Royal Cache

Theban tomb TT320
Burial site of Royal cache
Location	Deir el-Bahari, Theban Necropolis
Discovered	1881 (Officially)
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Tomb DB320 (now usually referred to as TT320) is located next to Deir el-Bahri, in the Theban Necropolis, opposite modern Luxor, and was found to contain an extraordinary cache of mummified remains and funeral equipment of more than 50 kings, queens, royals and various nobility.

Usage of tomb

The tomb is thought to have initially been the last resting place of High Priest of Amun Pinedjem II, his wife Nesikhons and other close family members. Pinudjem II died around 969 BC in a time of decline of the Egyptian kingdom. In this time the mummies from former dynasties were vulnerable to grave robbery and were moved here to protect the remains of these royal personages.

The list of mummies in the tomb is as follows;

Dynasty	Name	Title	Comments
17th	Tetisheri (?)	Great Royal Wife
17th	Seqenenre Tao	Pharaoh
17th	Ahmose-Inhapi	Queen
17th	Ahmose-Henutemipet	Princess
17th	Ahmose-Henuttamehu	Great Royal Wife
17th	Ahmose-Meritamon	Great Royal Wife
17th	Ahmose-Sipair	Prince
17th	Ahmose-Sitkamose	Great Royal Wife
18th	Ahmose I	Pharaoh
18th	Ahmose-Nefertari	Great Royal Wife
18th	Rai	Royal nurse	Nurse of Ahmose-Nefertari
18th	Siamun	Prince
18th	Ahmose-Sitamun	Princess
18th	Amenhotep I	Pharaoh
18th	Thutmose I	Pharaoh
18th	Baket (?)	Princess	possibly Baketamun (?)
18th	Thutmose II	Pharaoh
18th	Iset	Great Royal Wife	Wife of Thutmose II, mother of Thutmose III
18th	Thutmose III	Pharaoh
18th	Unknown man C		Possibly Senenmut
19th	Ramesses I	Pharaoh
19th	Seti I	Pharaoh
19th	Ramesses II	Pharaoh
20th	Ramesses III	Pharaoh
20th	Ramesses IX	Pharaoh
21st	Nodjmet	Queen	Wife of Herihor
21st	Pinedjem I	High Priest of Amun
21st	Duathathor-Henuttawy	Wife of Pinedjem I
21st	Maatkare	God's Wife of Amun	Daughter of Pinedjem I
21st	Masaharta	High Priest of Amun	Son of Pinedjem I
21st	Tayuheret	Singer of Amun	Possible wife of Masaharta
21st	Pinedjem II	High Priest of Amun
21st	Isetemkheb D	Chief of the Harem of Amun-Re	Wife of Pinedjem II
21st	Neskhons	First Chantress of Amun; King's Son of Kush	Wife of Pinedjem II
21st	Djedptahiufankh	Fourth Prophet of Amun
21st	Nesitanebetashru		Wife of Djedptahiufankh
?	Unknown man E		has been studied by Bob Brier, who thinks the mummy in question, might be Pentawer, one of the progeny of Ramses III
?	8 other unidentified mummies; funerary remains of Hatshepsut

Other mummies possibly buried in the tomb:

• Ahhotep I
• Merymose
• Nebseni, father of Tentamun, possible wife of Ramesses XI
• Paheripedjet
• Pediamun
• Seniu
• Siese
• Sutymose
• Wepmose
• Wepwawet-mose

Discovery and clearance

TT320 Cache Tomb Shaft

Initially the discovery of the tomb was concealed and a local family, the Abd el-Rasuls, used the mummies as a store of precious articles that were then sold on the antiquities market. This caused the local authorities to investigate and locate the source of these items.

It was cleared in a hurry (within 48 hours of its official discovery in 1881) by Émile Brugsch, in order to ensure no more antiquities were sold.

The chamber is reached by a nearly vertical chimney, which was left open in 1881, and has since filled with rocks and other debris (in fact every object that was left in the tomb has now been damaged in some way). It was reinvestigated in 1938. Since 1998 a Russian-German team led by Erhart Graefe has been working on reinvestigating and preserving the tomb.

See also

• KV35 – Mummy cache in tomb of Amenhotep II
• The Night of Counting the Years – A 1969 Egyptian film based on the story of the Abd el-Rasuls

External links

• CACHETTE of the Royal Mummies – TT320
• Plan of the tomb from recent re-exploration
• William Max Miller's Theban Royal Mummy Project

Bibliography

• Dylan Bickerstaffe, The Royal Cache Revisited, JACF 10 (2006), 9–25 [1]