Tomb KV56, also known as the Gold Tomb, is a tomb located in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt. It was discovered by Edward R. Ayrton in January 1908 and contained what is thought to be the intact burial of a royal child from the late Nineteenth Dynasty. The burial and casket have disintegrated, leaving a thin layer of gold leaf and stucco in the original location. Most famously the tomb contained spectacular gold and silver jewellery including earrings, rings, silver bracelets with the names of Seti II and Twosret inscribed, and a pair of small silver gloves. The original occupant of this tomb is unknown but was possibly an Eighteenth Dynasty queen.

Location, discovery, and layout

The tomb was discovered on 5 January 1908 by Edward Ayrton who was excavating on behalf of Theodore Davis. Excavation was focused on the side valley leading towards the tomb of Amenhotep II; digging began on the northern side at the western end, close to the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV9). At a depth of below the current ground level, the mouth of a vertical shaft was encountered. The shaft was cut through debris for , stabilised on three sides by walls of stacked limestone chips. The shaft descended another into the bedrock, opening out into a single chamber. Both the shaft and chamber were filled with flood debris.

The tomb consists of a vertical shaft measuring cut into the bedrock. The shaft opens to the north to a single unfinished room; the north wall of the chamber has a stepped shape. The room is wide; it is the longest on the west side, at , and shortest along the eastern wall, at .

Cyril Aldred suggested that the area of gold foil and plaster was in fact the remains of a much rotted and flattened coffin. He suggests that, in his haste and without realising, Ayrton had cut through remains of wooden or other organic objects, which would have been reduced to a stain in the sediment, similar to the situation encountered by Guy Brunton in the tomb of Sithathoriunet at El Lahun. Robbers had entered the tomb in antiquity and looted most of the burial; their entrance was left open for some time, allowing mud and debris to wash in and accumulate before finally flood action sealed the tomb again.

Reeves has suggested that the intended form of the tomb was square with a single supporting pillar, a layout characteristic of an Eighteenth Dynasty queen's tomb. Furthermore, he suggests that the tomb was dug to receive the Theban reburial of an Amarna Period queen, possibly Nefertiti but more likely Kiya as the shaft is of sufficient width to admit the single burial shrine used in this period. The tomb is close to both KV55 and KV62, which are known to date to the late Eighteenth Dynasty, strengthening the argument for the initial use of the tomb being of contemporaneous dating. Excavations carried out in the area immediately surrounding KV56 yielded Amarna Period material including pottery, a wooden wig fragment from a coffin, a fragment of an alabaster canopic jar, and an ostracon of a priest drawn in Amarna style.

References

  • Theban Mapping Project: KV56 includes detailed maps of most of the tombs.