General view
This is another of the Mr. Theodore Monroe Davis
finds, and was one of the most important of them, not because of any quality in
the tomb itself, which is a comparatively rude and unpretentious piece of work,
consisting merely of a flight of steps, a steeply sloping corridor, a second
flight of steps, and the burial-chamber, but because of the historical
importance of the persons who occupied it, and of the wealth and beauty of the
funerary furniture found in it .
The tomb was that of Yuya and Tjuyu, the father and
mother of Queen Tiy, the famous and well-beloved wife of Amenhotep III, and the
mother by him of Akhenaten . It was discovered in 1905, and was found to
contain a quantity of rich funerary furniture such as, up to that time, had
never been met with in any Egyptian tomb, though it has since been eclipsed by
the wonders of the tomb of Tutankhamun .
This priceless collection is now at Cairo Museum ( 3613-3705,
U 13, various cases ) . The tomb is uninscribed, and of no interest apart from
its occupants and their furniture .
Henry Copley Greene said : " Squeezing their way
between the wall and the rock ceiling, M. Maspero and Mr. Davis were soon in
the midst of such a medley of tomb furniture that, in the glare of their
lighted candles, the first effect was one of bewilderment . Gradually, however,
one object after another detached itself from the shimmering mass, shining
through the cool air, dust-free and golden … " .
Discovery and excavation
James Quibell said : " … so remarkable was the
preservation that the silver was still bright, but within three days, and
before anything could be moved, it had become black " .
Before the discovery of Tutankhamun, the tomb of Yuya
and Tjuyu was one of the most celebrated discoveries in Egyptian archaeology .
And, naturally, the discovery was made by Theodore Davis .
The tomb itself is situated midway between the princely tomb KV3 and
KV4, the tomb initiated but never actually employed by the pharaoh Ramses XI,
and chippings from the quarrying of these later tombs wholly overlay the site
to provide a useful terminus ante quem for ancient activity
within the tomb .
The outer doorway " was closed within eighteen
inches of the top with flat stones, about twelve inches by four, laid in Nile
mud plaster … " . This wall, " plastered over with mud and stamped in
many places " with the jackal-and-nine-captives seal, displayed an opening
in the top right-hand corner, at chin height – so clearly it was not to be an intact
tomb . Beyond lay a corridor, empty save for a few stray items, leading down to
a second blocking, stamped with the seal of the necropolis administration but
likewise broken through at the top . On the floor, at the base of the wall,
were two pottery bowls containing dried mud – evidence, perhaps, of small-scale
plastering work undertaken following the first period of theft – and the sticks
used to apply it . As the excavators peered over the wall an eerie sight met
their eyes :
" Imagine entering a town house which had been
closed for the summer ; imagine the stuffy room, the stiff, silent appearance
of the furniture, the feeling that some ghostly occupants of the vacant chairs
have just been disturbed, the desire to throw open the windows to let life into
the room once more . That was perhaps the first sensation as we stood, really
dumbfounded, and stared around at the relics of the life of over three thousand
years ago … " . By : Arthur Weigall .
Architecture
While not as fully developed as some of the largest
private tombs, architecturally KV46 lies between KV55 and KV21, having one more
corridor than the former and one fewer than the latter . The entrance stair
with fifteen steps leads into a well-cut corridor (B) some 1.76 m ( 5 ft 9 in )
wide and 2.05 m ( 6 ft 9 in ) high – proportions which are respectable for a
tomb of this nature ( compare 1.68 m [ 5 ft 6 in ] by 2 m [ 6 ft 7 in ] in the tomb
of Tutankhamun ) .
A second corridor with stairs and niches is somewhat unusual in that the
roof is roughly rounded rather than squared . This and the similar roughness of
the irregularly shaped burial chamber have been blamed on the quality of the
stone, but might also be explained as the result of the tomb's quarrying being
brought to a hasty conclusion . Like KV62, the floor of the burial chamber is
dropped approximately 1 m ( 3 ft 3 in ) from the level of the entrance doorway,
though only at the left end . In the first two passages a number of black dots
spaced about 40 cm ( 16 in ) apart divide the walls into squares ; these seem
to be masons' marks, since the walls were not smoothed nor was plaster ever
applied to them .
The mummies
" Again Maspero's voice was heard, this saying
that Mrs. Smith should come down and join him in the tomb … He assisted her
over the wall and said : ' Doubtless you are the first woman that's been in
this tomb chamber alive – there's a dead one over there … ' " . By :
Joseph Lindon Smith .
The two mummies were in an extraordinary state of preservation ; that of
Yuya, in particular, is a fine example of the ancient embalmers' craft .
To judge from the differing embalming techniques that the two corpses
display, Yuya and Tjuyu died at separate times, and were interred or buried in KV46
on two separate occasions . This view is strengthened by differences in the two
sets of funerary equipment – in particular, the canopic jars . As the evidence
stands, it is difficult to establish who died first . Maspero believed that it
was Yuya basing his view upon the disposition of the man's large wooden
coffin-canopy . The style of Yuya's cartonnage mask suggests the opposite .
Robberies
The
excavators believed that the burial had been plundered on one occasion only .
In fact, KV46 appears to have been entered at least twice and probably on three
occasions .
Further-more, the burial was plundered far more
efficiently than was originally thought . All the more portable valuables had
gone – metalwork ( including all jewellery not wrapped in with the mummies )
and most of the linens not associated directly with the corpses . Perfumes and
cosmetics had also been removed – usually evidence of a robbery soon after the
original interment, since such commodities did not keep fresh for long . All
that remained were three containers of rancid castor oil, natron and " a
dark red substance " – which the thieves had evidently discarded as
worthless .
The tomb was still in a state of disarray when entered by Davis in 1905
. The mummies had been disturbed within their coffins, while promising-looking
boxes had had their lids ripped off . Several items found in the corridor – a
heart scarab, chariot yoke and gilded wooden staff – were either in the process
of being carried off by the thieves when they were apprehended, or else had
been discarded by them when it was discovered that their value was slight .
Following this intrusion, there seems to have been some attempt at restoring a
superficial order to the burial : Tjuyu's mummy had been covered with a sheet,
some boxes refilled with a jumble of items, and the hole made by the robbers to
gain access to the burial chamber roughly blocked again with stones .
Finds from the Tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu
James Edward Quibell, Antiquities inspector, Describes
the Contents ..
Yuya
was laid in four coffins, one inside the other . The outer one can hardly be
called a coffin ; it is a square box on runners, but has no bottom ; it forms a
cover or tent over the rest … [ and ] is of wood covered with pitch, and
ornamented with bands of inscription in relief on gilt plaster . The second
coffin is of the shape of a mummy, covered like the last with glistening pitch
and with gilt bands of text . In the third coffin the gilt bands are the same,
but the background is of silver leaf . The fourth is gilt all over and has
hieroglyphs of glass inlaid in the gold . This coffin was silvered inside and
contained the mummy … [ which ] had been thoroughly searched ; evidently Yuya
was known to have been buried with jewellery . His gilt cartonnage mask and the
bands which encircled the body remained, but were broken . Now, all in Egyptian
Museum at Cairo .
The mummy itself is in wonderful preservation, better
perhaps than any other from Biban el-Moluk ; the features are not distorted ;
the powerful and dignified face of the old man strikes one as something human,
as a face that one would recognize in a portrait .
The canopic vases of Tjuyu are interesting ; they each contain, packed
in sawdust, some are of the organs of the body wrapped up in cloths so as to
form the model of a mummy, over the head of which is placed a small mask of
gilt plaster . The vases of Yuya are much simpler .
One of the most striking objects is a chariot ; it bears no scenes in
relief to compare with those on the chariot of Tuthmosis IV, but it is
practically complete, and the decorations of spirals and rosettes in gilt
plaster make it a very handsome object .
There are two of the Osiris beds, like that in Mahirpra, which means
" The lion of the battlefield " ; there is a jewel box decorated with
mosaic of ivory, ebony, and faience, with inscription in gold, several other
boxes less elaborate in ornament, and besides, a lot of boxes of wood covered
with pitch and containing different dried meats, geese, ducks and various
joints of veal .
Lastly there are three beds and three chairs . The beds are like Nubian angaribs, but with head-boards ; one of these has panels
adorned with bas reliefs in silvered plaster ; in another the scenes are gilt,
they consist chiefly of figures of Bes .
The chairs are perhaps the most striking objects in the whole
collection, and cannot be described in a few words . Two of the three had
probably been used before being employed as funereal furniture ; they certainly
show signs of wear . One, a small one, is gilt all over, and bears on the back a
scene of a water excursion ; in another the arms are of open-work, representing
an ibex ; the third and largest is made of veneered wood with designs and text in
gilt ; above the front legs and serving as hand-rests are two female heads in
the round .
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