Chapter 24 - The Tomb

Hatshepsut's Tomb

The design of Hatshepsut's tomb in my book was based on KV34, the tomb of Thutmose III. Passages lead down to an antechamber, undecorated, with stairs leading down to a cartouche-shaped burial chamber. KV34 has a well shaft before the antechamber, probably to catch rainwater as well as to stop thieves. I missed this out in my tomb. Generally I imagined that Hatshepsut wanted to complete her tomb as quickly as possible to keep it secret from Thutmose III, so certain things were skipped.

The wall decorations on the slabs in KV20 were stick-figure scenes and hieroglyphs from the Amduat - the Book of that Which is in the Underworld. We see the same thing in KV34, and also in the tomb of Thutmose III's son, Amenhotep II. On this page you can see some images from KV34 to give you an idea what the decorations on the walls of Hatshepsut's tomb would have looked like.

The Treasures

I based my description of Hatshepsut's treasures partly on the objects she had in her palace, but mainly on what was found in Tutankhamun's tomb.

The photos below show what Carter and his colleagues saw when they entered the tomb in 1922. I have also included some pictures of the objects (you can see some more in chapter 22)

An antiques shop...

 for the fabulously rich

 

                           

Statue of Ptah                          Headrest

 

The amazing inlaid back of Tut's throne

 

Alabaster cup in the form of lotus flowers

 

 

 

 

Anubis shrine

 

Guardian statue of Tut

 

Wooden chest inlaid with gold, and with hieroglyphs for

'all life and dominion'

Garland of flowers