KV 25
Unknown
Entryway A
See entire tombThe 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.
Gate B
See entire tombThe soffit and threshold of this gate slope down from front to back. The gate was sealed at the time of discovery.
Corridor B
See entire tombThe drop in the ceiling height at the end of the chamber indicates unfinished cutting, and is not the lintel of a gate.
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):
Exploration
Conservation
Site Condition
The tomb was excavated in 1972 and 1973 by the University of Minnesota Egyptian Expedition, directed by Otto Schaden.
Articles
Historical Development of the Valley of the Kings
History of the Valley of the Kings: Third Intermediate Period to the Byzantine Period
Anatomy of a Tomb: Ancient and Modern Designations for Chambers and Features
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.
Thomas, Elizabeth. The Royal Necropoleis of Thebes. Princeton: privately printed, 1966. Pp. 81-83.
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.