KV8

KV8
Burial site of Merenptah
Lid of Merenptah's stone sarcophagus in KV8
KV8
Coordinates	25°44′26″N 32°36′3″E
Location	East Valley of the Kings
Discovered	Open in antiquity
Excavated by	Howard Carter
Layout	Straight axis
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Tomb KV8, located in the Valley of the Kings, was used for the burial of Pharaoh Merenptah of Ancient Egypt's Nineteenth Dynasty.

KV8 schematic

The burial chamber, located at the end of 160 metres of corridor, originally held a set of four nested sarcophagi. The outer one of these was so voluminous that parts of the corridor had to have their doorjambs demolished and rebuilt to allow it to be brought in. These jambs were then rebuilt with the help of inscribed sandstone blocks which were then fixed into place with dovetail cramps.

Merenptah's reconstructed stone sarcophagus in 2023

The pillars in Chamber F were removed to allow passage of the sarcophagus, only two were replaced. The other two pillars may have been stolen by Paneb, a worker in the craftsman's village (Deir el-Medina), for use in his own tomb.

During the Third Intermediate Period, Merenptah's mummy was relocated to the mummy cache in DB320. His outer sarcophagus was smashed to retrieve the middle sarcophagus for reuse by Psusennes I in his own tomb in Tanis. The inner sarcophagus was left intact.

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: KV8: Includes description, images and plans of the tomb.
• KV8 (Tomb of Merenptah) – Tomb Plan, tomb photographs with detailed descriptions and elements that can be inspected. Web Archive Saved on 10 September 2020

Gallery

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  KV8 Tomb corridor
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  Egyptian Divinities in tomb KV8
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  Delicate Bas-hieroglyph reliefs in a long tomb corridor of KV8
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  Copy of the Amduat on the walls of the tomb
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  Merneptah greets the god Ra in tomb KV8
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  Another view of the reconstructed sarcophagus