III. the Restorations by MICHAEL J MARFLEET

Copyright © 2021 Michael J. Marfleet Published July 16th, 2021 Most sitting New Kingdom kings would have played their part in restoring the rifled tombs of their forebears, but it was the ruling priesthood of the XXIst Dynasty who turned the restorations into a business. III. The Restorations by MICHAEL J MARFLEET Almost all the king tombs in the Valley of the Kings (VoK), have been thoroughly robbed and/or ransacked in antiquity. The notable single exception, of course, is KV62, the tomb of Pharaoh Nebkheperure - birth name, Tutankhamun, (Tech- nical Essays 5 & 6 appearing on this website December 31st, 2021 & January 14th, 2022). Roughly half the tombs were plundered, the remainder semi-respectfully relieved of their bullion in order to meet the economic imperatives of the XXIst Dynasty. Most of the violated mummies were subsequently restored and re- buried in existing, open tombs (so-called 'mummy caches'), although one or two may have been specifically commissioned. The Mummy Caches There are four principal caches of restored mummies in the VoK and one related to them immediately outside, close to Deir el-Bahari. An unfinished tomb, possibly intended as a mummy cache, also lies just outside the VoK and nearby Deir el-Bahari. An additional two inside the VoK may have been cut specifically for re-burials. I will touch on these first and the unfinished tomb last. Fig. 1 KV38 & KV60 (Fig. 1): These likely represent two of the earliest tombs to be cut in the VoK. They may have been prepared during the reign of Tuthmosis III for the re-burial of violated mummies originally interred in KV20, including Queen Hatshepsut and her father, Tuthmosis I. KV38 is small and crudely cut. Its freeform design with cartouche-shaped burial chamber may be likened to an abbreviated facsimile of KV20, (Bib. 68). It once housed the mummy of Tuthmosis I. When discovered by Victor Loret in 1899 the yellow quartzite sarcophagus in the burial chamber was empty. The mummy it had contained was later identified as one of the eleven kings encount- ered amongst the DB320 mummy cache, (see below). Its architecture also shares features commonly associated with queen tombs - stairway, corridor, stairway, burial chamber with single pillar, and storeroom - and could have been originally intended as the tomb of Tuthmosis's Great Wife. KV60 also is small and crudely fashioned, but being linear and square cut otherwise it has little in common with KV20 or KV38. Some of its architectural features appear more akin to later queen tombs. When discovered it contained two badly damaged female mummies lying in its unfinished burial chamber. One of the mummies had the left arm across her chest suggesting it was that of a queen. The mummy lacked any identification docket, but in 2009 was identified* through DNA testing to be Queen Hatshepsut. Inscriptions on the coffin in which the other lay identify its mummy as that of a wet nurse to the queen. The tomb was plundered in antiquity, perhaps very early on, but certainly by 1126bc when its entrance stairway became exposed during cutting of the tomb intended for Ramses VIII/KV19, (Essay VI appearing August 27th). The entry to KV60 is situated just 40m from KV20. This contrasts with KV38 which lies over 400m away. The difference may reflect the contempt Tuthmosis III held for his mother who had assumed the regency during his formative years. KV35 (Fig. 2): This tomb was cut for Amenhotep II whose restored mummy was found in place (replaced) in his sarcophagus when Loret discovered it in 1898. Loret was astonished also to find a number of damaged mummies, some restored, in three chambers. Many of these have since been identified and include Queen Tiye, the wife of Amenhotep III, himself found alongside the coffined and restored mummies of seven other important kings in a side chamber to the burial chamber of Amenhotep II. While it appears the tomb has been violated more than once, the situations of the restored mummies suggest in antiquity it was ultimately put in order and thereafter remained luckily undis- turbed until the end of the 19th Century. KV57 (Fig. 3): The elaborate tomb of Horemheb was discovered by Ed- ward Ayrton and Theodore Davis in 1908. It had been completely ransacked. The disaggregated human bones discovered in and around the burial chamber remain anonymous. They comprise at least six individuals, one of whom was likely Horemheb himself. Because there is evidence of several destroyed mummies the tomb can be considered an abandoned mummy cache - one that was thoroughly and probably repeatedly violated in antiquity until it was beyond effective restoration. In this respect, but no other, KV57 is similar to KV39. KV39 (Fig. 4): John Rose excavated this roughly cut, uniquely reticulate, three-chambered tomb in the 1990's, (Bib. 61). Its most intriguing finds are a host of human remains, including whole skulls and skull parts, distributed largely in the extremities of its three arms. Hundreds of fragments of textiles, pottery, ala- baster, wooden coffins, furnishings, gold, etc. were also found liberally distributed about the tomb and on its threshold. A few of the identifiable artifacts have been attributed to kings who have since been identified in DB320 (see below), plus possibly a couple from KV35. From the evidence collected it is reasonable to conclude the tomb was used in antiquity as a 'restoration warehouse' for many of the mummies recovered from violated and plundered tombs within the VoK prior to their transfer to DB320, and perhaps also for restorations of mummies stored in KV's 35 & 57 that had themselves become subject to violations. The seven remaining whole skulls and the skull parts are a mystery. No mummy would be restored and re-interred absent its head - all the restored mummies found in DB320 and KV35 have heads - so it stands to reason the heads found in KV39, all of which were discovered in the burial chambers, likely came from those originally laid to rest in that tomb, their mummies now destroyed and their other bones scattered beyond restoration. Who could these seven, possibly more, bodies represent? Why were they found in the extremities of the tomb and in such a parlous state? We shall revisit KV39 in Technical Essay 8 appearing February 11th, 2022. KV55 (Fig. 5): Otherwise known as the 'AMARNA Cache', this tomb remains a puzzle to this day. It was discovered by Edward Ayrton and Theodore Davis in 1907. The puzzle derives largely from the peremptory way in which it was excavated. The discoverers were less than thorough, bordering on negligent. The only human remains comprise just the one, badly decomposed mummy of a male that was found lying in the rotted trough of a queen coffin, its lid cracked due to collapse of a portion of the burial chamber ceiling. The lid lay askew with most of its gold faceplate torn away, the crook and flail symbols of royalty miss- ing, and its identifying cartouche precisely excised. This notwithstanding, the tomb does not appear to have been wantonly plundered. The inside of the coffin was covered in gold sheet and a number of gold ornaments lay on the mummy. In the entrance corridor, on the floor of the burial chamber and against the walls were the disassembled (or unassembled) panels and roof of a single shrine covered in gold leaf. In a niche stood four anonymous canopic jars with stoppers fashioned in the form of female heads. Four magic bricks were found, plus some seals, and a piece of a coffin bier. The shrine has been attributed to Queen Tiye, the seals to Tutankhamun, the magic bricks to Amenhotep IV, and the canopic jars to either Tiye or Kiya, a likely secondary wife of Amenhotep IV. The singular human remains have lately been identified as the father of the boy king. Some puzzle! We shall revisit KV55 in Technical Essay 4 appearing December 17th. DB320 (Figs. 6 & 7): This important tomb lies just outside the perimeter of the VoK proximal to and south of Deir el-Bahari. The tomb likely had been originally designed as a mausoleum for the burial around 970bc of a high priest - Pinudjem II - along with members of his family; (but see 'Conclusion 4' below). It is entered via a 12m deep vertical shaft. At the bottom of the shaft a low corridor leads off in an 'L' shape terminating in a burial vault. About half way along the crudely cut and meandering second arm of the 'L' there is an uneven, descending stairway along which a chamber has been cut to one side. The restored remains of eleven kings (plus high priests and other nobles) were found distributed along the corridors and stacked inside this 'niche' chamber. These may not be their original locations, however. The tomb was discovered by local Arabs a decade before it became public knowledge in 1881, by which time the locals had removed any number of artifacts and one mummy and may have re-arranged the remaining bodies in their search for items of value. There is worse: the first archaeologist to enter the tomb was Emile Brugsch. Within 48hr he had removed all the mummies without bothering to document their locations. He ultimately placed them by recollection, hence the varying interpretations of later scholars. KV41 (Fig. 1): This is another shaft tomb located west of Deir el-Bahari and, like DB320, just outside the perimeter of the VoK. The entry shaft was found incomplete and empty, terminating at a depth of around 11m.

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