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KV40 — Vallée des Rois, Louxor.

Hypogeum (rock-cut)

KV40

Egypt

DatedEst. 3600–2500 BCE

Where it standsSources

Photo Chabe01 · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons

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About this site

What the sources say

Tomb KV40 is located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. Artifacts from the tomb attribute it to 18th Dynasty royal family members, though human remains from the later 22nd Dynasty were interred. Although the tomb was excavated by Victor Loret in 1899, no report was published.

Excavations in 2014 revealed the remains of at least 50 minor royalty in several chambers. While the tomb was looted several times in antiquity and at the end of the nineteenth century, it still contains many fragments of funerary equipment, such as wooden and cartonnage coffins and textiles.

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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.

  1. Göbekli Tepe9600 BCE
  2. First farming9500 BCE
  3. Avebury2600 BCE
  4. Great Pyramid of Giza2560 BCE
  5. Stonehenge2500 BCE
  6. Bronze Age collapse1200 BCE
  7. Rome founded753 BCE
  8. Parthenon447 BCE
  9. Hadrian's Wall122 CE
  10. Machu Picchu built1450 CE
12,000 BCE8,000 BCE4,000 BCE1 CE1,500 CE
This site

Est. 3600–2500 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical for this type

The published range for this kind of monument in this region. It is not a date for this site.
Source for this date

The full article

KV40: the whole story

4 min read690 wordsRead on Wikipedia

In brief

Sources for this section

Tomb KV40 is located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. Artifacts from the tomb attribute it to 18th Dynasty royal family members, although human remains from the later 22nd Dynasty were also interred. Victor Loret excavated the tomb in 1899, but no report was published.

On 28 April 2014, the Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities announced the discovery by an Egyptian–Swiss archaeological team of at least 50 mummies in the center chamber and in three side chambers of KV40. Based on inscriptions on storage jars, Egyptologists identified more than thirty people. The tomb was looted several times in antiquity and at the end of the nineteenth century, but it still contains many fragments of funerary equipment, such as wooden and cartonnage coffins and textiles.

The mummies come from both the 18th and the 22nd Dynasty. Royal titles on many jars indicated that the buried were members of the families of Thutmosis IV and Amenhotep III. The hieratic inscriptions point to hitherto unknown royal princesses, four princes, and several foreign women, mostly adults, and mummified children were also found. In a lecture at the Museo Egizio in 2015, Dr. Bickel indicated that so far twelve royal daughters had been identified, including the King's daughter Neferunebu and the King's daughter Nefertari, as well as the King's Son Meri-taui.

Some women have clear foreign names from the Near East and Nubia, and others are not obviously royal. One woman was identified as the King's Daughter Taemwadjes, then one of the royal son, which indicates she was a granddaughter of the King. The finds of 2014 also include a linen sock made to be worn in sandals. A volume of Swiss Egyptological Studies edited by Susanne Bickel, published in 2021, presents the inscribed objects of the 18th Dynasty and the pottery.

Archaeology

Sources for this section

On 28 April 2014, the Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities announced the discovery by an Egyptian–Swiss archaeological team of at least 50 mummies in the center chamber and in three side chambers of KV40. Based on inscriptions on storage jars, Egyptologists identified more than thirty people.

The mummies in KV40 come from both the 18th and the 22nd Dynasty. The royal titles found on many jars indicated that the buried were members of the families of Thutmosis IV and Amenhotep III, both of whom also are interred in the Valley of the Kings. The analysis of the hieratic inscriptions points to hitherto unknown royal princesses, four princes, and several foreign women, mostly adults. Mummified children have also been found. The royal princes and princesses are said to be from the house of the royal children in the inscriptions.

In a lecture at the Museo Egizio (2015), Dr. Bickel indicated that so far twelve royal daughters had been identified. Names include the King's daughter Neferunebu and the King's daughter Nefertari, as well as the King's Son Meri-taui. One of the women was identified as the King's Daughter Taemwadjes, then one of the royal son, which indicates she was a granddaughter of the King. There are also women who are not obviously royal. Some women have clear foreign names from the Near East and Nubia.

The findings in the 2014 excavations include a linen sock which was made to be worn in sandals and fragments of funerary equipment.