Tomb KV53 is located in the

Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings, also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings, is an area in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Twentieth Dynasty, rock-cut tombs were excavated for pharaohs and power ...

, in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. It was discovered in 1906 by Edward R. Ayrton excavating on behalf of Theodore M. Davis. It has been excavated but never been fully planned, and consists of a single chamber at the end of a shaft.

1906 discovery, layout, and contents

KV53 was discovered in 1906 by Edward Ayrton during excavations conducted on behalf of the American millionaire Theodore Davis. After thoroughly investigating the southern section of the side valley leading to the tomb of

Amenhotep II Amenhotep II (sometimes called Amenophis II and meaning "Amun is Satisfied") was the seventh pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. He inherited a vast kingdom from his father Thutmose III, and held it by means of a few military campaigns i ...

(

KV35 Tomb KV35 is the burial place of Amenhotep II, a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. Later, it was used as a cache for other royal mummies. It was discovered by Victor Loret in March 1898. L ...

), excavation moved to the other side of the path, to the north of KV29. KV53 was discovered underneath later workmens' huts. The tomb consists of a shallow shaft that descends to a large room. Ayrton notes the tomb had been looted in antiquity, with the only find noted being an

ostracon An ostracon (Greek language, Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeology, archaeological or epigraphy, epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer ...

dedicated to

Meretseger Meretseger (also known as Mersegrit' or Mertseger) was a Theban cobra-goddess in ancient Egyptian religion, in charge with guarding and protecting the vast Theban Necropolis — on the west bank of the Nile, in front of Thebes — and especiall ...

naming "Hora, chief scribe of the Place of Truth". Several more ostraca had been found in the shaft fill, and more still which were likely contemporary with them had been used to construct the walls of the workers' dwellings.

2009–10 excavations

In 2009–2010 a team led by Zahi Hawass and Ahmed el-Leithy conducted excavations in this area attempting to relocate tombs KV50, KV51, KV52 and KV53. The digging revealed 18th Dynasty blue painted pottery, tools, and

hieratic Hieratic (; ) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BCE until the rise of Demotic in the mid-first millennium BCE ...

and figured

ostraca An ostracon (Greek language, Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeology, archaeological or epigraphy, epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer ...

including a sketch of a seated queen presenting an offering, and depictions of sexual scenes with women and animals. Cartouches of

Ramesses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...

were also present on ostraca.

References

External links

Theban Mapping Project: KV53
includes detailed maps of most of the tombs. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kv53 1905 archaeological discoveries Valley of the Kings