Unidentified Mummies Gallery I

New!
Tomb Raiders of KV 46!
How thorough were the robbers who plundered the tomb of Yuya and Tuyu? How many times was the tomb robbed, and what were the thieves after? This study of post interment activity in KV 46 provides some answers.

Updated!
Special KV 55 Section!
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Follow the trail of the missing treasures from mysterious KV 55.

KV 55's Lost Objects: Where Are They Today?

The KV 55 Coffin Basin and Gold Foil Sheets

KV 55 Gold Foil at the Metropolitan

Mystery of the Missing Mummy Bands

KV 35 Revisited
See rare photographic plates of a great discovery from Daressy's Fouilles de la Vallee des Rois.

Unknown Man E
Was he really
buried alive?

The Tomb of Maihirpre
Learn about Victor Loret's important discovery of this nearly intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

Special Section!
Tomb Robbers!
Who were the real tomb raiders? What beliefs motivated their actions? A new perspective on the ancient practice of tomb robbing!

Special Section!
Spend a Night
with the Royal Mummies
Read Pierre Loti's eerie account of his nocturnal visit to the Egyptian Museum's Hall of Mummies.

Special Section!
An Audience With Amenophis II Journey once more with Pierre Loti as he explores the shadowy chambers of KV 35 in the early 1900's.

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Most of the images on this website have been scanned from books, all of which are given explicit credit and, wherever possible, a link to a dealer where they may be purchased. Some images derive from other websites. These websites are also acknowledged in writing and by being given a link, either to the page or file where the images appear, or to the main page of the source website. Images forwarded to me by individuals who do not supply the original image source are credited to the sender. All written material deriving from other sources is explicitly credited to its author.
Feel free to use material from the Theban Royal Mummy Project website. No prior written permission is required. Just please follow the same guidelines which I employ when using the works of other researchers, and give the Theban Royal Mummy Project proper credit on your own papers, articles, or web pages.

--Thank You

This website is constantly developing and contributions of data from other researchers are welcomed.
Contact The Theban Royal Mummy Project at:
anubis4_2000@yahoo.com

Background Image: Wall scene from the tomb of Ramesses II (KV 7.) From Karl Richard Lepsius, Denkmäler (Berlin: 1849-1859.)

Unidentified Mummies
Gallery II

Unknown Woman (Hatshepsut?)
18'th Dynasty
Provenance: KV 60
Original Discovery Date: 1903 by Howard Carter
Rediscovery: June 27-July 4, 1989, by Donald P. Ryan
Current Location:

Biographical data: Unknown.

Click on image to go to Donald P. Ryan's website.

Details: KV 60, the tomb in which the mummy above was found, was discovered by Howard Carter in 1903 near the entrance to the tomb of 20'th Dynasty Prince Montuherkopeshef (KV 19.) Carter entered the tomb but never had it cleared, probably because it did not contain the kind of treasures in which Theodore Davis, who was funding Carter's work at the time, took interest. After resealing the tomb, Carter more or less abandoned his discovery, and only wrote a brief report about the tomb in which he noted the presence of two mummies left in the burial chamber. Both mummies were of females, and one was contained in a coffin trough (Cairo Museum Temp. Reg. # 24/11/16/1) bearing the inscription: "sdt nfrw nsw in m3^ct hrw." Carter and Percy Newberry (who was also present when the tomb was entered) thought the In named in the inscription was one of the nurses of Tuthmosis IV. H. W. Helch and Elizabeth Thomas, however, identified In as Sitre, who also bore the name In and was one of the nurses of Hatshepsut.
    Three years after Carter's discovery, Edward Ayrton entered KV 60 and removed the mummy in the coffin for shipment to Cairo, but conducted no further work in the tomb. Since neither Carter or Ayrton had drawn maps indicating the exact location of the tomb, the whereabouts of KV 60 and its remaining occupant became forgotten.
    On June 27'th, 1989, Egyptologist Donald P. Ryan rediscovered the lost KV 60 after a search that only lasted 20-30 minutes. After systematically clearing the pit in which a steep flight of steps led downward into the tomb, Ryan finally entered KV 60 on July 4'th. The tomb had been thoroughly pillaged in antiquity. Ryan and E. A. O. inspector Mohamed el Bialy had to step cautiously over wooden coffin fragments, mummy wrappings, and pieces of broken pottery which were scattered about the entrance corridor. They reached the undecorated burial chamber (a room measuring approximately 5.5 by 6.5 meters and 2.0 meters in height) and saw the mummy of the unknown woman left by Carter and Ayrton in the middle of the floor. (See color photo of mummy in situ on Donald P. Ryan's website.)
    The mummy was that of an obese older woman approximately 1.55 meters tall. Egyptologist/coroner Mark Papworth, who examined the body, found the teeth to be well worn and noted that the embalming wound was located in the pelvic floor rather than in the side, this unusual position probably being necessitated by the woman's corpulence (cf. the mummy of 21'st Dynasty High Priest Masaharta.) Ryan described the mummy as being mostly unwrapped and excellently preserved. He noted that some strands of reddish-blonde hair lay on the floor beneath the mummy's head. Whether the color of the hair was natural or the result of reactions with the embalming materials is currently unknown to me. Ryan described the mummy's head as bald. It is possible that the hair fell out post mortem, perhaps as the result of the bandages being roughly removed by thieves. The hair could also conceivably be the remains of a wig worn by the woman in life or later placed on her head by the embalmers.
    Although no inscriptions were found which could help identify the woman, her burial in the Valley of the Kings attests to the high social position she once held. She was found with the remains of what had once been an expensive, high-status burial. Ryan discovered a fragment of a coffin face-piece in a niche in the entry corridor which was disfigured by adze-marks, indicating that it had once been covered with thick gold foil that had been greedily hacked off by thieves. In the burial chamber, across from the entrance, lay a pile of the mummified food offerings associated with wealthy burials. Most significantly, the mummy's arms are positioned in a "royal pose" similar to that found on the mummy of Queen Tiye from KV 35: the left arm is crossed over the chest with the left hand clenched, thumb extended, fingernails painted red and outlined in black; the right arm is extended along the right side of the body with the hand unclenched and the fingers extended.
    Confidently dated to the 18'th Dynasty, found in the Valley of the Kings with the remnants of an expensive burial, and accompanied by the mummy of Hatshepsut's nurse Sitre, the KV 60 mummy with its regally positioned arms has caused researchers to wonder if it could be the mummy of Hatshepsut herself, cached in KV 60 after necropolis officials discovered that her original tomb, near-by KV 20, had been disturbed by thieves. Ryan noted that the reverse side of the fragmentary coffin face-piece found in the wall niche has a notch at the chin which could have been used to hold a false beard. He makes the highly relevant observation that only one18'th Dynasty female, sufficiently important to merit a burial in the Royal Valley, wore a false beard: the female king, Hatshepsut-Maatkare.
    A definite answer to questions concerning the identity of the KV 60 mummy could be obtained via DNA testing. A mummified organ was found in a box inscribed for Hatshepsut in the DB 320 cache. Samples from this could be compared with DNA from the KV 60 mummy. A match would conclusively prove that Ryan had discovered the famous 18'th Dynasty female Pharaoh. (Source Bibliography: ASAE 4 [1903], 176f.; DEM, 67; DRN, 139, 157, 201, 244-245; Donald Ryan in KMT [1:1], 34-39, 58-59, 63; RNT, 137.)

Other Burial Data:
Original Burial: Unknown. (KV 20?)

Photo Credit: From Donald P. Ryan's website.

Source Abbreviation Key

In Preparation

Unidentified Son of Ramesses II ? (c. 1279-1212 B.C.)
19'th Dynasty
Provenance: KV 5
Discovery Date:
Current Location:

Details: (Source Bibliography: LT, 280-285, 293; Theban Mapping Project Website, [Chamber 02].)

Other Burial Data:
Original Burial: KV 5.

Photo Credit: Theban Mapping Project website. (This photo links directly to the T.M.P. main page.)

Source Abbreviation Key

In Preparation

KV 34 Intrusive Remains (c. )
Late Period/Early Ptolemaic Period?
Provenance: KV34
Discovery Date: February 12'th,1898, by Victor Loret
Current Location: Cairo Museum CG 61100/CG 61099

Details: (Source Bibliography: .)

Other Burial Data:
Original Burial: Originally buried intrusively in KV 34.

Photo Credit: Photo Credit: RM RM (Cairo, 1912,) pl. XCVI. For high resolution image of these remains, see the University of Chicago's Electronic Open Stacks copy of Smith's The Royal Mummies (Cairo, 1912) Call #: DT57.C2 vol59. plate XCVI.

Source Abbreviation Key