A ROOM WITH A VIEW PT I.
Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 8:49 pm
Picture this,............
It's mid January 1907, at an approximate 30 feet from the entrance of the tomb of Ramesses IX to the northeast, (therefore just before the present day rest house.) stands a young man, smartly dressed collar and tie and a bouter hat, the type worn at a regatta. He has just made one of the most remarkable discoveries in the Valley of the Kings, his name is Edward Ayrton, a fully qualified archaeologist, who's patron is an American millionaire, called Theodore Davis.
A message has been sent to Davis to inform him of 'his' remarkable discovery, and was now marching up along the valley floor, aged approx 60, 5 foot 8 ins high, wearing breachers, knee high ridding boots. The person had no real ground knowledge of archaeology or antiquities, though he did have an awful lot of money.
Ayrton lost no time in showing his patron the first few steps, that would eventually lead to a door deep underground. I think most would agree, this sounds similar to a find by Howard Carter years later. This place would soon become known as K.V.55. A team of workmen cleared the area until the full staircase revealed. At this point, the chief inspector of antiquities for Upper Egypt was sent for, a certain Mr Arthur Weigall. Now the workmen started to remove the wall, which would give access to a tomb that had not seen light of day for over 3,000 years.
To their amazement there was two separate walls, 'Both blocking walls were taken down and the filling that lay around them. It was clear that the outer wall had been built to re-seal the tomb, after the older inner one had been anciently penetrated'. The passageway was full of debrie. They suddenly came across panels and doors of a shrine made of wood, covered in sheet gold. 'Parts of the wood work were as soft yet as firmly shaped as cigar ash'. Weigall checked for hieroglyphs and found that the shrines had been made for Queen Tiy, wife of Amenhotep III, mother of Akenaten, daughter of Yuya and Tuya.
Further along the tomb they discovered four canonic jars, each of the bases were of very poor quality stone, even so, the cartouches on each had been very carefully removed. However, the four lids, which were ill fitting, were capped with four most exquisite portrait heads, which arguably are the finest examples of Amarna art. Each one about four inches high, with a texture feel similar to human skin.
Weigall further discovered that the ancient workmen had left some of their tools behind, some chisels and a mallet head, perhaps used during the dismantling or for the intended re-erection of the panels of the golden shrines, that would have been placed around the sacophagus.
The inspector general, Gustan Maspero, arrived on the scene urgently from Cairo, fearful that the precious items would be stolen by gangs of villains, ordered the immediate clearance of the tomb, thus all archaeological information was lost. The only photographs and drawings we have today is as a result of two un-sung heroes 1) Mr Lindon-Smith. 2) a certain Mr R Paul, who gave their services free at short notice to Mr Weigall.
What we have learnt since then is that although Davis announced and published to the world that K.V 55 as the Tomb of Queen Tiy in 1910, and believed this to his dying day back in the U.S., the truth was very different. Weigall had the bone of 'Queen Tiy' sent to Cairo to be examined by an expert,...........
'Are you sure that the bones you sent me, are those which were found in the tomb. Instead of the bones of an old woman, you have sent me those of a young man. Surely there is some mistake'. (Grafton Elliot Smith, letter sent to Arthur Weigall.
The most recent evidence is that the blood group A2-MN is the same as the body in K.V. 62.
A-Four.
The second part of this essay will deal with K.V.23,54,and62., with a conclusion of evidence.
It's mid January 1907, at an approximate 30 feet from the entrance of the tomb of Ramesses IX to the northeast, (therefore just before the present day rest house.) stands a young man, smartly dressed collar and tie and a bouter hat, the type worn at a regatta. He has just made one of the most remarkable discoveries in the Valley of the Kings, his name is Edward Ayrton, a fully qualified archaeologist, who's patron is an American millionaire, called Theodore Davis.
A message has been sent to Davis to inform him of 'his' remarkable discovery, and was now marching up along the valley floor, aged approx 60, 5 foot 8 ins high, wearing breachers, knee high ridding boots. The person had no real ground knowledge of archaeology or antiquities, though he did have an awful lot of money.
Ayrton lost no time in showing his patron the first few steps, that would eventually lead to a door deep underground. I think most would agree, this sounds similar to a find by Howard Carter years later. This place would soon become known as K.V.55. A team of workmen cleared the area until the full staircase revealed. At this point, the chief inspector of antiquities for Upper Egypt was sent for, a certain Mr Arthur Weigall. Now the workmen started to remove the wall, which would give access to a tomb that had not seen light of day for over 3,000 years.
To their amazement there was two separate walls, 'Both blocking walls were taken down and the filling that lay around them. It was clear that the outer wall had been built to re-seal the tomb, after the older inner one had been anciently penetrated'. The passageway was full of debrie. They suddenly came across panels and doors of a shrine made of wood, covered in sheet gold. 'Parts of the wood work were as soft yet as firmly shaped as cigar ash'. Weigall checked for hieroglyphs and found that the shrines had been made for Queen Tiy, wife of Amenhotep III, mother of Akenaten, daughter of Yuya and Tuya.
Further along the tomb they discovered four canonic jars, each of the bases were of very poor quality stone, even so, the cartouches on each had been very carefully removed. However, the four lids, which were ill fitting, were capped with four most exquisite portrait heads, which arguably are the finest examples of Amarna art. Each one about four inches high, with a texture feel similar to human skin.
Weigall further discovered that the ancient workmen had left some of their tools behind, some chisels and a mallet head, perhaps used during the dismantling or for the intended re-erection of the panels of the golden shrines, that would have been placed around the sacophagus.
The inspector general, Gustan Maspero, arrived on the scene urgently from Cairo, fearful that the precious items would be stolen by gangs of villains, ordered the immediate clearance of the tomb, thus all archaeological information was lost. The only photographs and drawings we have today is as a result of two un-sung heroes 1) Mr Lindon-Smith. 2) a certain Mr R Paul, who gave their services free at short notice to Mr Weigall.
What we have learnt since then is that although Davis announced and published to the world that K.V 55 as the Tomb of Queen Tiy in 1910, and believed this to his dying day back in the U.S., the truth was very different. Weigall had the bone of 'Queen Tiy' sent to Cairo to be examined by an expert,...........
'Are you sure that the bones you sent me, are those which were found in the tomb. Instead of the bones of an old woman, you have sent me those of a young man. Surely there is some mistake'. (Grafton Elliot Smith, letter sent to Arthur Weigall.
The most recent evidence is that the blood group A2-MN is the same as the body in K.V. 62.
A-Four.
The second part of this essay will deal with K.V.23,54,and62., with a conclusion of evidence.
