Mummification Lecture: Look into their eyes

Look into their eyes – Earl Ertman

I do like Earl’s lectures; he gave one on “Smiting, keeping it in the family” which was thought provoking and well researched, this was the same. BTW I had a chat with members of the KV63 team and they are really enjoying this season. Lots of ‘interesting’ things found in the jars so keep an eye on their website for news. This website has an article from him discussing the same topic http://www.archaeology.org/0803/etc/nefertiti.html

During the lecture he referred to the coffins by their designations A-G (if you look at their website http://www.kv-63.com/ near the bottom of the home page you can a drawing of tomb which identifies the coffins). Photos were credited to Heather Alexander

When KV63 was found that was a lot of speculation about the contents and the date. Various things give us a clue.

The shaft of the tomb had a slight overhang which Otto Schaden believes to be the signature of the craftsman that created the shaft and this is present on tombs KV55 and KV46.

The tomb was found under 19th dynasty huts indicating it was before that time.

There were seals similar to those found at KV62 Tutankhamen and KV54 of the jackal and nine bound prisoners.

This lead to speculation that the tomb was from the period of Amenhotep III which seems plausible at the time. There was also speculation that the coffins were female because they were painted yellow. Artistic style in Egyptian wall art shows men as red and women as yellow. So a yellow coffin means female.