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KV63, the first new tomb to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings since 1922, was uncovered by a University of Memphis archeological team led by Otto Schaden and Edwin Brock during excavations in the area of KV10--the tomb of 19'th Dynasty Pharaoh Amenmesses. A shaft leading to the new tomb was found late in 2005 while the excavators were clearing away the remains of some 19'th Dynasty workmen's huts to the left and right of the entrance to KV10. By February 9, 2006, when news of the discovery first appeared in the media, excavations of this shaft revealed that it led to a small single chamber tomb, tentatively dated to the 18'th Dynasty, which contained seven coffins (one of them belonging to a child) and an impressive collection of approximately 27 large pottery food jars, some with seals intact. As of the time of this writing (3/4/06) no clearance of the small burial chamber has been started, but initial reports state that the coffins, which appear to contain mummies, are being tentatively dated to the late 18'th Dynasty on stylistic grounds.



Although intact seals reportedly remain on some of the pottery jars, no translations of this inscriptional evidence have yet been released to the media. A lot of speculation concerning the possible identity of the mummies may be found online. Robert Partridge offers the exciting theory that KV63 could be a cache of Amarna royals, perhaps even Nefertiti herself along with some of her daughters, who were originally interred at Akhetaten and subsequently removed to the Royal Valley during the reign of Tutankhamen. This theory, which is admittedly very colorful, is given some degree of plausibility by the fact that KV63 was found a mere five meters from Tutankhamen's tomb and close to KV55, a much-discussed tomb that was undoubtedly an Amarna-related cache.



Another possibility is that the mummies in KV63 were nobles originally buried in KV62. Since its discovery by Howard Carter 84 years ago, Egyptologists have known that Tutankhamen's tomb had not originally been designed for a Pharaoh's final resting place. Too small for a royal interment, KV62 had most likely been the tomb of a highly placed noble and his family members (its four chambers show that it probably was intended for multiple burials.) Tutankhamen's premature death occurred before a proper king's tomb could be constructed for him, and so the diminutive KV62 was appropriated for the boy king's use. If KV62 had actually been used for the burials of its original owners, where were their mummies reburied? Perhaps in nearby KV63. As far as can be discerned from the existing photographs, at least one of the KV63 coffins stylistically appears to be late 18'th Dynasty in origin, so its dating would be consistent with this theory.



Close examination of the photograph of the mummycase displayed in many of the photos from KV63 reveals an interesting dark stain around the bottom edge of the coffin lid (the edge nearest the ground.) This stain resembles the kind of discoloration that can be seen in photos of the mummy mask of Tuyu around the upper portion and outer edges of the wig lappets. In the case of Yuya's mummy mask, the stain was caused by the decomposition of a fine linen shroud, which had been laid over the mummy, and had slowly decomposed and adhered to the surface of the mask. If the stain on the KV63 coffin visible in the photo above is also caused by a decomposing shroud, this would probably indicate that the coffin is an inner coffin of a set of at least two such coffins. This would argue that the burial had been very high status. It would also leave questions concerning the whereabouts of the outer coffin, unless, of course, its lid and basin are found elsewhere in the KV63 deposit.



Before a detailed examination of the evidence, however, such theorizing is merely the stuff of armchair Egyptology. There are a number of other possibilities which could explain the deposit in KV63. The mummies could be various New Kingdom queens who had been relocated in KV63 during the 21'st Dynasty dismantling of the the Royal Necropolis. They could be a collection of unrelated New Kingdom nobles culled from a number of smaller tombs in the Valley. Or they could be the original occupants of KV63. However, the photographs of the deposit made available online so far make this unlikely because of the paucity of visible grave goods. Unless there are artifacts hidden under the debris in the KV63 burial chamber, there appear to be no canopic containers or other traditional funerary items along with the coffins and jars visible in the photos, and one would expect these to be present in the tomb if it contained the original burial. Therefore, the tomb is most likely to be a cache of some sort. One interesting theory speculates that KV63 could be a thieves cache, i.e., an empty tomb which tomb robbers used as a convenient place to drag mummies for looting--although the location of KV63 in the center of the Royal Valley would seem to argue against this hypothesis. Only a close examination of the tomb's contents will answer questions concerning the possible identity of its occupants.



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This is the report I wrote for my website, The Theban Royal Mummy Project. I'll keep updating whenever breaking news about this discovery developes.