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A project of the American Research Center in Egypt
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The entry of KV 25. 
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Entryway A

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The entrance is cut through a deep layer of hard-packed gravel. At least seven steps were made of rocks and mud and then installed over the bedrock. The next seventeen steps were cut from the bedrock. Schaden had a retaining wall built on the right (northwest) side of the upper section of the stairway.

Architectural Features

Overhang
Recesses
Steps

Condition

Cutting unfinished
Damaged structurally
Excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Width:

    2.32 m
  • Length:

    7.36 m
  • Area:

    16.14 m2
  • Orientation:

    204.61°

Gate B

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The soffit and threshold of this gate slope down from front to back. The gate was sealed at the time of discovery.

Condition

Cutting finished
Excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    2.39 m
  • Width:

    1.95 m
  • Length:

    1.05 m
  • Area:

    2.07 m2
  • Volume:

    4.89 m3
  • Orientation:

    0° from entryway A

Corridor B

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The drop in the ceiling height at the end of the chamber indicates unfinished cutting, and is not the lintel of a gate.

Condition

Cutting unfinished
Excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    2.37 m
  • Width:

    2.39 m
  • Length:

    7.18 m
  • Area:

    17.37 m2
  • Volume:

    31.39 m3
  • Orientation:

    0° from entryway A

About

About

The tomb is located at the southwest end of the West Valley, about ninety meters below KV 23. It was cut into the sloping hillside. It consists of the entryway A and a single corridor (B). Although unfinished, KV 25 has the plan of a royal tomb. The walls are well cut and cracks were covered with a thin layer of plaster. When discovered, a stone wall blocked the entrance to corridor B which held intrusive burials of the Third Intermediate Period. Two groups of four coffins each contained mummies. The tomb was left undecorated.

Site History

The original owner of KV 25 is uncertain. According to Schaden, KV 25 was built as a royal burial during late Dynasty 18 (possibly Amenhetep IV), but was never completed. During the Third Intermediate Period (Dynasties 21 and 22), the tomb was reused to bury eight mummies. If no previous interment took place, the objects of Dynasty 18 were probably introduced at this period. This material presumably originates from KV 23. After the reburial, the tomb remained undisturbed until its discovery by Belzoni.

Dating

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

New Kingdom
Dynasty 18
Third Intermediate Period
Dynasty 21
Third Intermediate Period
Dynasty 22

Exploration

1817: Excavation
Belzoni, Giovanni Battista
1817: Discovery
Belzoni, Giovanni Battista
1825: Visit
Burton, James
1972-1973: Excavation
Schaden, Otto J.
1825-1828: Visit
Wilkinson, John Gardner

Conservation

Site Condition

The tomb was excavated in 1972 and 1973 by the University of Minnesota Egyptian Expedition, directed by Otto Schaden.

Articles

Bibliography

Belzoni, Giovanni Battista.  Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, and Excavations, in Egypt and Nubia.  London: Murray, 1820.  Pp. 223-224.

Helck, Wolfgang.  Königsgräbertal.  Wolfgang Helk, Ebrnart Otto and Wolfhart Westendorf (eds.). elck, Evbermnart Lexikon der Ägyptologie, 3. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1980.  Pp. 520.

Reeves, Carl Nicholas.  Valley of the Kings: The Decline of a Royal Necropolis (= Studies in Egyptology).  London:  KPI, 1990. Pp. 40-42.

Schaden, Otto J.  Preliminary Report on the Re-clearance of Tomb 25 in the Western Valley of the Kings (WV 25): University of Minnesota Egyptian Expedition, January 1976.  Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte 63 (1979): 161-168.

Schaden, Otto J.  Tutankhamun-Ay Shrine at Karnak and Western Valley of the Kings Project: Report on the 1985-1986 Season.  Newsletter of the American Research Center in Egypt 138 (1987): 10-15.

Weeks, Kent R. (ed.).  Atlas of the Valley of the Kings (= Publications of the Theban Mapping Project.  Cairo: American University in Cairo, 1).  Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000.  Map sheet 46. 

Wilkinson, Richard H. and Carl Nicholas Reeves.  The Complete Valley of the Kings.  London:  Thames and Hudson, 1996.  Pp. 116-117.