Jeffhotep hieroglyphs
"dj.f - h.t.p" = "jeff-hotep": Geoff is Satisfied


KV55 Artifacts in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo
The entrance to KV55, November 2003
The entrance to KV55, photographed in November 2003.  It is situated between the modern VoK Rest House and the entrance to KV6, the  tomb of Ramesses IX.  It lies just a few meters northeast of KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamen.

KV55 is one of the most mysterious tombs ever found in Egypt.  Located in the Valley of the Kings, it was discovered in 1907 by Theodore Davis and his excavation team.  It contained a jumble of material from the Amarna period, including a shrine that was made for Queen Tiye and a beautiful "rishi"-style coffin containing a poorly preserved anonymous mummy.  The coffin's inscriptions were very carefully "edited" to remove the identity of the owner.

The story of the excavation and conservation of the tomb's contents would be a comedy of errors were it not true.  The contents were extremely fragile owing to water that had leaked into the tomb over the millennia, and the treatment of the organic remains was marginal at best.  The large gilded shrine panels essentially disintegrated at the hands of the excavators, as did the coffin trough and the soft tissue of the mummy itself.  The few remains that are on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo are presented here.  A more complete account of the excavation and subsequent clearing of the tomb may be found on the web page of the Theban Royal Mummy Project.
Here are my photos of the KV55 artifacts taken during my visit to Egypt in November, 2003.

KV55 Coffin LidRestored KV55 Coffin Trough
Here are the lid and the restored trough of the KV55 coffin
as they are currently displayed.		The restored coffin trough, with the remaining fragments of
gilding and inlay sealed in plexiglass.

What's left of the faceAll that's left of Queen Tiye's shrine
The remains of the coffin's face, anciently ripped
off to deprive the owner of his identity.		The pathetic remains of the burial shrine of Queen Tiye.

Coffin lid inscriptionCanopic jars from KV55
The coffin lid's inscription, with the owner's
cartouche carefully chiselled out.		Three of the four beautifully sculpted canopic
jars found in the wall niche of KV55.

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