The tomb itself however, is small, with architecture more in character
with the private tombs of the West Bank than a royal tomb and the
decoration is in a sorry state.
A staircase and short descending corridor lead to a rectangular
antechamber with a small annex off to the east. At 90 degrees to the
antechamber is a sunken burial chamber which when discovered was
completely filled with the gilded shrines enclosing the sarcophagus of
the king. This is the only chamber in the tomb to be decorated and the
style is very similar to that of Tutankhamun's successor Ay, who is
depicted on the walls in the 'Opening of the Mouth Ceremony'.
The east wall shows the king's funerary procession with the mummy
being transported on a sledge to the necropolis in the company of two
visiers and a figure which some have identified as General Horemheb.
This is an unusual scene in a royal tomb, although common in private
tombs of the period.
The north wall shows Ay, already wearing the royal crown, performing
the rituals before the young king's mummy. Ay is here establishing his
rights to the throne, not usually done until after the burial of the
former pharaoh and gives rise to much speculation on the history of
the period. Before this scene the king is shown being greeted by the
goddess Nut and with his ka, embracing Osiris.
The south wall depicts Tutankhamun followed by Anubis, Isis
(destroyed) and before Hathor, 'Mistress of the West'. A vignette from
the Amduat (the 'Book of What is in the Underworld') showing the apes
of the 'First Hour' is depicted on the west wall of the burial
chamber. Unfortunately the painted decoration is in a very poor state
of preservation and getting worse each year.
The paintings in the tomb are curiously executed, with the decoration
of the north, west and east walls in Amarna proportions while the
south wall seems to be more traditional. All of the walls depict
brightly coloured figures against a yellow background. There are four
niches for magical bricks in the walls.
Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb was sensational at the time
because it was the first time a royal tomb had been found which still
contained an intact burial. The tomb had been robbed several times in
antiquity and although a vast hoard of the funerary treasures remained
in the tomb, it was obvious that they had been hurriedly 'restored to
order' by the necropolis officials. The robbers however, had never got
as far as the king's mummy and this is still in situ today, displayed
in the centre of the burial chamber in a gilded wooden coffin inside
his sandstone sarcophagus.
On the east side of the burial chamber is the entrance to a
side-chamber known as the Treasury. The contents of this room were
similar to those which would have been in the 'crypt' area of a larger
royal tomb. Here Carter found the king's canopic equipment as well as
two subsidiary burials thought to be Tutankhamun's stillborn children.
This room is now empty and cannot be visited today. |
