Egypt's New Tomb Revealed
84 years ago in the Valley of the Kings, a man by the name of Howard Carter discovered one of the most famous tombs known to man--the tomb of the boy king, Tutankhamun. Within that tomb were various priceless treasures, including the most famous gold mask. However as time progressed archaeologists took a closer look at the tomb of the boy king. By clues within the tomb it was obvious that the tomb had been made in a hurry. Typically the pharaoh himself would design his tomb. King Tut was only 9 years old when he came into power and died when he was 18, so he didn't have the time to make his own. The tomb itself is very small and appeared to have been destined for someone of lesser importance. Tutankhamun's unexpected (as well as mysterious, though they say he died of an infection after breaking his leg) demise saw the tomb's rushed modification to accommodate the pharaoh. The tomb was labeled KV62, the last tomb discovered in Egypt--that is, until February 2006.
In February of 2006 a team of archaeologists from the University of Memphis, led by Otto Schaden discovered a new tomb, which was labeled KV63. Within the tomb were many pots along with seven coffins. The hopes of many were that they had found an important figure within. Exploration began with the 28 clay jars. As they searched through these jars various artifacts began to emerge, pieces of pottery as well as clay seals. These alone rose excitement with people, for the pottery and wine label were identical to the one found in King Tut's tomb. That alone placed the date for the tomb which was during the end of the Armana Period, the 18 th Dynasty (1539-1292 B.C.) It was this time period that held some of the most famous individuals such as Amenhotep I, Queen Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Tut. It was the hopes of the archaeologists that they had found a royal cache.
As they searched the clay jars, seals were found. One that caught my attention the most was that of Aten. This was a rather particular part of Egyptian history that I know about. During the 18th Century, when Akhenaten, along with his queen Nefertiti were in rule of Egypt, they had abandoned the many old Gods and replaced them with one--Aten the sun god. This flared up a religious conflict among the people of Egypt. It was Akhenaten and Nefertiti who started this religion so I knew then that with that seal whoever was buried had to be related to that family. I kept thinking it might be Nefertiti, but I don't think it is her, she is still lost. There was another seal with the inscription PA-ATEN which was a latter part of the name Ankhesenpaaten, which was Tut's wife. Of course, later after the re-establishment of the traditional Egyptian religion, Tut and his wife adopted the -amun ending, making them Ankhesenamun (which is the name they used for that chick in The Mummy, I think) and Tutankhamun.
After doing some excavation one of the archaeologists began to think it was only an embalmer's cache, for they found amounts of natron, which was an embalming salt they used, and pieces of flesh. However the only problem with that theory was that typically embalmer's cache's only had the pottery, and not the coffins. However later as they were moving the coffins and examined them they had found a child sized coffin within a broken one. As they opened it, oddly they found pillows, as they removed the pillows they found a baby sized gold coffin. The representative of the S.C.A. (Supreme Council of Antiquities) had observed the coffin and said that there should have been a representative statue within and that by the design of the coffin it was made for a member of the royal family and that it was made for a woman. They had also found a few face masks too. The craftsmanship on them also indicated that they were made during the Armana period.
There are only two unopened coffins out of the seven, and the seals are intact. It is my belief that they have found the resting place of Tutankhamun's wife--Ankhesenamun, and one of their still born children. (Though the only two still born children they had were found in Tut's tomb, but with a coffin that small it has to be a baby.)
One interesting fact is that KV63 is only 16 feet away from the resting place of King Tut. They are still excavating the site and they hope to have it all finished by the end of the summer. Cool shit huh? I love it. :)