The tomb of Amenhotep II Akheperure (Dynasty XVIII) was discovered in
1898 by Victor Loret. It is similar in plan to that of his predecessor
Tuthmose III, and is one of the most beautiful tombs in the Valley.
The discovery was rather spectacular because not only did it contain
the burial of the king and his son Webensenu, but also another 17
burials in a cache probably deposited here during the reorganisation
of the royal necropolis during the time of Pinudjem I of Dynasty XXI.
Nine royal coffins were found with the mummies of Tuthmose IV,
Amenhotep III, Merenptah, Seti II, Siptah, Sethnakht and Rameses IV, V
and VI.
The sequence of corridors, stairways and chambers is laid out in a
more regular and complex manner than in the tomb of Tuthmose III. The
wall decoration in the well-shaft was left unfinished and had an added
undecorated chamber entered from the bottom of the shaft. A
rectangular vestibule opens at 90 degrees to the corridor from the
well chamber and contains two square pillars, but once again the
decoration was left incomplete.
From the vestibule another flight of stairs and a corridor leads down
to the burial chamber, which has now become rectangular rather than
the oval-shaped chamber of his predecessor. The burial chamber is
large and divided into two parts - a hall containing six square
pillars and a sunken 'crypt' at the end which contained the
sarcophagus. The walls of the pillared hall are again decorated with
complete texts of the Amduat, depicting the sun's journey through the
twelve hours of the night in a simple stick-figure form. A khekher-frieze
decorates the top of the walls below a ceiling painted with golden
stars on a deep blue background.
One of the tomb's innovations is in the decoration of the pillars, the
faces of which show the king being offered the sign of life from
Osiris, Anubis and Hathor, which became a feature in the decoration of
subsequent tombs. For the first time these are fully-drawn rather than
stick-figures.
The king's yellow quartzite sarcophagus (perhaps a replacement) was
found in the crypt-like burial chamber and at the time of discovery it
contained the pharaoh's mummy with an ancient garland of flowers
around his neck. On the sides of the sarcophagus base, still in situ,
two protective udjat-eyes can be seen between figures of the king and
the god Anubis with a jackal-head.
Four annexes off the burial chamber contained many examples of grave
goods. The right-hand annex off the lower part of the chamber had been
walled off in ancient times and it was here that the cache of royal
bodies was found, together with some of their burial equipment
including a papyrus with extracts from the 'Book of Caverns'. |
