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A project of the American Research Center in Egypt

KV 46
Yuya and Thuyu

About the image
Main valley looking southeast from west cliff above KV 7, showing central hill into which KV 5., KV 6 and KV 55 were cut (left to right). Entrances to KV 3, KV 46 and KV 4 (bottom to top) are in side wadi to left of center, with entrance to KV 19 above.
More Details

Entryway A

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The entrance consists of a stairway of fifteen steps descending steeply to corridor B. The final step is not as wide as those preceding it.

Architectural Features

Steps

Condition

Cutting finished
Excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Width:

    1.74 m
  • Length:

    3.88 m
  • Area:

    6.78 m2
  • Orientation:

    70.62°

Gate B

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The gate was originally blocked with stone, covered with plaster, and stamped with the official necropolis seal (a jackal and nine captives). The soffit and threshold slope downward from front to back.

Condition

Excavated
Cutting finished
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    2.05 m
  • Width:

    1.37 m
  • Length:

    1 m
  • Area:

    1.37 m2
  • Volume:

    2.81 m3
  • Orientation:

    0° from entryway A

Corridor B

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On the walls of this sloping corridor are black dots spaced at 40 cm (16 inch) intervals that divide the walls into squares. These were probably intended for finishing the walls, but this was never done.

Condition

Cutting finished
Excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    2.05 m
  • Width:

    1.76 m
  • Length:

    7.76 m
  • Area:

    13.34 m2
  • Volume:

    27.35 m3
  • Orientation:

    0° from entryway A

Gate C

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A stairway begins at the front of the gate and continues through stairwell C.

Architectural Features

Steps

Condition

Cutting finished
Excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    2.05 m
  • Width:

    1.33 m
  • Length:

    1 m
  • Area:

    1.33 m2
  • Volume:

    2.73 m3
  • Orientation:

    0° from corridor B

Stairwell C

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A steep stairwell descends the length of the corridor. Long recesses are cut along the left (north) and right (south) walls. On the walls are black dots spaced at 40 cm (16 inch) intervals, dividing them into squares. The ceiling was unfinished.

Architectural Features

Recesses
Steps

Condition

Cutting unfinished
Excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    4.52 m
  • Width:

    1.68 m
  • Length:

    3.42 m
  • Area:

    5.68 m2
  • Volume:

    25.67 m3
  • Orientation:

    0° from corridor B

Gate J

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When discovered, this gate was also found blocked.

Condition

Excavated
Cutting finished
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    1.94 m
  • Width:

    1.25 m
  • Length:

    1.04 m
  • Area:

    1.3 m2
  • Volume:

    2.52 m3
  • Orientation:

    0° from stairwell C

Burial chamber J

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The chamber is roughly rectangular, with a sunken area at its rear end. It lies a meter (three feet) below the floor level of the front of the chamber. The ceiling of the chamber was unfinished.

  • Chamber plan:

    Rectangular
  • Relationship to main tomb axis:

    Perpendicular
  • Chamber layout:

    Flat floor, no pillars
  • Floor:

    One level
  • Ceiling:

    Flat

Architectural Features

Burial pit

Condition

Cutting unfinished
Excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    2.29 m
  • Width:

    10.02 m
  • Length:

    3.21 m
  • Area:

    32.56 m2
  • Volume:

    74.56 m3
  • Orientation:

    90° left from stairwell C

Sarcophagus

  • Extant remains:

    Box and lid
  • Sarcophagus form:

    Shrine of Lower Egypt
  • Material:

    Wood
  • Length:

    3.64 m
  • Width:

    1.61 m
  • Height:

    2.16 m
  • Orientation:

    north
  • Emplacement:

    Floor
  • Comments:

    The sarcophagus, which belongs to Yuya, is actually a floorless shrine mounted on sledge runners. It is covered with black resin.
  • Decoration:

  • Deities:
    four sons of Horus, Anubis, Thoth, Isis and Nephthys Box exterior
  • Extant remains:

    Box and lid
  • Sarcophagus form:

    Shrine of Upper Egypt
  • Material:

    Wood
  • Length:

    2.79 m
  • Width:

    1.04 m
  • Height:

    1.3 m
  • Orientation:

    north
  • Emplacement:

    Floor
  • Comments:

    This sarcophagus rested on a sledge and belonged to Thuyu. It is covered with black pitch.
  • Decoration:

  • Deities:
    four sons of Horus, Anubis, Thoth, Isis and Nephthys Box exterior

About

About

KV 46 is located in the southeast branch of the main Wadi. The tomb consists of a staircase entryway (A), a corridor (B) leading to a stepped descent (C), and a burial chamber (J). The walls of the tomb were neither smoothed, plastered nor decorated.

Noteworthy features:

This non-royal tomb was found with much of its burial equipment intact.

Site History

KV 46 belonged to Yuya and Thuyu, parents of Tiy, wife of Amenhetep III. According to differences in embalming techniques, Yuya and Thuyu died at different times. It has been suggested that three tomb robberies took place. The first occurred shortly after the official closure of the tomb, since perishable products, like ointments, were removed, and seals of containers were removed in order to inspect their contents. A second and third robbery may have taken place during the excavation of KV 3 and KV 4, based on the evidence of sealings that were found. The entrance of the tomb was filled with debris from these two tombs. The tomb was thereafter inaccessible until 1905 when Quibell discovered it.

Dating

This site was used during the following period(s):

New Kingdom
Dynasty 18
Amenhetep III

Exploration

1905: Excavation
Quibell, James Edward
1905: Discovery
Quibell, James Edward

Conservation

Conservation History

A metal gate has been installed in gate B and a rubble retaining wall has been constructed around the top of the entrance stairs.

Site Condition

The walls of the tomb are rough and no plaster or decoration was applied to their surface.

Hieroglyphs

Thuyu

Queen's Father Thuyu

Twiw

Yuya

Queen's Mother Yuya

ywiA

Articles

Funerary Equipment

The types of funerary equipment Egyptians put into their tombs had become standardized long before the New Kingdom.

Bibliography

Fekri, Magdi Mohammed.  Une nouvelle enquête sur les tombes civiles et enonymes de la Vallée des Rois.  In:  Zahi Hawass, (ed.),  Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century: Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo, 2000.  Two vols.  Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1003.  Pp. 180-184.

Helck, Wolfgang.  Königsgräbertal.  Wolfgang Helck, Eberhart Otto and Wolfhart Westendorf (eds.).  Lexikon der Ägyptologie.  7 vols. Wiesbaden, 1972-1992.  3: 522.

Lilyquist, Christine.  Descriptive Notes from the Valley. In: Elizabeth Goring, Nicholas Reeves and John Ruffle (eds.), Chief of Seers: Egyptian Studies in Memory of Cyril Aldred.  London: Kegan Paul, (1997): 201-206.

Porter, Bertha and Rosalind Moss.  Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Text, Reliefs, and Paintings. I, 2. The Theban Necropolis: RoyalTombs and Smaller Cemeteries.  Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964.  Pp. 562-564.

Quibell, J. E.  Report on Work Done in Upper Egypt during the Winter 1904-1905.  Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte 7 (1906): 8-9.

Quibell, J. E.  The Tomb of Yuaa and Thuiu (=Cataloque générale des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Cairo (with a few volumes published elsewhere), 43).  Cairo, 1908.

Reeves, Carl Nicholas.  Valley of the Kings: The Decline of a Royal Necropolis (= Studies in Egyptology).  London:  KPI, 1990. Pp. 148-153.