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A project of the American Research Center in Egypt
About the image
End of wadi D with ladder leading to Wadi D-1. Entrance to Wadi D-4 is in bottom right hand corner
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Chamber B

See entire tomb

This small, elongated chamber was used for a subsidiary burial. It's axis is slightly off from that of the pit and it is orientated southeast-northwest. The walls and ceiling were carefully cut and are undecorated.

Condition

Cutting finished
Excavated
Flood Damage
Undecorated

About

About

Wadi D-4 is located south of the head of Carter’s Wadi D. It was discovered by the Metropolitan Museum of Art team that excavated in Wadi D in 1988. Cut into the valley floor, it consists of a steep stepped pit (A) that opens into a small chamber (B) of roughly the same width. 

According to Christine Lilyquist, who was the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art excavations, the pit contained a Thutmoside Foundation deposit, similar to that found by Howard Carter in front of KV 38 and KV 34. Chamber B, on the other hand, is a subsidiary burial, owing to its careful cutting and size. The contents of the pit and chamber included model tools, model offering pot and dish; 18th Dynasty pottery sherds; a black granite fragment of a statue; a Faience finger ring; rims and handles of stone vessels; a mass of leather, bone, wood, and textile that were charred and covered in resin; and nail-studded leather of either a Roman of Coptic period date. Several finds matched others found in tomb Wadi D-1 and from other areas within the wadi, indicating that they were in all probability washed down and deposited by flooding. 

Noteworthy features:

Wadi D-4 consists of a Thutmoside Foundation deposit and a subsidiary burial.

Site History

The cutting of Wadi D-4 most likely occurred during the Thutmoside Period. Following that, regular floods in the wadi deposited debris and objects from Wadi D-1 and other areas of wadi D into the pit and chamber.

Wadi D-4 was discovered and excavated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1988. 

Dating

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

New Kingdom
Dynasty 18

Exploration

1988: Discovery
Metropolitan Museum of Art
2013-2013: Survey and Documentation
New Kingdom Research Foundation (NKRF) and The Cambridge Expedition to the Valley of the Kings

Conservation

Site Condition

According to Christine Lilyquist, the pit and chamber were completely filled with debris upon discovery. Parts of the chamber’s (B) left and rear walls had collapsed due to water, the rear wall had fallen in, and an east-west fault line runs westward up the stairs (A).

Articles

Foundation Deposits

While more commonly found in association with temple constructions, foundation deposits also have been unearthed at some royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings.