Structure: KV 10
Location: Valley of the Kings, East Valley, Thebes West Bank, Thebes
Owner: Amenmeses
Other designations: 10 [Lepsius], 16 [Hay], G [Burton], IVe Tombeau à l'est [Description], L, plan L [Pococke]
Site type: Tomb
Description: KV 10 is located in the main wadi. The tomb consists of an open entryway (A) followed by three corridors (B, C, D) with a small chamber off the right (west) wall of corridor B (side chamber Ba). No well shaft was cut into the floor of chamber E, and the cutting of side chamber Fa was never finished. Corridor G, following the pillared chamber F, has a vaulted ceiling. The next corridor (H) is unfinished, but would have led to a sarcophagus chamber, if completed. The design of KV 10 from the entrance to pillared chamber F is similar to KV 8, although the corridors have a shallower slope.
The tomb was originally decorated for Amenmeses, with raised relief on the lintel and jambs of gate B and in the entrance of corridor B. The remainder of the texts and figures were in sunk relief, extending as far as pillared chamber F. All of this decoration was subsequently erased and replaced with painted plaster scenes for Takhat and Baketwerel, with traces surviving in chamber E and pillared chamber F. Graffiti are inscribed near the entrance.
Noteworthy features: This tomb is an example of the re-use of a king's tomb for the burial of a queen with consequent extensive alteration of decoration. This tomb is also of interest because of the breakthrough by the cutting of KV 11.
Axis in degrees: 191.04
Axis orientation: South
Latitude: 25.44 N
Longitude: 32.36 E
Elevation: 174.445 msl
North: 99,552.060
East: 94,071.652
JOG map reference: NG 36-10
Modern governorate: Qena (Qina)
Ancient nome: 4th Upper Egypt
Surveyed by TMP: Yes
Maximum height: 3.84 m
Mininum width: 0.98 m
Maximum width: 9.47 m
Total length: 105.34 m
Total area: 350.27 m²
Total volume: 821.23 m³
Entrance location: Base of sloping hill
Owner type: King
Entrance type: Ramp
Interior layout: Corridors and chambers
Axis type: Straight
Grafitti
Painting
Raised relief
Sunk relief
Tomb equipment
Vessels
KV 10 was cut during the reign of Amenmeses, but no evidence survives to indicate that he was interred in the tomb. At some later date, the tomb was usurped by Takhat, who bore the titles of king's daughter and great royal wife, and another queen, Baketwerel. The origins of these two royal women are not certain, but it is now thought that they are related to Rameses IX of Dynasty 20. Early in Dynasty 20, workmen were excavating KV 11 for Setnakht. While digging corrridor D, they accidentally broke through the ceiling of side chamber Fa in KV 10.
KV 10 has been partially open since antiquity, and there are Greek, Arabic, and modern inscriptions on the walls at the entrance to the tomb.
This site was used during the following period(s):
New Kingdom, Dynasty 19, Amenmeses
New Kingdom, Dynasty 20 (tomb re-used for burial of Queen Takhat and Baketwerel)
Graeco-Roman Era
Pococke, Richard (1737-1738): Mapping/planning
Burton, James (1825): Mapping/planning ( to rear of tomb)
Wilkinson, John Gardner (1825-1828): Mapping/planning
Hay, Robert (1825-1835): Mapping/planning
Franco-Tuscan Expedition (1828-1829): Epigraphy
Lepsius, Carl Richard (1844-1845): Epigraphy (copying of scenes in gates B, E and F and dry squeezes of Baketwerel)
Lefébure, Eugène (1883): Epigraphy
Ayrton, Edward Russell (1907): Excavation (most of corridor B for Theodore M. Davis)
Schaden, Otto J. (1992-1999): Excavation (clearance from gate C to end of tomb)
Schaden, Otto James (1997-2000): Conservation
Conservation history: In several places on the walls and ceilings of the corridors and chambers, plaster patches and Avongard crack monitoring strips have been placed to indicate rock movement. To date, except for the badly broken "ceiling" of corridor H, no significant movement has been detected. In 1997, the low wall in front of KV 10 was raised to protect the tomb from floodwaters. Pillar 4 was replaced in 1998 with one built of limestone blocks, while pillar 1 was consolidated with a veneer of limestone slabs. Similar treatment was carried out in 1999 and 2000 on pillars 2 and 3.
Site condition: As a result of flooding at various times over the centuries, since the tomb first was left open, much damage has occurred to the decorated plaster on the walls and ceilings, and even to the stone itself. Most of the painted plaster wall decoration of chamber E and pillared chamber F was destroyed in a flood in 1916 or earlier. Only a few fragments of painted plaster and carved limestone survive in KV 10. Numerous areas of ancient repairs made by the tomb builders to the walls, ceilings and floors are visible, usually mud, plaster and stone chips filling cracks. The four pillars in pillared chamber F are severely damaged: pillar 4 is almost completely missing. Pillars 2 and 3 were detached from the ceiling and were held up only by the debris that surrounded them. Only pillar 1 is still relatively intact, although much of the surface of its lower half has broken away.Corridors G and H exhibit the most extensive damage, including large fissures, surface spalling and, particularly in corridor H, extensive ceiling collapse.
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