Tomb KV18, 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 ...

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 ...

, was intended for the burial of

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

Ramesses X Khepermaatre Ramesses X (also written Ramses and Rameses) (ruled c. 1111 BC – 1107 BC) was the ninth pharaoh of the 20th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. His birth name was Amonhirkhepeshef. His prenomen or throne name, Khepermaatre, means "The Ju ...

of the

Twentieth Dynasty The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore togeth ...

; however, because it was apparently abandoned while still incomplete and since no funerary equipment was ever found there, it is uncertain whether it was actually used for his burial. The tomb consists of an entryway and two sections of corridor separated by gates. The entryway was used by

Howard Carter Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the K ...

in the early 20th century as the site of the Valley's first electricity generator; he also had some of the corridor walls whitewashed. After penetrating the hillside for a distance of some 43 metres, it ends at the rock face into which a series of rough steps have been carved. Very little is known about this tomb, and the final section of corridor was properly cleared of the voluminous flood débris filling it only recently.

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: KV18
- Includes description, images, and plans of the tomb. Buildings and structures completed in the 12th century BC Valley of the Kings Ramesses X {{AncientEgypt-stub