Valley of the Kings - KV5
tomb sons of Ramesses II - XIXth Dynasty

Entrance and the first few chambers were visited by James Burton in 1822, but the tomb was later buried by flood debris and backdirt from excavations nearby. It was not until 1995, when Theban Mapping Project (by Kent Weeks) relocated the tomb's entrance and explored its interior, that the tomb was found to be the largest ever found in the valley. So far, 150 chambers have been located, but the symmetrical plan of the tomb and the likelihood of more doorways if many walls mean that it is likely to contain at least 200 chambers.
 

A - entrance
B, C - 1st and 2nd chambers
(scenes of Ramesses II presenting his sons to deites)
D, E - corridors descending towards tomb of Ramesses II
F - sixteen pillared hall
G, H, I - presently known lower-level rooms

J - northern side hall
K - southern side hall
L - side room
(decorated with figure of Anubis)
M - descending stairway
N - offering chapels
O - rock-cut image of Osiris
 

Corridor (D) extends downward beneath the roadway, away from the entrance to KV5 into a still-undug complex containing at least two dozen more corridors and chambers.   The skeleton of an adult male mummy found in a pit in the floor of chamber (C) and possibly the remains of one of the sons of Ramesses II.
 

   

 

Copyright © 2000-2013 Dariusz Sitek, Czestochowa - Chicago - Ann Arbor