WV22

WV22
Burial site of Amenhotep III
WV22
Coordinates	25°44′35.5″N 32°35′50″E
Location	West Valley of the Kings
Discovered	before 1799
Excavated by	Howard Carter Sakuji Yoshimura Jiro Kondo
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Tomb WV22, in the Western arm of the Valley of the Kings, was used as the resting place of one of the rulers of Egypt's New Kingdom, Amenhotep III. The tomb is unique in that it has two subsidiary burial chambers for the pharaoh's wives Tiye and Sitamen (who was also his daughter).

The tombs layout and decoration follow the tombs of the kings predecessors Amenhotep II and Thutmoses IV however the decoration is much finer in quality.

It was officially discovered by Prosper Jollois and Édouard de Villiers du Terrage, engineers with Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in August 1799, but had probably been open for some time before that. Subsequently someone removed images of the pharaoh's head in several places, which can be seen today in the Louvre.

The tomb was officially cleared by Howard Carter in the early twentieth century. Since 1989, a Japanese team from Waseda University led by Sakuji Yoshimura and Jiro Kondo has been working for excavation as well as conservation. The sarcophagus is missing from the tomb.

Isometric, plan and elevation images of WV22 taken from a 3d model

References

• Reeves, N & Wilkinson, R.H. The Complete Valley of the Kings, 1996, Thames and Hudson, London
• Siliotti, A. Guide to the Valley of the Kings and to the Theban Necropolises and Temples, 1996, A.A. Gaddis, Cairo

External links

• Theban Mapping Project: WV22 - Includes detailed maps of most of the tombs.
• Sleuthing in Royal Tomb