Tomb WV22, also known as KV22, was the burial place of Amenhotep III, a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, in the western arm of the Valley of the Kings. The tomb is unique in that it has two subsidiary burial chambers for the pharaoh's wives Tiye and Sitamen (who was also his daughter). It was officially discovered in August 1799 by Prosper Jollois and Édouard de Villiers du Terrage, engineers with Napoleon's expedition to Egypt but had probably been open for some time. The tomb was first excavated in the early 1900s by Theodore M. Davis; the details of this are lost. The first documented clearance was carried out by Howard Carter in 1915. Since 1989, a Japanese team from Waseda University led by Sakuji Yoshimura and Jiro Kondo has excavated and conserved the tomb. The sarcophagus trough is missing from the tomb, but the lid was reconstructed from shattered fragments. The tomb's layout and decoration follow the tombs of the king's predecessors, Amenhotep II (KV35) and Thutmose IV (KV43); however, the decoration is much finer in quality. Several images of the pharaoh's head were cut out in 1828 and can be seen today in the Louvre. The tomb was opened to visitors on October 4, 2025, having previously been closed for restoration.
Location and discovery
The tomb is situated in a bay on the east side of the wadi, from the entrance to the Western Valley. Unlike earlier tombs, it is not cut into the solid rock at the cliff base but in the talus slope away from it. south of the tomb is WVA which, based on jar sealings and the types of pottery found there, likely functioned as a storeroom for overflow from WV22.
The tomb was first noted in August 1799 by Édouard de Villiers du Terrage and Prosper Jollois, engineers in Napoleon's expedition; it is possible it was known to the traveler William George Browne several years earlier. They mapped the tomb and made drawings of some of the artefacts (ushabti) found which were published in Description de l'Egypte. There are three small side rooms leading off the burial chamber and two larger chambers with a single pillar; each has an additional side chamber.
Inside the tomb, work focused on areas Davis had not investigated, namely the fill in the deep protective well shaft and the well chamber at its base. Carter's finds from the well shaft included the hub of a wooden chariot wheel, a faience bracelet plaque, and fragments of Third Intermediate Period coffins. Only the lid remains, some long, now broken into two main pieces.
Despite preparations for the burials of Tiye and Sitamun, it is doubtful that they were ever buried in the suites intended for them. Both apparently outlived Amenhotep and were buried elsewhere, as placing them within the tomb would have involved dismantling the blocked and painted doorways at the well chamber and antechamber. Nothing is known of Sitamun's burial but Tiye survived well into the reign of her son Akhenaten, and was seemingly buried in the Royal Tomb at Amarna. Carter considered that the presence of ushabti naming Tiye indicated that she was indeed interred in WV22 but the ushabti bear the titles 'Great Royal Wife' and 'Royal Mother,' indicating they were prepared in the reign of Akhenaten. This may lend support to a period of co-regency between Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten; alternatively they may be votives. The badly damaged mummy of Amenhotep III was moved from the tomb and restored in Year 13 of Smendes, and was ultimately discovered cached in KV35, the tomb of Amenhotep II, together with other Eighteenth Dynasty mummies including Tiye and The Younger Lady.
The fragments of intrusive burials found by Carter in the well, also from the Third Intermediate Period, were likely introduced after the king's body and sarcophagus were removed. One coffin belonged to a man named Padihor, while the other belonged to a woman whose name is lost but whose mother was Tabesheribet.
Unfortunately, from the time of discovery, the decoration of the tomb has been in poor condition. The paintings are damaged by salt efforescence, and sections of plaster have detached from the underlying rock, especially on the lower portions of walls. who had previously worked on the restoration of QV66, the tomb of Nefertari.
Since the 2000s, Zahi Hawass has asked the Louvre to return the faces of WV22 to Egypt, so it can be restored to the tomb.
Graffito
A hieratic inscription (graffito) is located high up on the wall in the door way leading to the antechamber from the final flight of stairs. It reads "Year 3, third month of Akhet, day 7."