The Magic, Mystery and Madness of Tomb 55: Saga of a Botched Excavation–Part II

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Collection of Egyptian Art, design by Anand Balaji; Deriv

The Magic, Mystery and Madness of Tomb 55: Saga of a Botched Excavation–Part II

The entire Amarna epoch and those who strutted upon its stage have always presented a conundrum for Egyptologists. In early 1907, one of the most valuable finds – Tomb 55 – promised to finally lift the veil, however partially, off the many perplexities surrounding the last days of ancient Egypt’s most bizarre period. But, poor documentation and a brand of irreverent archeology scuttled the opportunity to definitively further our knowledge on the subject.

MUDDLED ONE-MAN SHOW 

Around 3,300 years ago, sometime after the reviled Amarna interlude—when the boy-king Nebkheperure Tutankhaten (who by Regnal Year 3 had restored the supremacy of the Amun cult and changed his nomen to Tutankhamun) ascended the throne, abandoned the Sun City and moved the court back to Thebes—the royal dead too were re-interred in the Valley of the Kings. Among the exhumed bodies from Akhetaten would be: Akhenaten, Queen Tiye, Nefertiti, Meritaten, Kiya, Smenkhkare, Neferneferure and Setepenre.

Inlaid ‘Tutankhaten’ cartouche from the right outer arm of the Golden Throne discovered in KV62 by Howard Carter in 1922. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Inlaid ‘Tutankhaten’ cartouche from the right outer arm of the Golden Throne discovered in KV62 by Howard Carter in 1922. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.


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