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 Tomb KV20 in the Valley of
the Kings on the West
Bank at Luxor (ancient Thebes)
is believed by many Egyptologists to have been the original Tomb of Tuthmosis
I, thought it seems that his famous daughter, Hatshepsut
was also interred there as well. The tomb has been known for well over a
century. It was at least noted by both the early French Expedition to Egypt and
by Belzoni,
the strong man of Egyptology. In 1824, James Burton attempted to clear the tomb,
but was only able to advance as for as the second staircase before the hardness
of the fill, the poor structural condition of the tomb, and the bad air forced
him to stop his work. Afterwards, the discoverer of Tutankhamun's
tomb, Howard
Carter, also attempted a clearance, and succeeded in discovering a range of
inscribed fragments, as well as a foundation deposit. Specifically, the foundation
deposits were inscribed with the name of Hatshepsut suggesting that she was
the tomb owner.
 From this, and the double sarcophagi found within, he concluded that the
queen regent had the tomb built for herself as well as her father, Tuthmosis I,
who she had transferred from his original tomb thought to be KV38. Not until
some 70 years later did John Romer's study of the Tuthmosid royal tombs in 1974
prove Carter wrong. Based on his study, it was demonstrated that the design of
KV38 was most likely several years newer than KV20, and that KV38 probably dated
to the reign of Tuthmosis
III. Hence, it was probably a secondary burial for the first of the
Tuthmosid kings.
K20 was most likely quarried by Ineni, the fairly well known architect of
Tuthmosis I, but was probably not finished as of the time of the king's death,
only extending to the first large
 chamber. The remainder of this winding, deep
tomb with its pillared hall and annexes seems to have been finished by
Hatshepsut to allow her burial there as well. In fact, the additions of the new
chambers' architecture and design are considerably different than the earlier
construction, with even some similarities to her mortuary
temple at nearby Deir
el-Bahri. Later, Hatshepsut's stepson, Tuthmosis III, who Egyptologists
traditionally believe hated her for stealing his kingship of Egypt, had his
grandfather moved to KV38.
The tomb winds for over 213 meters (699 feet) from its entrance, east, until
reaching the double burial chamber at a level of about 97 meters (318 feet)
below the Valley's surface. The corridors in general form a wide U shape,
finally taking a turn back towards the direction of the entrance (west) facing
the bay of Deir el-Bahri. Along the way, two stairwell chambers about
equidistantly spaced have an irregular shape but are not unlike
 those found in
KV38. Even the lower antechamber is similar in many was to the later tomb, and
may have originally been intended as the main burial chamber. However, a short
stairway corridor, very different architecturally from those preceding it,
continues out of this room from about the halfway point of the right hand wall,
which then communicates with the final burial hall.
This burial hall was cut around three centrally aligned pillars with two low
roofed annexes extending out from it more or less in a northern direction, and a
final storage annex to the west. Within the burial chamber, the shale walls are
not suitable for decorations, but blocks inscribed in black and red depicting
somewhat crude, stick figures scenes from the Amduat
were probably meant to line the chamber's walls. They are not unlike the blocks
found in Tuthmosis III's tomb.
 Howard Carter seems to have harvested most of the artifacts associated with
the tomb. Other than his finds, only a fragmentary shabti figure now in The
Hague may have come from the tomb, and if so, it would represent the only such
artifact known from Hetshepsut. Other than the single foundation deposit of
Hatshepsut that Carter found at the entrance to the tomb, most of his other
finds, which were numerous, were fragmentary. They included parts of
funerary furniture, broken stone vessels inscribed with the name of
Ahmose-Nofretri, Tuthmosis I, Queen Ahmose and Hatshepsut. Other items included
potsherds, bits of faience, small pieces of inlay work and burnt pieces of the
face and foot of a large wooden statue that was covered in bitmen. Most of these
items were discovered in the burial chamber itself. Of course, he also
discovered the sarcophagus of Tuthmosis I, originally built and inscribed for
Hatshepsut (now in Boston), a second sarcophagus intended for Hatshepsut
herself, as well as a canopic
chest also inscribed for her.
Neither Tuthmosis I or Hatshepsut's body was found within the tomb. In fact,
unless a fairly recently removed from KV60 ends up being that of Hatshepsut,
hers remains missing. Tuthmosis I's body, on the other hand, was
discovered in the Royal
Cache of mummies found at Deir el-Bahri.
Notation: Regardless of the above referenced article, entrance to this tomb
is generally not granted to visitors.
General Site Information
- Structure: KV 20
- Location: Valley of the Kings, East Valley, Thebes West Bank, Thebes
- Owner: Tuthmosis I and Hatshepsut
- Other designations: 20 [Lepsius], 7 [Hay], Commencement de grotte taillée
circulairement dans le rocher [Description], R [Burton]
- Site type: Tomb
Orientation
- Axis in degrees: 94.04
- Axis orientation: East
Site Location
- Latitude: 25.44 N
- Longitude: 32.36 E
- Elevation: 197.51 msl
- North: 99,556.847
- East: 94,314.712
- JOG map reference: NG 36-10
- Modern governorate: Qena (Qina)
- Ancient nome: 4th Upper Egypt
- Surveyed by TMP: Yes
Measurements
- Maximum height: 4.53 m
- Minimum width: 0.69 m
- Maximum width: 7.17 m
- Total length: 210.32 m
- Total area: 513.29 m²
- Total volume: 1094.63 m³
Additional Tomb Information
- Entrance location: Base of sheer cliff
- Owner type: King
- Entrance type: Staircase
- Interior layout: Corridors and chambers
- Axis type: Bent
Decoration
Categories of Objects Recovered
- Architectural elements
- Jewelry
- Sculpture
- Tomb equipment
- Vessels
Dating:
History of Exploration
- Napoleonic Expedition (1799): Mapping/planning
- Belzoni, Giovanni Battista (1817): Mapping/planning
- Burton, James (1825): Excavation (clearance into corridor D1)
- Burton, James (1825): Mapping/planning
- Lepsius, Carl Richard (1844-1845): Mapping/planning
- Carter, Howard (1903-1904): Excavation (conducted for Theodore M. Davis)
See Also:
The Lost Feeling, Or was it a Mummy?
References:
Archives
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