The tomb of Tutankhamun, a pharaoh who ruled ancient Egypt around 1332–1323 BC, is located in the Valley of the Kings. This tomb, known as KV62, has four rooms and a staircase and hallway leading to it. It is smaller and has fewer decorations compared to other royal tombs from that time. It likely began as a tomb for someone who was not a king and was later used for Tutankhamun after his early death. Like other pharaohs, Tutankhamun was buried with many items, such as coffins, furniture, clothing, and jewelry. These items had to be tightly packed due to the limited space. Thieves entered the tomb twice shortly after it was sealed, but Tutankhamun’s body and most of the items remained undisturbed. The tomb’s position, dug low into the valley floor, helped hide its entrance under debris from floods and construction. This made it less likely to be robbed during the Third Intermediate Period (around 1070–664 BC).
Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter and his patron, George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon. The large number and impressive appearance of the items found inside caused widespread media attention and made it one of the most famous discoveries in Egyptology. While the tomb provided limited information about Tutankhamun’s reign or the Amarna Period before it, it offered insights into the daily lives of wealthy ancient Egyptians and patterns of tomb robbery. Tutankhamun became one of the most well-known pharaohs, and some items from his tomb, like his golden funerary mask, are among the most famous ancient Egyptian artworks.
Most of the tomb’s items were sent to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and are now displayed in the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza. However, Tutankhamun’s mummy and sarcophagus remain in the original tomb. Over time, flooding and heavy tourist visits have damaged the tomb. To protect it, a replica of the burial chamber was built nearby to reduce pressure on the original site.
History
Tutankhamun was a pharaoh who ruled Egypt from about 1334 to 1325 BC, near the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty during the New Kingdom. He became king as a child after Akhenaten (likely his father) died, followed by the short reigns of Neferneferuaten and Smenkhkare. Akhenaten changed Egypt’s religion by focusing on one god, Aten, and ignoring other gods, starting the Amarna Period. One of Tutankhamun’s key actions was restoring traditional religious practices. His name was changed from Tutankhaten (honoring Aten) to Tutankhamun (honoring Amun, a major traditional god). His queen’s name also changed from Ankhesenpaaten to Ankhesenamun.
Soon after becoming king, Tutankhamun ordered the construction of a large royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings, possibly one of two tombs from that time, WV23 or KV57. KV62 was likely a non-royal tomb, possibly meant for Ay, Tutankhamun’s advisor. After Tutankhamun died young, KV62 was expanded to hold his burial. Ay became pharaoh after Tutankhamun’s death and was buried in WV23. Ay was old when he took the throne, and it is possible he moved Tutankhamun’s body to KV62 to take WV23 for himself, ensuring a royal tomb for his own burial. Pharaohs of Tutankhamun’s time also built mortuary temples to receive offerings for the afterlife. The Temple of Ay and Horemheb at Medinet Habu contained statues originally made for Tutankhamun, suggesting either that Tutankhamun’s temple was nearby or that Ay took it for himself.
Ay was succeeded by Horemheb, Tutankhamun’s general, though the transfer of power may have caused some political instability. Horemheb tried to erase Akhenaten and his successors from history by destroying their monuments and taking those built by Tutankhamun. Later king-lists skipped directly from Amenhotep III (Akhenaten’s father) to Horemheb.
Within a few years of Tutankhamun’s burial, his tomb was robbed twice. After the first robbery, officials fixed some damaged items and filled the outer corridor with limestone chips. A second group of robbers dug through the corridor, but the theft was discovered, and the tomb was sealed again.
The Valley of the Kings is sometimes flooded, leaving layers of silt. Much of the valley, including Tutankhamun’s tomb entrance, was covered by silt, over which workers built huts for those digging KV57 (Horemheb’s tomb). Geologist Stephen Cross argued that a major flood added this silt after KV62 was sealed and before the huts were built, making Tutankhamun’s tomb inaccessible by the end of Ay’s reign. Egyptologist Andreas Dorn suggested the silt existed during Tutankhamun’s time, and workers dug through it to build his tomb.
More than 150 years after Tutankhamun’s burial, KV9 (the tombs of Ramesses V and Ramesses VI) was carved west of his tomb. Debris from KV9’s excavation and workers’ huts buried Tutankhamun’s tomb entrance. Later, tombs in the valley were robbed: first by thieves in the late Twentieth Dynasty, then by officials working for the High Priests of Amun in the Twenty-first Dynasty, who took valuables and royal mummies. Tutankhamun’s tomb remained undisturbed.
Many tombs in the Valley of the Kings were open since ancient times, but others remained hidden until Egyptology emerged in the early 1800s. Most were found by excavators working for Theodore M. Davis from 1902 to 1914. Davis explored much of the valley but did not find Tutankhamun’s tomb, believing no tomb would be carved into the valley floor. He discovered KV54, a pit with items bearing Tutankhamun’s name, which may have been burial goods from Tutankhamun’s tomb or related to his funeral. Davis also found KV58, a small tomb with parts of a chariot harness bearing Tutankhamun’s and Ay’s names. Davis believed KV58 was Tutankhamun’s tomb.
After Davis stopped work, archaeologist Howard Carter and his patron, George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, cleared the valley of debris, hoping to find Tutankhamun’s tomb. Davis’s discoveries gave them hope. The tomb was found on November 4, 1922, with the first step at the entrance staircase. By November 26, the antechamber revealed remarkable insights into a New Kingdom royal burial.
The condition of the burial goods varied greatly; many were damaged by moisture from the tomb’s sealed plaster and water over time. Recording and preserving the items for transport to Cairo took ten digging seasons. Carter, chemist Alfred Lucas, photographer Harry Burton, and four foremen worked throughout the process.
The tomb’s treasures caused a media frenzy called “Tutmania,” making Tutankhamun famous as “King Tut.” In the West, ancient Egyptian designs became popular. In Egypt, it reinforced the idea of pharaonism, linking modern Egypt to its ancient past during its independence from Britain. Rumors of a curse followed after Carnarvon died in April 1923.
After Carnarvon’s death, Carter continued clearing the tomb. In late 1923 and early 1924, the antechamber was emptied, and work began on the burial chamber. The Egyptian government, now partially independent, argued over access to the tomb, leading to a legal dispute with Carter. A resolution agreed that the tomb’s artifacts would not be divided between the government
Architecture
Tutankhamun’s tomb is located in the eastern part of the Valley of the Kings, where many other tombs are found. It is carved into the limestone rock on the valley floor, on the west side of the main path, and runs under a low hill. Its design is similar to tombs of non-royal people from the same time, but it is more detailed to match the usual design of royal tombs. The tomb includes a stairway that slopes downward (labeled A), a corridor that runs east to west (B), an antechamber at the western end of the passage (I), an annex connected to the southwest corner of the antechamber (Ia), a burial chamber to the north of the antechamber (J), and a room to the east of the burial chamber (Ja), called the treasury. The burial chamber and treasury may have been added later when the tomb was changed for Tutankhamun’s use. Most royal tombs from the Eighteenth Dynasty had a layout with a bent axis, meaning a person entering the tomb would turn sharply to the left. However, Tutankhamun’s tomb has an axis that bends to the right instead.
The entrance stair slopes steeply under an overhang. It originally had sixteen steps. The lowest six steps were removed during the burial to allow large funerary items to be moved through the doorway. These steps were later rebuilt and then removed again 3,400 years later when the items were taken out. The corridor is 8 meters (26 feet) long and 1.7 meters (5 feet 7 inches) wide. The antechamber is 7.9 meters (26 feet) north to south by 3.6 meters (12 feet) east to west. The annex is 4.4 meters (14 feet) north to south by 2.6 meters (8 feet 6 inches) east to west. The burial chamber is 4 meters (13 feet) north to south by 6.4 meters (21 feet) east to west. The treasury is 4.8 meters (16 feet) north to south by 3.8 meters (12 feet) east to west. The chambers range in height from 2.3 meters (7 feet 7 inches) to 3.6 meters (12 feet). The floors of the annex, burial chamber, and treasury are about 0.9 meters (2 feet 11 inches) lower than the floor of the antechamber. A small niche in the west wall of the antechamber held a beam used to move the sarcophagus through the room. The burial chamber has four niches, one in each wall, where "magic bricks" with protective spells were placed.
Partitions made of limestone and plaster originally sealed the doorways between the stairway and corridor, between the corridor and antechamber, between the antechamber and annex, and between the antechamber and burial chamber. These were broken by robbers. Most were resealed by restorers, but the hole in the annex doorway was left open.
There are several cracks in the rock where the tomb is carved, including a large one that crosses the antechamber and burial chamber from south-southeast to north-northwest. Workers who built the tomb covered the crack in the burial chamber with plaster, but these cracks cause water to seep into the tomb.
Decoration
The plaster walls in the tomb had marks left by seals used by officials who managed Tutankhamun's burial and the work to restore the tomb. These seals have hieroglyphic symbols that praise Tutankhamun's actions to honor the gods during his time as king.
Besides these seal marks, the only decoration in the tomb is found in the burial chamber. This small amount of decoration is different from other royal tombs from the late Eighteenth Dynasty, where two other rooms besides the burial chamber were often decorated. It also differs from tombs in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, where all areas of the tomb were decorated. None of the decoration uses relief, a method not used in the Valley of the Kings until the time of Horemheb.
The burial chamber in KV62 has paintings of figures on a yellow background. The north wall shows Ay performing the Opening of the Mouth ritual on Tutankhamun's mummy, which shows Ay was the rightful heir to the throne. It also shows Tutankhamun greeting the goddess Nut and the god Osiris in the afterlife. The east wall shows Tutankhamun's funeral procession, a scene common in private tombs from the New Kingdom but not found in other royal tombs. The south wall shows the king with the gods Hathor, Anubis, and Isis. Part of this wall's decoration was painted on the wall that separated the burial chamber from the antechamber. This section was destroyed by Carter when the wall was removed during the tomb's discovery. The west wall has an image of twelve baboons, which is part of the first section of the Amduat, a text describing the journey of the sun god Ra through the afterlife. On three walls, the figures have unusual sizes typical of the Amarna Period's art style, but the south wall returns to the more common proportions used in art before and after the Amarna Period.
Burial goods
The tomb contains the most complete set of royal burial goods found in the Valley of the Kings, with 5,398 objects. Some types of items are numbered in the hundreds, such as 413 shabtis (small figurines meant to perform tasks for the king in the afterlife) and over 200 pieces of jewelry. Objects were found in all four chambers of the tomb and in the corridor.
Robbers damaged the tomb, and later repair work left it in poor condition when it was sealed again. Over time, changes in humidity and dryness harmed many items. Most leather turned into a sticky, black substance. Textiles were in very different states of preservation, with some turning into black powder. Wooden items became warped, and their glue melted, making them fragile. A pink film covered every exposed surface. Lucas suggested this film might be a type of dissolved iron compound from the rock or plaster. During cleaning and restoration, each object or group was labeled with a number from 1 to 620, with letters added to identify individual items.
The corridor may have held items like bags of natron, jars, and flower garlands. These were moved to KV54 after the corridor was filled with limestone chips following the first robbery. Other objects, including those dropped by robbers or brought in with the stone chips, were mixed into the fill. A famous artifact, a wooden bust of Tutankhamun, was found in the corridor but was not noted in Carter’s initial records.
The antechamber held 600 to 700 objects. Its west wall had a pile of furniture with small items like fruit baskets and meat boxes. Dismantled chariots were in the southeast corner, while funerary bouquets were in the northeast. Two life-size statues of Tutankhamun stood near the entrance to the burial chamber. These statues may have protected the burial chamber or represented the king’s ka, a part of his soul. Important items included funerary beds with animal heads, an alabaster lotus chalice, and a painted box showing Tutankhamun in battle. Carter called a gilded throne with Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun “the most beautiful thing found in Egypt.” Clothing, cosmetics, and pieces of a corselet (ceremonial armor) were also in the antechamber. Rebuilding the corselet was a difficult task. A wooden dummy of Tutankhamun’s head and torso was also found, though its purpose is unclear.
The annexe held over 2,000 items. Its contents were mixed with objects added during restoration, such as beds, stools, and vessels with wine and oils. Most of the tomb’s food, many shabtis, and wooden models like boats were here. Weapons like bows, throwing sticks, and khopesh-swords, along with ceremonial shields, were also found. Personal items from Tutankhamun’s childhood, such as toys and a paint box, were present.
The burial chamber was mostly filled by a gilded wooden shrine. This shrine enclosed a blue linen cloth with bronze rosettes, followed by three inner shrines and a stone sarcophagus with three coffins. Items like lamps, jars, and religious objects were placed between the shrines and the chamber walls. Each wall had a niche with a “magic brick,” a type of brick inscribed with spells from the Book of the Dead to protect the dead.
The shrines had reliefs with parts of funerary texts. All four shrines include excerpts from the Book of the Dead, and the third shrine has parts of the Amduat. The outermost shrine has the earliest known copy of the Book of the Heavenly Cow, which describes how Ra created the world. The second shrine has a unique text similar to those in the tombs of Ramesses VI and IX. These texts use unusual hieroglyphs and are sometimes called “enigmatic books.”
The sarcophagus is made of quartzite with a red granite lid painted yellow. It has images of four protective goddesses and holds a golden lion-headed bier with three coffins. The outer two coffins are gilded wood with inlaid stones, while the innermost is solid gold, weighing 243 pounds. Tutankhamun’s mummified body was inside, with 143 items, including clothing, amulets, and two daggers. His head had a beaded skullcap and a gold diadem, both covered by the famous golden mask.
In the treasury, a shrine with a statue of Anubis stood near a fifth magic brick. A tall gilded shrine held the canopic chest, where Tutankhamun’s organs were stored. Unlike most canopic chests, this one is a single block of alabaster with four compartments, each holding an organ in a gold coffin. A wooden cow sculpture representing Hathor stood between the shrines. The treasury also held wooden models, shabtis, and jewelry. Small coffins in the treasury contained a lock of hair from Tiye, the wife of Amenhotep III and mother of Akhenaten.
Mummies
In November 1925, Tutankhamun's mummy was found in poor condition. The unguents, or special oils, used to wrap the body before burial had reacted chemically, a process Lucas described as "some kind of slow spontaneous combustion," possibly caused by fungi in the tomb. This reaction turned much of the wrapping material and even parts of the mummy’s body into charcoal. Unlike other New Kingdom rulers’ mummies, which were better preserved, Tutankhamun’s mummy had not been moved from its original tomb. These other mummies had been removed from their tombs, placed in simpler coffins, and buried in two hidden caches during the Twenty-first Dynasty, centuries after their original burial. It is unclear whether their better preservation was due to less use of unguents or because moving them prevented the oils from soaking into the wrappings.
The hardened oils had glued Tutankhamun’s remains, wrappings, and objects on his body together, forming a single mass stuck to the bottom of the inner coffin. The excavators decided that to remove the mummy and take out the burial items, they would need to cut the mass into sections and chisel each piece out. Two anatomists, Douglas Derry and Saleh Bey Hamdi, examined the pieces as they were removed and then coated the fragile body with paraffin wax to stop further damage. They determined Tutankhamun was nearly 18 years old when he died. His skull shape, similar to an unidentified royal mummy from KV55, showed he was of royal blood, not a royal by marriage, as previously believed. After the examination, Carter placed the dismembered mummy on a sand tray, returning it to the sarcophagus in the burial chamber the next year.
In the treasury, two mummified foetuses were found at different stages of development: one at five months and the other at seven to nine months. Their coffins did not include names, so they were labeled based on the box number that held them (317). The smaller foetus is called 317a(2), and the larger is called 317b(2). Derry examined them in 1932, and they were later stored at the medical school where he worked, now part of Cairo University.
Tutankhamun’s mummy has been studied many times to learn about his health and the cause of his death. These studies are often debated because it is hard to tell if damage to the body happened recently or long ago. For example, in 1996, Egyptologist Bob Brier suggested that bone fragments in the skull cavity, seen in X-rays taken by Harrison in 1968, showed Tutankhamun died from a head injury and may have been murdered. Later, it was discovered that the bone fragments were actually pieces of vertebrae that had been pushed into the skull during Derry’s examination. Similar issues arose with the foetuses: Harrison claimed in 1977 that 317b(2) had Sprengel’s deformity, but a 2011 study by radiologist Sahar Saleem argued the signs were likely damage that occurred after death.
Both Tutankhamun’s mummy and the foetuses have been tested for DNA. A 2010 study of DNA from mummies in the Valley of the Kings found the foetuses were Tutankhamun’s children, born to a woman whose mummy was found in KV21, believed to be Ankhesenamun. However, some geneticists, like Svante Pääbo, have questioned these results, arguing that DNA breaks down quickly in Egypt’s hot climate, making it unlikely to analyze DNA from remains older than a few centuries.
Replica
The replica of the burial chamber includes copies of the wall decorations and the sarcophagus. These copies were made using detailed scans. In 2012, the replica was given to the Egyptian government. It was placed next to Carter House, near the entrance to the Valley of the Kings, where Carter lived while working on the tomb.