Overview
About this site
Overview
Tomb KV27 is a rock-cut tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt, dating to the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty on the evidence of its pottery. It consists of a shaft and four rooms and is undecorated; nothing is known about its occupant.
John Wilkinson visited the tomb, but it was not fully explored until the 1990s, by Donald P. Ryan of Pacific Lutheran University.
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Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
KV27
KV27 is located between tombs KV21 and KV28 in a side wadi that branches off the main valley.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KV27CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KV27CC BY-SA 4.0
KV27 is located between tombs KV21 and KV28 in a side wadi that branches off the main valley. The tomb has a simple layout of a shaft and four rooms. It is most similar to KV30 and appears to be an expanded version of a shaft tomb with a single room; alternatively, it may represent an architectural halfway between a single-roomed shaft tomb and those which have multiple rooms opening from one or more corridors. An unusual feature is a plastered ramp, initially thought to be a sealed burial shaft, leading from the main chamber (B) to a side chamber (C).
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KV27CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KV27CC BY-SA 4.0
The original excavator of the tomb is unknown, and no records exist of its discovery. Richard Pococke perhaps observed its location during his tour of Egypt. It was certainly known to Wilkinson, and Eugène Lefébure described it briefly as containing pieces of a mummy. The tomb was probably investigated by Auguste Mariette in 1859. Its entrance was known to be used by local antique sellers to escape the heat, and a family of dogs was found living there in 1990.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KV27CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KV27CC BY-SA 4.0
Pacific Lutheran University's Valley of the Kings Project excavated the tomb in 1993 and 2006. In 1993 the shaft was partially excavated, yielding small amounts of pottery and fragmented remnants of the burial, including wood, gold leaf and wrappings. In 2006 the shaft was fully cleared and contained modern items such as rubbish and souvenirs. Remains of the original mudbrick blocking were found at the base of the shaft. The tomb was almost entirely full of flood debris. The first chamber (Chamber B) was almost entirely excavated, leaving only a small column of debris as a stratigraphic record, and contained few artefacts: fragmentary stone vessels, pottery and faience, along with some human metacarpals.
Side Chamber C was almost entirely full of pottery sherds, mostly from white-washed storage jars. Large stones mixed with the ceramics suggest that the tomb suffered a catastrophic flooding event that violently smashed and mixed its contents. Pieces of Late Period and Coptic pottery scattered through the fill indicate that the tomb was still relatively free of debris in those periods.
FindsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KV27CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): KV27CC BY-SA 4.0
Chamber C contained the majority of the human remains uncovered so far, including a partial skull, vertebrae, ribs and a right arm. They are thought to be from a single individual aged at least thirty years. Animal bones were also present, although these are likely the remains of food mummies for the deceased. The chamber also contained two inscribed fragments of a canopic jar naming a certain god's father Userhet, who is thought to be the owner of KV45, where three of his canopic jars were excavated in 1902.
The excavation of the remaining two chambers was left for a future season. At the conclusion of the 2006 excavation a steel door was added to secure the tomb, the wall around the shaft was repaired, and a diversion wall was built to protect against flooding. As of 2007 the tomb stores the pottery found in it, and other finds are stored in KV21 for flood protection.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Rock-cut tombs of Egypt
Egypt has some of the best-known rock-cut tombs in the world. In the Valley of the Kings, on the west bank of the Nile opposite Thebes, tombs were excavated for pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom, for a period of nearly 500 years from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Dynasty. The valley has two main sections, the East Valley where most royal tombs lie and the West Valley, known as the Valley of the Monkeys, and it is known to contain 65 tombs and chambers. It gained great attention after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 with the rest of the Theban Necropolis.
Much earlier, Beni Hasan in Middle Egypt is an ancient funerary site cut into the limestone cliffs on the east bank of the Nile about 20 kilometres south of Minya. In the Middle Kingdom it was the principal cemetery of the sixteenth nome of Upper Egypt, the Oryx nome, and its monumental tombs were cut roughly halfway up the cliff, overlooking the valley. Rock-cut tombs are also found at Deir el-Medina, between the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.
The mastaba is a different tradition: a flat-roofed rectangular tomb with sloping sides, built of mudbrick or limestone, which marked the burial sites of eminent Egyptians in the Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom. The mastaba was built above ground and the rock-cut tomb into the cliff.
Egyptian tombs are among the best dated monuments in the Atlas, because the dynasty or reign of the king or noble who owned them is known.
When visiting, remember that access to many tombs is limited.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Valley of the Kings, Wikipedia: Beni Hasan, Wikipedia: Rock-cut tomb, Wikipedia: Mastaba · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1859
The tomb was probably investigated by Auguste Mariette in 1859.
Source - 1902
The chamber also contained two inscribed fragments of a canopic jar naming a certain "god's father" Userhet; Userhet is thought to be the owner of KV45 where three of his canopic jars were excavated in 1902. The excavation of the remaining two chambers was saved for a future season.
Source - 1990
However, humans weren't the only ones who used the tomb as a family of dogs were found living there in 1990. During the 1993 season the shaft was partially excavated, yielding small amounts of pottery and fragmented remnants of the burial including wood, gold leaf, and wrappings.
Source - 1993
Excavation of the tomb was undertaken by the Pacific Lutheran University's Valley of the Kings Project in 1993 and 2006. The tomb entrance was known to be used by local antique sellers to escape the heat.
Source - 2006
The Project returned in 2006 to undertake a fuller excavation.
Source - 2006
At the conclusion of the 2006 excavation, a steel door was added to secure the tomb.
Source - 2007
As of 2007, the tomb stores the pottery found in it; other finds are stored in KV21 for flood protection.
Source
Photographs
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 3600–2500 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypological estimate, not a date for this site: a hypogeum in North Africa is normally dated between 3600 BCE and 2500 BCE (Atlas typological table).Source for this date
Measured facts
- Room count
- fourSource: Room count
- Decoration
- undecoratedSource: Decoration
- First recorded visitor
- John WilkinsonSource: First recorded visitor
- Full exploration
- Donald P. Ryan of Pacific Lutheran University, in the 1990sSource: Full exploration
- Culture
- Ancient EgyptSource: Culture
- Length
- 20.78 metreSource: Length
Where it stands
Egypt
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 25°44′27″ N, 32°36′08″ EFor a GPS or map app: 25.74083, 32.60222
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1976462wikidata.org
- 02Wikipedia (en)en.wikipedia.org
Image files
- KV27.jpgR.F.MorganCC BY-SA 3.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "KV27" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (English): KV27CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q1976462CC0