Tomb KV52 is located in the

Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...

, in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. It was discovered in 1906 by

Edward R. Ayrton Edward Russell Ayrton (17 December 1882 – 18 May 1914) was an English Egyptologist and archaeologist. Early life Ayrton was the son of William Scrope Ayrton (1849-1904), a British consular official in China, and his wife Ellen Louisa McClat ...

excavating on behalf of Theodore M. Davis. Together with

KV50 Tomb KV50 is located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. It was discovered in 1906 by Edward R. Ayrton excavating on behalf of Theodore M. Davis. Together with KV51 and KV52, it forms a group known as the "Animal Tombs". It contained the burial ...

and

KV51 Tomb KV51 is located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. It was discovered in 1906 by Edward R. Ayrton excavating on behalf of Theodore M. Davis. The tomb, together with KV50 and KV52 forms a group of three known as the "Animal Tombs". It cont ...

it forms a group known as the "Animal Tombs", it contained a mummified monkey, and is probably associated with the nearby tomb of

Amenhotep II Amenhotep II (sometimes called ''Amenophis II'' and meaning ''Amun is Satisfied'') was the seventh pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Amenhotep inherited a vast kingdom from his father Thutmose III, and held it by means of a few militar ...

(

KV35 Tomb KV35 is the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep II located in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. Later, it was used as a cache for other royal mummies. It was discovered by Victor Loret in March 1898. Layout and history It has a dog's leg shape, ...

Location, discovery, and contents

The tomb is located on the same rocky promontory as

KV49 Tomb KV49, located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt is a typical Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty corridor tomb. It was the first of a series of tombs discovered in 1906 by Edward R. Ayrton in the course of his excavations on b ...

, on the south side of the valley that leads towards KV35; it is cut at a slightly higher level than KV49 and is located near to KV50 and KV51. KV52 was the third in this cluster of three tombs discovered by Edward R. Ayrton in his methodical clearance of this part of the valley on behalf of Theodore Davis. He found the entrance to be buried under of debris. The tomb consists of a shaft deep that opens onto a single chamber measuring . Ayrton found the tomb to be "absolutely empty except for two boxes, one of which was almost double the size of the other." Both were black and entirely undecorated. The larger box contained the mummy of a monkey, lying unwrapped amongst its wrappings. The smaller box was a canopic chest, as it was divided internally into four compartments.

Recent excavations

In the winter of 2009–2010, a team led by

Zahi Hawass Zahi Abass Hawass ( ar, زاهي حواس; born May 28, 1947) is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, serving twice. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Wes ...

and Ahmed el-Leithy attempted to relocate tombs KV50, KV51, KV52 and KV53. The excavations uncovered Eighteenth Dynasty blue painted pottery, tools and

hieratic Hieratic (; grc, ἱερατικά, hieratiká, priestly) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BC until the ris ...

and figured

ostraca An ostracon (Greek language, Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeology, archaeological or epigraphy, epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer ...

which included a sketch of a seated queen presenting an offering, depictions of sexual scenes with women and animals, as well as cartouches of

Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, wikt:rꜥ-ms-sw, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is oft ...

References

External links

Theban Mapping Project: KV52
– Includes detailed maps of most of the tombs. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kv52 1906 archaeological discoveries Valley of the Kings