1 Kmt 18 View of the interior of KV64, with the incribed wooden coffin of the tomb’s occupant, Nehemes-Bastet, a small fu- nerary stela at its foot end.

To be granted a tomb in this particular location was certainly considered an important privilege which, as a counterpart, implied some conditions and re- strictions. The most striking rule was the fact that non-royal tombs in the Kings’ Valley were not allowed any wall decoration, quite in contrast to the wonder- fully engraved and painted tomb chapels and burial chambers of the same social groups in other parts of the Theban west bank. Whereas the architectural layout

19 Kmt View of the side wadi of the Valley of the Kings where are located a number of unin- scribed 18th Dynasty tombs, as indicated by the inset graphic. The modern stairs leading up to KVs 34 (Tomb of Thutmose III) & 33 are at the far right of the photo.

of royal tombs seems to have followed a regular scheme of drew a map of the area and mentioned certain features of evolution, each plan building upon and enlarging the one the side valley in 1886; discovered the Tomb of its predecessor, non-royal tombs show a wide variety of of Thutmose III (KV34) in 1898; and architectural designs. probably undertook some work there at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. However, no records of the results he University of Basel Kings’ Valley Project, carried of their investigations seem to be preserved. out in cooperation with the Ministry of State for An- From the outset of Basel University’s project, the tiquities, started in 2009. Its aim is to explore the main questions to be answered were: Who was buried in sideT valley leading towards the Tomb of Thutmose III these tombs? What date can be assigned to the use of this (KV34), where several non -royal tombs were up-to-then area as a non -royal necropolis? Can any typology of the unexplored or else very little documented. A number of architecture of these tombs be described and perhaps even well-known archaeologists have worked in the area: Gio- assigned to the specific social status of the tomb owner? vanni Battista Belzoni was certainly there when he discov- The starting point of this approach was the iden- ered the nearby Tomb of Seti I in 1817; Eugène Lefébure tification of KV32 as being the Tomb of Queen , wife

Kmt 20 Adapted from the

of Amenhotep II and mother of Thutmose IV. This discov- sloping hill: KVs 26, 40, 64, 29, 61 on the east side of the ery was made in 2001 by the Basel University team, who wadi, KVs 32, 31, 30 on the west side.3 Only some of worked in the lower chambers of the Tomb of Siptah (KV- these tombs were accessible and documented by the The- 47).2 Exploring the area where the tomb prepared for this ban Mapping Project, others have never been studied, al- king of the late Nineteenth Dynasty cut into the pre exist- though some were visible in the landscape as shaft open- ing tomb KV32, fragments of Tiaa’s canopic chest and ings. In the recent field season of 2012, an additional and ushabtis were found in the thin layer of dust and debris entirely unknown tomb (KV64) was discovered. that remained on the floor of the older construction. To present knowledge, twelve tombs were dug he precise mapping of all the tombs, as well as a sur- into the wadi leading towards the Tomb of Thutmose III, vey and modeling of the area are among the priori- which lies high up in the cliff face. ties of the Basel project. Only when plans and sec- Tomb KV33 is situated at the same level as the Ttions of all the structures of the Valley exist, will it be pos- royal tomb, all the others lying either at the bottom of the sible to build a typology and to reflect on the reasons for cliff (KV42, KV37, KV59) or in the lower parts of the the great variety of layouts and size of non -royal tombs in

21 Kmt Left, Workmen of the University of Basel Kings’ Valley Project in the process of rediscovering the entrance to KV59. Above, The inte- rior of KV30, with a long corridor leading to four side chambers. Below, Interior of KV31, with the remains of destroyed mummies visible near the walls of the chamber.

Kmt 22 the Kings’ Valley. KVs 32, 33 and 37 open with a flight of stairs which leads into a corridor or directly into a large room. All the other non-royal sepulchers under study are shaft tombs of very different shapes and sizes. The depths of the shafts vary from four meters to nine meters. These open onto either a single chamber or a central room with two/three side chambers. As mentioned above, none of these tombs has re- ceived recorded archaeological investigation. Some were filled with thick layers of debris, which covered what re- mained of the burial equipment, pottery and human bod- ies. Other tombs were almost empty. The state of preser- vation of the remains depends on several factors. Some tombs were penetrated repeatedly by floods of rainwater pouring down through the wadis from the desert plateau. This infiltration of moisture and humidity resulted in the destruction of all organic materials. Even more devastat- Above, KV40 (right) & KV64, as they appear today with protec- ing, however, were the hands of robbers who ransacked tive coverings provided by the University of Basel Kings’ Valley the tombs. Project. Below, The entrance shaft to KV64, in the process of be- It is known that social and economic conditions ing cleared. at the very end of the New Kingdom lead to large-scale plundering of tombs all over the Theban necropolis. Not only valuables were taken, the wooden coffins were also frequently removed for recycling, and the brutality with which the mummies were unwrapped and then torn apart is striking.

he Project began with the investigation of KV26 and KV30. The former yielded a complete set of pottery, some sixteen large jars, as well as hes- vases and oth- Ter vessels. KV30, on the other hand, was almost empty except for some pottery shards and small fragments of wooden coffins, which confirmed, however, that burials took place in the Eighteenth Dynasty. KV59 was not apparent on the surface and only a rough estimation of its position was known. It took two seasons’ work to relocate the entrance. The tomb is situ- ated in the horizontal bedrock under the very high verti- cal cliff face on the east side of the path leading to the Tomb of Thutmose III, between tombs KV26 and 37, and opposite KV31. The single chamber of the tomb was filled to half its height with very wet debris, which contained no traces of burial equipment at all. Perhaps this structure was never used, or it was entirely cleared in modern times, before being flooded. KV31 is accessible through a shaft that leads to a central room with two side chambers. It yielded a large number of fragmentary finds. Several seal impressions were recovered in front of the entrance door; large amounts of pottery remained in the tomb, as well as fragments of canopic jars and remains of five mummies, all torn apart and stripped of their linen bandages. All the burials date to the Eighteenth Dynasty. A number of Ramesside in- scribed and painted ostraca came into the tomb with the limestone debris that filled it after the — continues p.29

23 Kmt Kmt 24 The single, roughly hewn chamber of the interior of KV64, looking towards the entry shaft after clearance of ap- proximately one meter of limestone de- bris. The 22nd Dyn. interment of Nehemes-Bastet was on the opposite side of the chamber.

25 Kmt The in situ undisturbed mummy of Nehemes-Bastet resting in the basin of her coffin as found. Inset, Detail of the part of the inscription on the coffin basin, where the names of the chantress of Amen & her priest father are inscribed.

Kmt 26 27 Kmt Kmt 28 Opposite, Face of the coffin of Nehemes-Bastet, with yellow- painted decoration. Right, De- tail of the KV64 stela, showing Nehemes-Bastet in the attitude of prayer. The full typology of the stela is still under study by the Authors.

— from p. 23 antique looting. ed since it was last used for a burial. Underneath this KV40 is one of the largest tombs in the area. It blocking were remains of an earlier wall covered with consists of a deep shaft which opens into a six-meter-long plaster. This indicated that two burials had taken place at corridor and a large central room with three side cham- different times. The chamber was filled with debris to ap- bers. This tomb must have been very intensely used. It proximately a one-meter height. In the northern half of contains the extremely scattered remains of several doz- the room, a black-painted anthropoid coffin with painted ens of burials dating to both the Eighteenth Dynasty and yellow inscriptions and figures still rested in situ on the the Third Intermediate Period. A heavy fire has blackened surface of the debris. By the foot end of the coffin, a wood- all the contents and the walls of the tomb at some yet-un- en painted stela was leaning against the western wall. The determined period. coffin and the stela belong to a chantress of Amen named During the preparations for a protective brick Nehemes-Bastet. wall around KV40, a manmade feature was discovered in The typology of both coffin and stele, as well as January 2011, under a heap of large stones, only 1.5 me- the lady’s name and title indicate a date in the Twenty-sec- ters from the north side of the shaft edge of KV40. This ond Dynasty. An inscription on the coffin reveals that Ne- feature was excavated in January and February, 2012, and hemes-Bastet’s father was a priest in the Amen Temple at it turned out to be a previously unknown tomb which has ; she, therefore, belonged to the Theban upper been given the designation KV64. Since the discovery of class during the Libyan period. Tutankhamen’s tomb (KV62) in 1922, only one major find The practice of reusing tombs in the Valley of the has been made in the Valley of the Kings, by Otto Schaden Kings and elsewhere in the Theban necropolis is well and his American team in 2006, who found tomb KV63, known. The find of an undisturbed burial is, however, which had been used as a large embalming cache.4 particularly fortunate. It reveals the original setup and KV64 consists of a rather small shaft and a single content of the burial. No pottery or furniture or other fu- burial chamber. The shaft contained the original fill from nerary items were included. The massive wooden coffin is pharaonic times. The entrance to the chamber was block- clearly the principal, if not only, object. Its rapidly execut- ed with stones; the tomb had obviously never been open- ed yellow-painted decoration features several funerary

29 Kmt Right, The lo- cation of KV- 33 (at bottom left of photo), close by the Tomb of Thut- mose III (KV- 34). Both were found by V. Loret in 1898.

Above, Stairwell lead- ing to KV33. Left, In- terior of KV33 before clearance; the tomb has a large central chamber & two side rooms.

Opposite, Example of the protective walls built around the unin- scribed tombs (here KV26) in the Univer- sity of Basel conces- sion.

motifs (winged disk, henu-barque, Abydos emblem, Hor- state. The coffin, parts of the canopic equipment, pottery us’s four sons, protective goddesses) and offering formu- and possibly pieces of furniture are missing. None of the lae inscribed on the side of the basin. remaining finds can help establish with certainty the iden- The mummy was placed directly into the coffin, tity of the person first buried in this tomb. It remains un- without cartonnage or visible ornaments. Nehemes-Bast- clear whether a wooden tag referring to a royal daughter et’s body is carefully wrapped with a large linen sheet, a belonged to the original owner or came into the tomb with bandage around her head, two bands crossed over her debris from outside. chest and four horizontal bands between her hips and Although the KV64 burial chamber is small and feet. The entire mummy was covered with a black resin, only crudely hewn, the quality of the fragmentary objects, probably for some protective, ritual purpose. especially pieces of glass and fragments of canopic jars The small, painted-wood stela was set up at the could fit a person from the royal family. The body of the foot end of the coffin, slightly obliquely to it, as if to war- original tomb-owner was stripped of its linen bandaging rant eye contact. It features Lady Nehemes-Bastet in a and torn apart. This destruction was probably caused by long festive robe, worshipping a seated falcon god. robbers several generations before the time when the tomb Underneath the thick layer of debris on which was reemployed for the burial of Nehemes -Bastet. the Twenty-second Dynasty burial was placed, remains of The thick layer of limestone debris was presum- the original Eighteenth Dynasty burial were found. This ably brought into the burial chamber to cover the sad re- first burial had been severely looted. Most of the objects mains of the original interment and create a kind of a new were robbed or were left behind in a very fragmentary floor level.

Kmt 30 Another tomb of great interest could be studied inal shaft openings. These structures are surrounded by this year for the first time: KV33. This lies high up in the low stonewalls, and the shaft covers have been given a cliff, to the south of the entrance to the Tomb of Thut- paint coating that fits discretely into the landscape. mose III. It was found in 1898 by Victor Loret, at the same time as the pharaonic burial. KV34 seems to have lthough the Basel Kings’ Valley Project is still in pro- required so much of the French archaeologist’s attention gress and the recovered material and certain tombs that he only briefly mentioned the existence of KV33, in our concession still await a detailed study, some Apreliminary results have emerged. All the non-royal tombs without giving any detail. The only known description is to be found in a Baedecker guidebook of the early Twen- in the area under investigation date to the mid Eighteenth tith Century, stating that the place had two rooms and Dynasty, the period between Thutmose III/Amenhotep II was uninteresting. and Amenhotep III (ca 1425-1350 BC). Every tomb has a A concrete bench was built over its entrance. different ground plan. Certain tombs, like KV64 and KV26, The possibility of removing this brought to light a flight were used for a single interment, whereas the larger struc- of ten precisely cut steps which lead to a door opening tures probably received several burials. Little can be said into a large square room with two small side chambers. so far concerning the exact social status of the tomb own- All three rooms were cut very accurately and the walls ers, except for the certain attribution of KV32 to a queen show original chisel marks on their whitish surfaces. The (Tiaa) and the possible identification of the original inter- spaces are filled with limestone debris, and on the surface ment in KV64 belonging to a royal daughter. lay many large boulders, which probably belong to the When the Valley became an exclusively royal ne- blocking and original filling of the entrance stairwell. cropolis in the Ramesside period, the Project area, which The tomb had been thoroughly robbed and many offers much shade under the steep cliffs, probably became pottery fragments dating to the Eighteenth Dynasty were one of the favorite resting places of the workmen engaged left on the surface of the debris. Part of the latter consists in hewing and decorating the royal sepulchers. A votive of loose flood fill, indicating that rain water must have en- niche, large amounts of ostraca and graffiti on the cliff tered this place at some point in the past. The owner of walls testify to their activity. The entire area seems to have KV33 remains unknown, but the tomb’s size and location been severely looted in antiquity, most probably towards suggest that it must have been intended for a rather pres- the very end of the Twentieth Dynasty. During the Twen- tigious burial. ty-second Dynasty, certain empty tombs were reused for When the Basel University’s Kings’ Valley Project burials of members of the Theban upper class. Little is began, all the shafts that were visible on the surface were known concerning the modern history of the place, no re- filled with plastic bottles and other tourist trash. It was cords of early archaeologists are preserved, but it is possi- obviously necessary to leave the area in a state where the ble that unofficial digging in the Nineteenth Century tomb structures — as well as visitors to the Valley — were brought to light certain objects that are now in museums safely protected. As a measure of site management, all the worldwide with unknown provenance. shafts have now been covered with an iron door fixed into The University of Basel Kings’ Valley Project can brick walls which have been constructed around the orig- be found at: http://aegyptologie.unibas.ch/forschung/ projekte/university- of- basel- kings- valley-project/

Notes 1.For the research performed by Donald P. Ryan on some other non-royal tombs, see: http://www.plu.edu/~ryandp/egypt.html 2. http://aegyptologie.unibas.ch/forschung/projekte/misr- mission-siptah-ramses-x/koenigin-tiaa/ 3. The attribution of KV42 is still debated; it has been recently studied and republished by Mohammed el Bialy (Memnonia 10, 1999, 161 178) and does not belong to the concession of Basel University.‐ 4. www.kv 63.com/ About the ‐Authors Susanne Bickel is professor of at Basel University, Switzerland, and head of the University of Basel Kings’ Valley Project. She has led archaeological projects at Kar- nak, the Temple of at , Speos Artemidos and Elephantine. Elina Paulin-Grothe is field director of the Univer- sity of Basel Kings’ Valley Project. She has been working in the Valley of the Kings since 1998, conducting the work of the Mis- sion Siptah -Ramses X, http://aegyptologie.unibas.ch/forschung/ projekte/misr -mission-siptah-ramses-x/).

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