Select Page

20th Dynasty Tombs

Queen's Valley - The Valleys - The Places

The change of Dynasty again propelled a change in the type of burials which were conducted in the Valley and the Tomb plan. Princes as well as Royal Wives and Daughters were now buried within the Valley. Tombs were altered to now be:-

  • Aligned on a straighter axis
  • With long narrowed corridors which led to the Burial Chambers and Side Chambers
  • They were more a smaller reproduction of the Tombs being carved out in the Valley of the Kings

By the end of the period social discord was occurring throughout Egypt, and within the Valleys, Strikes were happening with a higher regularity. Click here for more information about the First Strike.  Many of the Queen’s Valley Tombs were raided by Looters, many of whom were the Artisans who had assisted with the build of the Tomb originally as their payments for work completed failed to arrive. For more details about this breakdown, click here

Regrettably, only a part of 19th Dynasty’s Queen Nefertari’s Mummy remains in the whole of the Valley. None of the other Pharaonic Mummies have been found in the Valley of the Queens. Hopes among Egyptologists are that they may be have been relocated by Priests and stored in a Queens and Royal Family Mummy Cache as occurred with some Pharaonic Mummies from the Valley of the Kings.

QV42
Prince Prehirwenemef and Queen Minnefer

Prince Prehirwenemef was the son of Pharaoh Ramses III and although Historians cannot confirm it 100%, it is presumed that his mother is buried in the same Tomb, so Queen Minnefer. He died before his father which would have been a large loss as one of the Prince’s Titles was “Eldest King’s Son of his Body”, confirming that he was the eldest living son at the time of his demise. Their joint Tomb is the only one of this Dynasty which has a Pillared Hall in the Valley.

Layout: As stated above the Tomb had a Pillared Hall and a Sunken Niche in the Burial Chamber’s Floor which would have held his Coffin.

An Entrance Ramp leads down a slope into a winged Sun Disk decorated Doorway, on into a Corridor which takes you straight in to the Burial Chamber which has 4 Pillars and three small Chambers for Burials Goods running off it.

Decoration: This was unfinished which may have been due to his early death. Today much of the Reliefs which were once highly painted are now covered in blackened damage from later reuse.

The Tomb’s Decoration is a very nice example of the difference in decoration between Tombs of Princes and Tombs of Great Royal Wives in the Valley of the Queens. For a Prince the iconography is centralised on the Pharaoh or the Prince’s Father, who makes all of the Offerings to the Deities on the Prince’s behalf. The Prince stands beside his father and is depicted with his Horus lock, the Hair Cut or Hair Wig of choice for Royal Princes. A Queen, in her own Tomb, is always shown making her own Offerings to the Deities.

Minnefer, the Queen is shown only once in the Tomb. She makes an offering to God Osiris in the Burial Chamber, where she is flanked on her Crown by the Goddesses Nekhbet and Wadjet. The decoration is of a much lesser quality than that completed for the Prince and is made up of harsher block colours painted directly on to the plastered wall rather than with any carved reliefs.

The Gods depicted are Anubis, Osiris, Herymaat Thoth, Atum and Geb, whilst the Goddesses shown are Meretseger, Hememet, Nephthys, Isis, Neith, Taweret, Nekhbet and Wadjet.

Tomb Map

QV74

Originally the Tomb was excavated from the bedrock for one of the Daughters and Princess of Pharaoh Ramses II, but no one ever occupied the Tomb, and the Cartouches were left unfinished. Egyptologists believe that the reuse of Tomb QV74 may be due to the Artisan Workers striking in Year 2 of Pharaoh Ramses IV’s reign, ensuring the need for a suitable tomb for the Queen to be placed in at a time when construction was at a halt.

Queen Duatentipet, sometimes shortened to Tentopet: Her Titles were “King’s Daughter” she is thought to be the daughter of Pharaoh Ramses III; “Great Royal Wife” of Pharaoh Ramses IV; “Lady of the Two Lands”, and “King’s Mother” to Pharaoh Ramses V.

The Tomb was robbed in antiquity and much of it was damaged.

error

Enjoying this Website? Please spread the word :)

Instagram