WV22
Tomb WV22, in the Western arm of the Valley of the Kings, was used as the resting place of one of the rulers of Egypt's New Kingdom, Amenhotep III. The tomb is unique in that it has two subsidiary burial chambers for the pharaoh's wives Tiye and Sitamen (who was also his daughter).
| WV22 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Burial site of Amenhotep III | |||
  WV22 | |||
| Coordinates | 25°44′35.5″N 32°35′50″E | ||
| Location | West Valley of the Kings | ||
| Discovered | before 1799 | ||
| Excavated by | Howard Carter Sakuji Yoshimura Jiro Kondo | ||
The tomb's layout and decoration follow the tombs of the king's predecessors, Amenhotep II and Thutmoses IV, however the decoration is much finer in quality.
It was officially discovered by Prosper Jollois and Édouard de Villiers du Terrage, engineers with Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in August 1799, but had probably been open for some time before that. Subsequently someone removed images of the pharaoh's head in several places, which can be seen today in the Louvre.
The tomb was officially cleared by Howard Carter in the early twentieth century. Since 1989, a Japanese team from Waseda University led by Sakuji Yoshimura and Jiro Kondo has been working for excavation as well as conservation. The sarcophagus is missing from the tomb.
References
- Reeves, N & Wilkinson, R.H. The Complete Valley of the Kings, 1996, Thames and Hudson, London
- Siliotti, A. Guide to the Valley of the Kings and to the Theban Necropolises and Temples, 1996, A.A. Gaddis, Cairo
External links
- Theban Mapping Project: WV22 - Includes detailed maps of most of the tombs.
- Sleuthing in Royal Tomb