Wadi D-3
Animal Tomb (Baboon)
Entryway A
See entire tombA shallow, badly eroded shaft that is unplastered and leads to the burial chamber. Debris in the shaft obscures its exact dimensions.
Burial chamber B
See entire tombA shallow, rectangular burial chamber that is unplastered and undecorated. It is orientated in a northeast-southwest direction. Debris in the chamber obscures its exact dimensions.
Chamber plan:
RectangularRelationship to main tomb axis:
PerpendicularChamber layout:
Flat floor, no pillarsFloor:
One levelCeiling:
Flat
About
About
Wadi D-3 is located in Wadi D, southwest of the tomb of Menhet, Menwi, and Merti (Wadi D-1). The tomb is cut into a slope on the western side of the valley and consists of a shaft (A) leading down into a chamber (B). Howard Carter noted this tomb, as well as 6 others in the immediate area, during his survey of the Western Wadis in 1916-1917. According to Carter, the tombs contained the graves of baboons and were already lying open and plundered by the time of his visit. The New Kingdom Research Foundation (NKRF) surveyed these 7 tombs in 2013-2014. According to Piers Litherland, director of the NKRF, Wadi D-3 is now mostly blocked and badly eroded. The meaning of these baboon burials and the reason for their positioning remains unclear, although they may be associated with a private tomb in the area similar to the animal burials located southeast of the tomb of Amenhetep II (KV35) in the Valley of the Kings.
Site History
The tomb was constructed in the 18th Dynasty and plundered either in antiquity or during the modern period.
Dating
This site was used during the following period(s):
Exploration
Conservation
Site Condition
According to the survey of the New Kingdom Research Foundation, the tomb is now mostly blocked and badly eroded.
Articles
Tomb Numbering Systems in the Valley of the Queens and the Western Wadis
Latest Discovery in Wadi C (2022)
Geography and Geology of the Valley of the Queens and Western Wadis
Bibliography
Carter, Howard. A Tomb prepared from Queen Hatshepsut and other Recent Discoveries at Thebes. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 4 no. 2/3 (1917): 107-118.
Lilyquist, Christine with contributions by James E. Hoch and A.J. Peden. The Tomb of Three Foreign Wives of Tuthmosis III. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003.
Litherland, Piers. The western wadis of the Theban necropolis: a re-examination of the western wadis of the Theban necropolis by the joint-mission of the Cambridge Expedition to the Valley of the Kings and the New Kingdom Research Foundation, 2013-2014. London: New Kingdom Research Foundation, 2014.
Thomas, Elizabeth. The Royal Necropoleis of Thebes. Princeton: privately printed, 1966.