Wednesday, May 10, 2017

KV24 ( WV24 ) and KV25 ( WV25 ) .. Part ( 31 )

Also in the Western Valley, are uninscribed and unidentified .


KV24 ( WV24 )
The tomb was discovered before 1832, and Mr. Otto John Schaden continued the excavation on 1991-1992 on behalf of the University of Arizona .


" It seemed that nearly every basket of turab [ debris ] removed contained tattered mummy wrappings, some bones and some late Roman wares … " . By : Otto Schaden .


WV24 has stood open and neglected for 150 years ; during that time it has been noted by Robert Hay and John Gardner Wilkinson and probably entered by Émile Gaston Chassinat, Davis's excavators, Howard Carter and several other Egyptologists . Its clearance was undertaken by Otto Schaden in 1991-19921 .


The tomb consists of a deep and well-cut rectangular shaft which opens at one side of its base into an irregularly cut and evidently unfinished room . Although roughly rectangular, the chamber is rounded at its eastern end, perhaps reflecting its unfinished state ( an undamaged mason's mallet was found in the tomb, together with several copper fragments broken from the mason' chisels ) . A rough, low shelf cut along one side of the chamber is the only feature distinguishing the tomb from the very similar KV44, KV50, KV61 and others, in the main valley .


Excavation of the shaft brought to light the remains of probably intrusive burials of 22nd Dynasty date, including fragments of a wooden child's coffin, fragments of cartonnage, masses of mummy linen, and the remains of at least five human bodies ( one that of a child ) . Later material included fragments of late Roman ribbed amphorae and cooking pots, presumably of Coptic origin . A coil of ancient rope was also recovered, the leg of a small box or chair, and several fragments of 18th Dynasty glass – including inlay strips and a broken bead which may have strayed from the nearby tomb of Ay ( WV23 ) . An interesting fragment of ivory with gold attachments may be another stray from WV23 .


The evidence is that WV24 dates from the late 18th Dynasty, and most probably had been prepared for a retainer of the owner of WV25 . It may, however, represent an ancillary storage chamber for this latter tomb ( a similar relationship to that of WV A to WV22 – the tomb of Amenhotep III ) . Roughly the same amount of rock seems to have been removed from both WV24 and WV25, possibly as a result of the two tombs being begun and abandoned at more or less the same time .



KV25 ( WV25 )
" The following day … I made a machine not unlike a battering-ram . The walls resisted the blows of the Arabs for some time … ; but they contrived to make a breach at last, and in the same way the opening was enlarged . We immediately entered … " . By : Giovanni Battista Belzoni .


Tomb WV25 was discovered by Belzoni in 1817, blocked off at the base of the staircase with a well-built stone wall, beyond which lay two rows of four coffined mummies arranged with their heads to the outside, lying in dried mud . To judge from Belzoni's description, the coffin contained intrusive burials of Third Intermediate Period date ; the finds recovered during Otto Schaden's clearance of the tomb in 1972-1973, though including a handful of objects which had evidently been washed into the tomb from nearby WV23 ( the burial place of Ay ), basically confirm this view, while the presence of cartonnage fragments suggests that the assemblage did not predate the 22nd Dynasty .


" … certainly royal in inception … contemporary with the identified tombs of the wadi " . By : Elizabeth Thomas .



Although begun with care and according to royal dimensions and design, this structure achieved little more than the first two passages of the regular 18th Dynasty royal tomb plan . It is clear that WV25 was far from complete, and the incipient royal tomb appears to have been halted in its construction without any attempt to adapt it for use . The entrance is cut through a deep surface level of hard-packed gravel, and the first seven levels of steps are constructed of blocks set into the earth above the solid rock . Another 18 steps were cut into the rock itself . The doorway at the bottom of this stairway is set into an extension which reaches out from the lowest step in a design not found in the sepulchers of the monarchs who reigned before Amenhotep III or after Ay .





Part ( 32 ) .. Coming SoOoOon .....
Uploading .....

Follow us to receive our latest posts, Leave your comment and Tell your friends about our Blog .. Thank you ☺☺

No comments:

Post a Comment