A project of the American Research Center in Egypt
A project of the American Research Center in Egypt
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KV 54
Tutankhamen cache

A
Entryway A
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About

This cache is located in the southeast Wadi. KV 54 is a small pit, perhaps an unfinished shaft cutting, that was reused after the reign of Tutankhamen as a storeroom for his funerary equipment.

Noteworthy features:

This tomb is unique in that it was a cache containing embalming material and elements of a funerary meal.

Soon after the burial of King Tutankhamen, his tomb (KV 62) was robbed at least twice. After it was first robbed, objects found in the entrance corridor were removed and reburied in KV 54. The entrance of KV 62 was then filled up with limestone chippings and resealed.

Dating

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

New Kingdom
Dynasty 18
Tutankhamen
1907: Discovery
Ayrton, Edward Russell
1907-1908: Excavation
Ayrton, Edward Russell
1999-2000: Excavation
MISR Project: Mission Siptah-Ramses X

Site Condition

The shaft has been re-excavated recently by the MISR Project.

Hieroglyphs

Tutankhamen cache

King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of Manifestations is Ra, Son of Ra, Living Image of Amun, Ruler of Southern Heliopolis (Thebes)
niswt-bity nb-xprw-Raw sA-Raw twt-anx-Imn HqA Iwnw Sma
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View of Entryway A. Courtesy of Richard Sellicks.
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Articles

Bibliography

Allen, Susan J.  Tutankhamun’s Embalming Cache Reconsidered.  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, 2003.  Pp. 23-29.

Bickerstaffe, Dylan.  Embalming Caches in the Valley of the Kings. KMT 18, 2 (2007): 46-53.

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

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.  On the Miniature Mask from the Tut’ankhamun Embalming Cache.  Bulletin de la Société d’égyptologie de Genève.  Genf. 8 (1983): 81-83.

Reeves, Carl Nicholas.  Valley of the Kings: The Decline of a Royal Necropolis (= Studies in Egyptology).  London:  KPI, 1990. Pp. 69.

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 63.

Wilkinson, Richard H. and Carl Nicholas Reeves.  The Complete Valley of the Kings.  London:  Thames and Hudson, 1996.  Pp. 163-164.

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