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Tomb KV55 (possibly belonging to Akhenaten,
Tiy or Smenkhkare)
is not open to the public, yet it has been said that more has been written about KV55, a tomb in the
Valley
of the Kings on the West Bank at Luxor (ancient
Thebes), than any of the others
located in that area. Whether this remains so today is questionable, but it is
still a mystery tomb with many important secrets, that if given up, could answer
important questions about the 18th
Dynasty.
Excavation History
 The tomb was discovered by Edward Ayrton (an American lawyer turned
Egyptologist), while working as an excavator for
Theodore Davis, on January 6th, 1907. He had been working west of the tomb of
Ramesses IX (KV6) on a pottery jar cache when he accidentally uncovered the
entrance to KV55. The tomb was partially sealed by its original door and
plastered, which was then stamped with the "jackal and nine captives"
stamp, the same seal found on the tomb of Tutankhamun. Apparently that
barrier had been breached, and later the corridor was filled with limestone
rubble, to within a meter of the ceiling, that flowed out into the single
chamber and once again blocked off
with a roughly built wall of limestone over the remains of the original barrier.
This probably occurred during the 20th
Dynasty, when other tombs in the area
were also resealed. However, even this barrier, which was situated atop rubble
rather than the bedrock, did not last but it appears that when the tomb of
Ramesses IX was cut the chips and debris spilled over the entrance, effectively
sealing it once more. We are told that the rough limestone barrier should have
been better investigated, but that Ayton perhaps was more interested in the
treasure that might lie within. In fact, it is rather clear that the tomb
was excavated somewhat hurriedly, as well as haphazardly.
 There was considerable water damage within the tomb from a leak above
the doorway that continued down into the tomb. This crack was repaired in
ancient times. By 1908, the objects discovered thus far in the tomb had all been
removed and a steel door erected at the entrance. Most of the items taken from
the tomb ended up in the Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo, while a few
miscellaneous objects also found their way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York. A few other objects also went to European museums such as the RMO in
Leiden. These artifacts all date from the time of Amenhotep III to the reign of
Tutankhamun and those that are inscribed have the names of Queen Tiy, Amenhotep
III or Tutankhamun. However, soon after Davis finished excavation, a number of
items turned up missing, apparently stolen by workmen. Gold bands that once
encircled the base of the coffin were taken, and only recently returned. Most of
the other items were "ransomed" early on by Davis.
In about 1922, Howard Carter found a few items from the tomb in a cleft in
the rock at the tomb entrance. Afterwards, Harry Burton who was working for
Howard Carter, in 1923 set up a darkroom within the tomb to develop photographs
of the finds taken from the tomb of
Tutankhamun. During this period the steel
door to the tomb entrance went missing and was replaced by stones. Yet by 1944,
this barrier too collapsed and the tomb began to fill with debris.
In 1959, Elisabeth Thomas drew a sketch of the tomb plan, and recently the tomb was further investigated by Lyla Pinch
Brock, who turned up
a few additional items while clearing the tomb in 1993. Later, in 1996, she
repaired the plaster in the burial chamber and restored the broken
stairway.
 
Burial chamber before and after cleanup
Tomb Layout and Design
This tomb likely started out as a private tomb, and was then reworked partially as a
royal tomb, but at some point its construction was interrupted so that its size
and form more closely resembles a private tomb still. The entrance stairs,
consisting of 21 steps, are
cut fairly deep into the overhang of the rock, like royal tombs, but beyond,
there is only a corridor, measuring 1.8 meters wide and about 2.5 meters high, and one chamber.
This burial chamber measures about seven meters long by five meters wide by four
meters high. However, black vertical masons' marks
indicate that another room on the east side of the burial chamber was also
intended. Furthermore, an ostracon, discovered fairly recently by Brock and painted with what appears to have been the
tomb plan, along with masons' marks on the walls near the entrance indicate that
the entrance was enlarged, the ceiling raised and the number of stairs
increased, and at some point, also lowered. These would all evidence the intention of turning what was a private
tomb into a royal tomb. The sloping passage and burial chamber resemble
the design elements of Tutankhamun's tomb, which itself was originally meant to
be a private tomb, as well as the tomb of Yuya and
Tuya, which indeed is a
private tomb. Furthermore, current
 excavators such as Kent Weeks believe all
three tombs were probably cut at the same time. Also, the entrance cutting seems
to have been duplicated in WV23, belonging to
Ay and WV25.
The walls of the tomb were plastered, but never decorated which further
suggests the intent to make a royal tomb out of what was to originally be a
private tomb. This plaster work appears to have been done some years after the
tomb was originally quarried. However, it is interesting that most of the
plaster on the north wall had already been lost by the time of the actual
burials.
Discoveries within the Tomb
 The perplexity of this tomb began when it was originally entered, for on top
of the fill in the corridor lay a door leaf and a large panel that turned out to
be from a large gilded wooden shrine prepared by Akhenaten, the heretic king,
for his mother's (Tyi, Tiye) burial in el-Amarna. This was his new city
established to honor the king's love affair with Aten, the sun disk. As the
excavators crawled and burrowed atop the fill to the burial chamber, they
encountered more bits and pieces of the shrine. However, as with most of the
objects left behind by this king, his (we believe) figure and cartouche had been erased
during ancient times from the remains of this artifact.
Right: Top - A seal with throne name of
Amenhotep III; Bottom: A magic brick inscribed with the throne
name of Akhenaten
Within the burial chamber itself was found a somewhat decayed wooden coffin,
obviously of royal origins with the crook and flail visible, as well as an
uninscribed bronze uraeus. Here too, however, the cartouches had been cut out
and the bottom part of the gold face mask viscously torn away. Within the coffin
lay a mummy wearing a gold vulture pectoral. Approximately in three corners of
the burial chamber were
fragments from four mud "magical bricks" (with one under the coffin) along with a variety of
broken funerary equipment consisting of fragments of wooden furniture, hematite
and blue glazed vases, boxes and ritual implements. Within a large niche on the south wall, probably
begun as an entrance to another side room, lay four, unused calcite canopic
jars.
The coffin and canopic jars seem to have been originally prepared for a woman
but adapted for the use of a male.
 More recent finds within the tomb by
Brock include pieces of granite
and quartzite, several beads, the Ostracon mentioned above, fragments from the original plaster door
sealing that were stamped with mostly illegible impressions, blue painted
pottery fragments and a hieratic docket and mud seal related to an estate in the
Sinai and another estate belonging to Sitamun, a daughter and wife of Amenhotep
III.
Left: The coffin missing part of the gold in the face mask
Regrettable, some small, but perhaps very important objects
from this tomb were scattered about. Of late, considerable
attention has been given to a "coffin basin" and
gold foil sheets found within the coffin. These were some of
the items that turned up missing from the Egyptian Antiquities
Museum, those some of it may never have made it that far.
There is considerable debate concerning how these various
items turned up, and how they turned up, but what appears to
be the most important aspect of their "modern
discovery" is that at least some of the items appear to
have been inscribed. Yet, even considering the importance that
many amateur and professional Egyptologists assign to this
tomb, it is perhaps surprising that even some of the visible
inscriptions have not been fully analyzed. While we will not
go into the long stories involved with the history of these
objects, it does appear probable that the name of Smenkhkare,
a probable successor (or predecessor) to Tutankhamun, does
appear on a few of them. On the other hand, an official of
Germany's Munich Museum is reportedly said that inscriptions
on the coffin basin would "surprise many
Egyptologists". We suppose someday this statement will be
clarified.
Who's Tomb and Who's Burial
Who this tomb was originally built for is most likely lost to
us. Davis was convinced that the tomb was redone for Queen Tiy,
and he apparently rejected any other explanation. He believed
that the head snapped off of the canopic jars were of this
Queen, and indeed, the
 haircut given the human heads was
popular for both men and women of this period. He also
believed that the vulture pectoral bent about the mummy was
the queen's crown, and of course there was also the shrine
that was clearly hers.
Left: the gold pectoral
Weigall, who representative the antiquities service, however, thought that the bones could not be those of Queen Tiye.
He thought they belonged to a man, perhaps Akhenaten and this tomb was the result of his mummy being quickly removed from
el-Amarn. To support his theory Weigall pointed to everywhere in the tomb where a name had been erased,
and especially on the coffin, the gold mummy bands which had encircled the body and the
ripped apart gold portrait mask. He also thought that the gold pectoral vulture was not a queen's crown but the 'vulture collar' of pharanoic burials.
To Davis' credit, he invited both a European physician from Luxor and a prominent American obstetrician who was visiting Thebes to examine the body while it was still in the tomb
in order to decide its sex. Apparently both surgeons, after examining the pelvis of the mummy (which was quite visible due to the wrappings having decayed), instantly agreed that it was the pelvis of a woman.
Today, we know that the physicians erred, perhaps because of
the post-mortem
 damage done on the skeleton that resulted in
the separation of the hip bones from the sacrum. Since then, a
number of experts have re-examined the mummy with the
conclusion that it is in fact that of a male.
Right: Canopic Jars from the tomb
However, now feeling vindicated, Davis went on to publish his
account of the excavations as "The Tomb of Queen Tiye"
(Tiy). Then, in 1907, the mummy was sent to Elliot Smith who
was a Professor of Anatomy in Cairo. He was apparently, to
Davis' dismay, the first to identify the mummy as that of a
male. However, he further concluded that the bones were that
of a young male in his mid-twenties. Smith thought that the
bones were those of Akhenaten, but of course Egyptologists
immediately disagreed. Akhenaten obviously lived a much longer
life, given all of the events that transpired during his
reign.
It was Norman de Garis Davies who first thought that the bones might be those of the other missing ruler of that time,
Smenkhkare. However, Elliot Smith later thought of a new theory.
He reasoned that the bones were thought to belong to a man in his mid-twenties
because of a medical condition called Frohlich Syndrome.
With this medical condition the bones of an older person may
in fact appear much younger. Smith offered the example of a 36 year old man whose bones appeared to be those of a 22-23 year old. To back his theory Elliot Smith also noted another effect of Frohlich Syndrome.
Those afflicted with the decease have an enlargement of the skull and an overgrowth of the
mandible, attributes found in many of the depictions of Akhenaten. It was the perfect answer to both the identity of the mummy in the tomb and the strange appearance of Akhenaten.
Yet this theory also lacks creditability. Another symptom of the syndrome is that men are unable to father any children,
and it is known that Akhenaten had at least five daughters. Also all the royal family at the time were represented with the strange bodies,
which could represent a new style of depicting the Pharaoh
during this period.
Now, almost a century after the tomb's discovery, the issue of who's mummy was
found in the tomb and who the tomb was modified for is still hotly debated. There
are three major sets of evidence that sponsor the debate. One set consists of the
shrine and a number of minor items of furniture that are associated with the
burial of Queen Tiy. These objects seem to indicate that she was buried in
this tomb, though her mummy and most of her funerary equipment were absent. It
could have been removed when workmen quarrying the tomb of Ramesses IX (KV6)
above it stumbled upon this tomb. The absence of her mummy bears little
light on the
 matter, for it was discovered along with others in the Amenhotep II
cache in that king's
tomb (KV35). It, along with others, were removed for safe keeping
during antiquity, but from what tomb we are uncertain.
Right: An inlay from which a cartouche
has been removed, most probably the name of Akhenaten
Another set of evidence includes the mummy, coffin, canopic jars and magic
bricks. These items were perhaps originally prepared for a secondary wife of Akhenaten
named Kiya. However, we believe she fell out of grace with that king in
year eleven of his reign, and sometime afterwards were redesigned for a male,
and probably a king.
But of course, most of the cartouches and other references to this king had been
removed from the items, or were never inscribed in the first place.
Finally, we should take into account the multiple openings and closings of
this tomb, as evidenced by the evolution of barriers erected during ancient
times. We may not simply assume that that all of these were the result of
robberies, though it has been suggested that the tomb could
have been reentered in order to remove the cartouches of
Akhenaten.
Some Egyptologists believe that Akhenaten and his mother were most likely originally entombed at el-Amarna
and that they were both later moved to the West Bank at Thebes by
Tutankhamun, who was (almost certainly) Akhenaten's son. It had become obvious
that the priesthood would not allow Akhenaten's new religion after his death, so his
old capital was abandoned.
Modern analysis provided some evidence that the body was, in fact, that of
Akhenaten, though it has also proven problematic. As Arthur Weigall states:
"The body was lying in a coffin inscribed with Akhenaton's name; it
was bound around with ribbons inscribed with his name; it had the physical
characteristics of the portraits of Akhenaton; it had the idiosyncracies of a
religious reformer such as he was; it was that of a man of Akhenaton's age as
deduced from the monuments; it lay in the tomb of Akhenaton's mother; those
who erased the names must have thought it to be Akhenaton's body, unless one
supposes an utter chaos of cross-purposes in their actions; and finally, there
is nobody else who, with any degree of probability, it could be."
Unfortunately, the latest estimates of the mummy's age range between 20 and
26 years, which conflicts with the archaeological analysis. However, it should
be noted that this analysis was made based on wisdom teeth from the mummy, which
may not yield a completely accurate age. Furthermore, the burial of both Tiy and
and Akhenaten at the same time in this tomb does not provide a reason for the
multiple openings and closing of the tomb. One possible explanation suggested by
some is that the mummy of Akenaten was later removed from the
 tomb and replaced
with another mummy, possibly that of Akhenaten's favored son-in-law. A number of
other theories seem to float around Egyptology circles, but few seem to meet all
the criteria of the evidence.
Left: Gold foil reported to have the
cartouche of Smenkhkare
One theory suggests that the burial was actually that of Smenkhkare, a
Pharaoh who may have followed Tutankhamun, but soon perished and was subjected
to a hastily arranged burial. This theory holds that his funerary equipment was
gathered from various sources (much as items in the tomb of Tutankhamun were
"borrowed" from others). It appears that a recently discovered
piece of gold foil bearing the cartouche of Smenkhkare may lend some support to
this theory.
Others believe that Queen Tiy was originally buried in WV22 along with her
husband, Amenhotep III, and Akhenaten was originally buried at el-Amarna. Then,
during the reign of Tutankhamen, Tiy was reburied in KV55 and, perhaps several
years later, Akhenaten was also buried there in a coffin that had been altered
for him. However, it seems somewhat odd that Tutankhamen would remove his
grandmother from his grandfather's tomb. Furthermore, there are indications that
Tiy outlived her husband by a number of years, and was never buried with him in
the first place.
So the riddle continues, and may never be answered. Time and advances in
technology may eventually tell us whether the body found in KV55 is indeed that
of the heretic king, Akhenaten, or some other, but it may never reveal the whole story behind
this mystery tomb, even though it is clear that all the evidence is not even
available to us that exists.
General Site Information
- Structure: KV 55
- Location: Valley of the Kings, East Valley, Thebes West Bank, Thebes
- Owner: Tiye (?) or Akhenaten (?)
- Other designations:
- Site type: Tomb
Orientation
- Axis in degrees: 92.25
- Axis orientation: East
Site Location
- Latitude: 25.44 N
- Longitude: 32.36 E
- Elevation: 171.23 msl
- North: 99,597.776
- East: 94,079.536
- JOG map reference: NG 36-10
- Modern governorate: Qena (Qina)
- Ancient nome: 4th Upper Egypt
- Surveyed by TMP: Yes
Measurements
- Maximum height: 3.93 m
- Mininum width: 1.34 m
- Maximum width: 6.63 m
- Total length: 27.61 m
- Total area: 84.3 m²
- Total volume: 185.25 m³
Additional Tomb Information
- Entrance location: Valley floor
- Owner type: Unknown, possibly royal
- Entrance type: Staircase
- Interior layout: Corridor and chambers
- Axis type: Straight
Categories of Objects Recovered
- Accessories
- Carpenters' and sculptors' tools
- Furniture
- Human mummies
- Jewellery
- Models
- Scarabs and seals
- Sculpture
- Tomb equipment
- Vessel stands
- Vessels
- Warfare and hunting equipment
- Written documents
Dating:
History of Exploration
- Ayrton, Edward Russell (1907): Discovery (made for Theodore M. Davis)
- Ayrton, Edward Russell (1907-1908): Excavation (conducted for Theodore M. Davis)
- Brock, Lyla Pinch (1992-1993): Excavation
References:
Archives
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