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A project of the American Research Center in Egypt
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KV 32
Tia'a

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Tomb entrance inside modern covering.
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A
Entryway A
B
Corridor B
C
Stairwell C
D
Corridor D
J
Burial chamber J
Ja
Side chamber Ja
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Entryway A

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The entryway consists of a stairway, cut at the base of a cliff. The only traces of plaster in the tomb were found here, used to fill cracks.

Architectural Features

Overhang
Steps

Condition

Cutting finished
Damaged structurally
Excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Width:

    1.57 m

  • Length:

    3.76 m

  • Area:

    5.93 m2

  • Orientation:

    263.51°
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View of Entryway A. Courtesy of Richard Sellicks. 
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Gate B

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The gate opens up to corridor B.

Condition

Partly excavated
Cutting finished
Undecorated
Damaged structurally

Dimensions

  • Height:

    3.11 m

  • Width:

    1.14 m

  • Length:

    0.95 m

  • Area:

    1.08 m2

  • Volume:

    3.36 m3

  • Orientation:

    0° from entryway A
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Corridor B

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The ceiling level is well preserved where it meets the right wall, while the remainder is broken.

Condition

Cutting finished
Damaged structurally
Partly excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    2.6 m

  • Width:

    1.61 m

  • Length:

    7.24 m

  • Area:

    11.46 m2

  • Volume:

    30.81 m3

  • Orientation:

    0° from entryway A
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View of Corridor B toward Entryway A. Courtesy of Richard Sellicks. 
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View of Corridor B toward Gate C. Courtesy of Richard Sellicks.
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Stairwell C

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When the Theban Mapping Project surveyed the tomb, this component had not been completely excavated, but it is presumed to be a stairwell. Large rectangular recesses stretch the length of the right (north) and left (south) walls at the top of the stairwell.

Architectural Features

Overhang
Recesses

Condition

Cutting finished
Damaged structurally
Partly excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    6.12 m Irregular

  • Width:

    2.76 m

  • Length:

    4.8 m

  • Area:

    11.7 m2

  • Volume:

    60.67 m3

  • Orientation:

    3.18° left from corridor B

Gate C

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The slope of the floor increases midway through the gate.

Condition

Partly excavated
Cutting finished
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    3.08 m

  • Width:

    1.23 m

  • Length:

    1.06 m

  • Area:

    1.31 m2

  • Volume:

    3.66 m3

  • Orientation:

    3.18° left from corridor B

Corridor D

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This narrow corridor has suffered damage to its ceiling and left (south) wall.

Condition

Cutting unfinished
Damaged structurally
Partly excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    2.05 m

  • Width:

    1.47 m

  • Length:

    8.97 m

  • Area:

    13.26 m2

  • Volume:

    27.127 m3

  • Orientation:

    0° from stairwell C

Gate D

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The jambs are damaged on both sides. There is a slight overhang above the gate at the lower end of the stairwell C.

Condition

Partly excavated
Cutting unfinished
Undecorated
Damaged structurally

Dimensions

  • Height:

    2.04 m

  • Width:

    1.09 m

  • Length:

    0.71 m

  • Area:

    0.77 m2

  • Volume:

    1.08 m3

  • Orientation:

    0° from stairwell C

Gate J

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The jambs are irregular and broken.

Condition

Partly excavated
Cutting unfinished
Undecorated
Damaged structurally

Dimensions

  • Height:

    2.08 m

  • Width:

    1.04 m

  • Length:

    0.71 m

  • Area:

    0.72 m2

  • Volume:

    1.9 m3

  • Orientation:

    0° from corridor D

Burial chamber J

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The stone here is of poorer quality than in the upper section of the tomb. The right (north) part of the chamber was not completely quarried. Elizabeth Thomas suggested there would have been a pillar in its center. The entrance to side chamber Ja is located in the left (south) wall.

  • Chamber plan:

    Rectangular

  • Relationship to main tomb axis:

    Parallel

  • Chamber layout:

    Flat floor, pillars

  • Floor:

    One level

  • Ceiling:

    Flat

Architectural Features

Pillar

Condition

Cutting unfinished
Damaged structurally
Partly excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    3.26 m

  • Width:

    6.17 m Irregular

  • Length:

    8.76 m Irregular

  • Area:

    53.32 m2

  • Volume:

    170.5 m3

  • Orientation:

    0° from corridor D

  • Number of pillars:

    1

  • Average pillar width:

    1.19 m

Gate Ja

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The gate lies in the left (south) wall of the burial chamber.

Condition

Partly excavated
Cutting unfinished
Undecorated
Damaged structurally

Dimensions

  • Height:

    1.27 m

  • Width:

    1.19 m

  • Length:

    0.9 m

  • Area:

    1.08 m2

  • Volume:

    1.37 m3

  • Orientation:

    86.26° left from burial chamber J
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Side chamber Ja

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The side chamber was cut into a storeroom. When KV 47 was constructed, workmen accidentally broke into this side chamber's right (west) wall.

Condition

Cutting unfinished
Damaged structurally
Partly excavated
Undecorated

Dimensions

  • Height:

    1.89 m Irregular

  • Width:

    3.17 m

  • Length:

    1.81 m

  • Area:

    5.67 m2

  • Volume:

    11.95 m3

  • Orientation:

    86.26° left from burial chamber J
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Breakthrough from KV 47 into KV 32.
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Image # 16921
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About

KV 32 is located in the south branch of the southwest Wadi. This unfinished and roughly cut tomb consists of an entryway (A), two sloping corridors (B and D) with a stairwell (C) between that leads to an unfinished burial chamber (J) with a broken pillar in the center and a side chamber (Ja) to the south. Rubble is scattered on the floor throughout the tomb, and the rear chamber is partly filled with flood debris. Its general plan resembles KV 21.

Noteworthy features:

This tomb features a central pillar in burial chamber J. It is an example of a tomb accidentally broken into during the construction of another tomb (KV 47).

KV 32 was never finished, and was not decorated. It has been excavated by the MISR Project: Mission Siptah-Ramses X of the University of Basel. The mission recently discovered a Canopic chest of Queen Tia'a, wife of Amenhetep II and mother of Thutmes IV, thus allowing the tomb owner to be identified.

Dating

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

New Kingdom
Dynasty 18
Amenhetep II
1898: Excavation
Loret, Victor
1898: Discovery
Loret, Victor
2000-2001: Excavation
MISR Project: Mission Siptah-Ramses X

Conservation History

The Supreme Council of Antiquities has recently built a concrete shelter around the entryway of the tomb.

Site Condition

The tomb has not been fully excavated. It is currently under excavation by the MISR Project: Mission Siptah-Ramses X of the University of Basel.

Hieroglyphs

Tia'a

Queen Tia'a
ti-Aa
13723.jpg
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Modern steps leading to KV 34 entrance; entrances to KV 32 and KV 42.
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Tomb entrance inside modern covering.
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Image # 13724
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Breakthrough from KV 47 into KV 32.
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Image # 16921
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View of Entryway A. Courtesy of Richard Sellicks. 
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View of Corridor B toward Entryway A. Courtesy of Richard Sellicks. 
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View of Corridor B toward Gate C. Courtesy of Richard Sellicks.
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Articles

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Tombs in Collision

The Valley of the Kings was used for over five hundred years and as more and more tombs were dug there the site became increasingly crowded.

Bibliography

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

Jenni, Hanna. La Vallée des Rois: Ses Tombeaux et Ses Ouvriers: Travaux Concernant les Tombes KV 17, 18, 32 et 47 Menés par l'Institut d'Égyptologie de l'Université de Bâle. Égypte, Afrique & Orient 54 (2009): 11-24. 

Pinch-Brock, Lyla.  Collisions, Abandonments, Alterations, Tomb Commencements/Pits, and Other Features in the Valley of the Kings. In: Richard H. Wilkinson and Kent R. Weeks (eds.).  The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.  Pp. 117-134.

Reeves, Carl Nicholas.  Valley of the Kings: The Decline of a Royal Necropolis (= Studies in Egyptology).  London:  KPI, 1990. Pp. 167.

Weeks, Kent R. (ed.).  Atlas of the Valley of the Kings (=Publications of the Theban Mapping Project, 1).  Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000.  Map sheet 48. 

Wilkinson, Richard H. and Carl Nicholas Reeves.  The Complete Valley of the Kings.  London:  Thames and Hudson, 1996.  P. 183.

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