Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

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Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by Winged Isis »

Archaeologists Begin Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife
By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | January 16, 2018 04:26pm ET

Excavations have begun in an area of the Valley of the Kings where the tomb of Tutankhamun's wife may be located, archaeologist Zahi Hawass announced today (Jan. 16).

Archaeologists are digging in a spot called the West Valley, or the Valley of the Monkeys, near the tomb of the pharaoh Ay (reign: 1327 to 1323 B.C.), the successor to King Tut (reign: 1336 to 1327 B.C.). Though a few royal tombs have been found in the West Valley, the bulk of them have turned up in the East Valley of the Valley of the Kings.

During previous excavations, the researchers identified something intriguing in this area near Ay's tomb — four foundation deposits and radar images of what seemed to be the entranceway of a tomb that may exist about 16 feet (5 meters) below the surface.

Hawass, who is leading the excavations, told Live Science in July 2017 that he believes a tomb is there. "We are sure there is a tomb there, but we do not know for sure to whom it belongs," he told Live Science in an email at the time. He later cautioned that until excavations were conducted, archaeologists couldn't be certain of the tomb's existence. "It is all possibilities until we excavate," he wrote that month in a follow-up email.

If the tomb exists, it could belong to Ankhesenamun, Hawass said. She was the wife of Tutankhamun but married Ay not long after Tut's death. Due to the location of the evidence, Hawass and his team think that any undiscovered tomb may belong to her.

After Ankhesenamun's marriage to Ay, mentions of her don't appear again in surviving historical records. It's not known when Ankhesenamun died, how she died or where she was buried. Egyptian pharaohs sometimes had multiple wives and Ay's tomb only mentions another wife who was a woman named Tey.

Excavations, which are being funded by the Discovery Channel, have just started, according to a statement on Hawass' website. Several photos of the excavation are shown on Hawass' website, and the statement said that more photos of the ongoing excavations will be posted soon.

Original article with photos on Live Science: https://www.livescience.com/61441-searc ... -wife.html


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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by Yildez »

If you believe, as I do, that the tomb of Ay is more likely to be the tomb that was started for Tutankhamen but usurped by Ay, then it's a good bet that a tomb would be started for Ankhesenamun in the same area. Poor girl - probably married to her father, Akhenaten, when very young, then to her brother/cousin who was younger than her, and finally to her grandfather.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by newcastle »

Far too early to do other than speculate whether this latest Hawass ego trip will result in anything of egyptological interest - not that this will stop Hawass hyping it for all it's worth.

He's already stating that Ankhesenamun was married to Ay....for which there's the skimpiest of evidence.

Even if there is a tomb, even if it's identified as belonging to Ankhesenamun, it may have been unfinished, or, if finished, looted long ago.

The mummy known as KV 21a has been tentatively identified (via dubious DNA analysis) as the mother of the foetuses found in Tut's tomb. Such historical information as we have would suggest suggest that this mummy might therefore be Ankhesenamum.

At this stage......far too many "ifs" , "possibilities" .

A whole industry has been built around reconstructing the events and family relationships of the latter part of he 18th Dynasty when, in reality, all we know with any degree of certainty is that the mummy in KV 62 is that of Tutankhamun.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by Frater0082 »

Oops wrong I posted in the wrong topic

was going to tweet something about this. My question to Hawass is if he believes that the tomb of Ankhesenamun is still out there then what do you make of the KV21A mummy is she not Ankhesenamun?

Obviously there is something that he's not telling us and I'm beginning to think he knows alot more than he's sharing. Keep in mind it was Zahi who introduced the two mummies of KV21 to us. So what do you know?
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by newcastle »

It's not that Hawass knows something he's not telling us.

As usual, he's telling us something he doesn't know.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by Frater0082 »

newcastle wrote:It's not that Hawass knows something he's not telling us.

As usual, he's telling us something he doesn't know.
I would agree.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by A-Four »

Frater0082 wrote: So what do you know?
Well yes, if we are to look at the grand picture of what you write here Frater, there is strong evidence for a tomb in this area, but again to help this idea, we must have a good understanding of the lay out of the Western Valley, and what recent field archeological work has been carried out there, and exactly where.

We must also study what we best know about life and death at the time of Tutankhamoun and Ay.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by A-Four »

Frater0082 wrote: So what do you know?
I am not sure how many books you have read on the subject of the Western Valley, but to understand what is happening now or in recent years, I would avoid at all costs much of what is written on the Internet, it can easily confuse your study, especially if you have never been there.

For example,.....

Look carefully at the photograph in the link supplied in the above initial post, it show the ruff road looking West just as you are about to enter the Western Valley. You would be forgiven for thinking that the building to the right is Davis House, wrong, look more carefully to the left, a building with a dome, this is Davis House. Having said this, if Mr Theodore Davis was to look at this house today, he would hardly recognise it. It is at least a third larger than in his day, and it certainly never had a dome roof, believe it or not, it was built in recent years by a T.V. company to give the impression that it was Carter House. In truth, Davis never slept there, when in Egypt he lived on his Dahabyiah. I should note that Davis House was visited by many of the great and famous of that era.

By the 1950's the place was a total wreck no roof and much of the walls fallen away. It was John Romer who restored much of the building,........though got little thanks for it.

So Frater that the modern history as one would enter into this valley, before I write about the new excavations taking place in this valley, tell me,.....

So what do you know ?
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by newcastle »

Take no notice, Frater, of A-Four's antipathy to the internet.

He's a bit of a Luddite when it comes to anything post 1990.

I can't imagine how anyone could mistake the modest brick construction on the right of the entrance to the Western Valley for the dwelling of a millionaire. Then again, why anyone would be interested in Theodore Davis's activity in the Western Valley is a mystery in itself. He did little there, and what he did do (some superficial clearance of WV22?) is barely recorded.

I can also recommend John M. Adam's excellent book "The Millionaire and the Mummies -Theodore Davis's Gilded Age in the Valley of the Kings".

Incidentally, if you're interested in the history of Davis House (although I don't imagine you are), you'll find a lot more at http://www.t3wy.nl/theodore-davis-house/ which gives much more information than the snippets above.

In fact, as regards our knowledge of the post-Amarna reburials in the valley of the Kings, Davis did irreparable damage when he discovered the enigmatic tomb KV55. His butchered (there's really no other word for it) excavation probably destroyed much valuable evidence which might have solved some of the mystery surrounding Akhenaton and his family. Typically of his excavations, he left little by way of useful records.

Egyptology breathed a sigh of relief when he abandoned the Valley two metres short of the tomb of Tutankhamun.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by A-Four »

Any one who knows the Western Valley can inform you Frater that it can be broken down into sections. The areas or sections of this valley that seem to be showing greatest interest in, are at the extreme western end of the Valley.

As you walk to the area as you approach the supposed tomb of the Pharaoh Ay, one would notice the it splits into two sections, one slightly to the South, the other continues slightly more to the West and of course this is where that said tomb of Ay is. The Southern section occupies an area approximately five times more than its neighbour. It's almost five years now that under the authority of Mr Zahi Hawass, the whole of the Southern section of this area was cleared by an Egyptian team, unfortunately very little was found. The excavations employed a very large number of workers, though was kept rather secret, and total costs were not disclosed, as I reported on here at the time. This area now looks like a bleached moon scape.

It seems now that a team is carrying out similar clearance work in the Western section in the immeadite area of the known tomb. We are informed that Mr Hawass has informed the sponsors of this 'dig' that he has discovered a 'void' in this area. What he has not told them is that many small void are created when flash floods occur in these valleys, this is when shale is forced down the hillsides with the water, then set like concrete, eventually in some cases creating small, what we know today as sink holes.

We are informed that 'foundation deposits' were found in the Southern section, but no other deposits which seem rather strange. We are told that this new team is searching for the probable tomb of the wife of Tutankhamoun in this area. This is quite ridiculous, when Ankhesenamun's husband died, we are informed that she married the elderly High Priest of Amoun, being Ay, who we believe died some four or five years later, and by this time had usurped her previous loving husband's tomb. I would have thought it be the last place on earth she would want to be buried. I further believe that she would have forced to remain within the Egyptian Royal family harem at the insistence of the new Pharaoh Horemheb, for the obvious reason to any one who understands the royal harem.

If there is a real tomb to be found in this area, I can only suspect it would be the elder brother of Tutankhamoun, being Smenkhkare, though I honestly believe he is entombed along with Akhanaton in the area around the tomb of Amenophis 111, again for reason I have posted on this forum some years earlier.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by newcastle »

The foundation deposits and radar-detected anomaly were discovered by the team that undertook work in the valley 2007-11. Hawass was SCA supremo at the time but I imagine the events of 2011 put a temporary hold on matters.

In any event, the discoveries did not generate any great excitement.

Hawass has been quite scathing in the past about the reliability of radar and, as A-Four mentions, the existence of a tomb is far from certain.

The earlier work was carried out by teams headed by by Afifi Rohim Afifi and Glen Dash who recorded their work comprehensively. Their thoughts on who, if anyone might be buried there, together with many photos of the location and deposits can be found at :

https://books.google.nl/books?id=6ykeCg ... &q&f=false
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by Major Thom »

So relationships have not changed much since the Kings and Queens ruled. There are plenty of marriages and promises still going on in families, promised here married there. It's pretty sad really, and a good job we have stopped it in the modern world. If this as suggested is the tomb of Tut's wife then it may reveal a lot of things that are not known about her and her husbands life.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by Frater0082 »

Ive said this before but I don't think none of the Amarna Princesses are buried in the Valleys of the Kings or Queens or even in Egypt for that matter.

The only princess that is really known to have died is Meketaten.

I think Meritaten fell in disgrace and took the others with her but I do not think that Ankhesenpaaten, if this is the older one, was the only one alive.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by Frater0082 »

I'm still wondering why kv21 is no longer considered to be her resting place

Is KV21A not Ankhesenamun?
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by newcastle »

I know I'm stupid to ask this but.....

Why, and on the basis of what evidence, do you think any of the Amarna princesses left Egypt.

I'm asking for something beyond your 'dreams' or 'past life experiences'

Bear in mind that it would have been unthinkable to marry off an Egyptian princess to a foreigner.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by newcastle »

Frater0082 wrote:I'm still wondering why kv21 is no longer considered to be her resting place

Is KV21A not Ankhesenamun?
Firstly, The DNA analysis findings, and conclusions. are not beyond dispute.

Secondly, Hawass seems to have conveniently forgotten his assertion that KV21a, having been "identified" as the mother of at least one of the fetuses in KV62, would almost certainly be Ankhesenamun.....based on historical evidence.

Then again, Hawass postulated that the KV55 skeleton was Akhenaton....when the DNA evidence indicates that it isn't the father of KV 21a.

My theory? The DNA evidence is highly suspect but, taking it at face value, KV21a is likely to be Ankhesenamun and the KV55 skeleton is Smenkhare.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by Frater0082 »

[quote="newcastle"]I know I'm stupid to ask this but.....

Why, and on the basis of what evidence, do you think any of the Amarna princesses left Egypt.

I'm asking for something beyond your 'dreams' or 'past life experiences'

Bear in mind that it would have been unthinkable to marry off an Egyptian princess to a foreigner.[/quotes]

Where are they?
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by Frater0082 »

If Smenkhare is Tut's father why did he allow his son to be born under the name of Aten why doesn't he have an Aten name himself?

Seems rather strange for him to do so.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by Frater0082 »

Both the Amarna letters and Hititte letters were found in Amarna. Tutankhamun and his wife abandoned the city and he wasted no time doing so, we'll with the priests pushing them to do so.
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Re: Search for Tomb of King Tut's Wife

Post by newcastle »

I didn't say KV55 skeleton (possibly Smenkhare) was Tut's father. The DNA evidence only indicates he was a close relative.

The Amarna princesses could be anywhere. The tombs of only a tiny fraction of the 18th dynasty royal families are known.

Of course the Amarna letters were found in Amarna.....the clue's in the name. So what?
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