Ancient Egypt
Elements of its Cultural History

  by Sjef Willockx

In the history of the Valley of the Kings, KV34 is a watershed. It is the oldest royal tomb in the Valley that can with complete confidence be attributed to a particular king: Tuthmosis III. But it is only with the tomb of this king’s successor (KV35, of Amenhotep II) that we see the beginning of an orderly and gradual evolution in the design of the royal tombs in this necropolis.

KV42 is a most enigmatic tomb: its owner can not be conclusively identified, and its plan has both "modern" and "archaic" aspects.

The plan of tomb KV34 also shows several traits that are hard to explain – in particular the asymmetric shape of its burial chamber and pillared hall. It can be shown though, that these problems can be solved by assuming that KV34 was at first conceived on a more modest scale, and was only later enlarged. KV42 then, may have been designed between the two building phases of KV34.

At the end of this paper, the development of the royal tomb design is summarized from KV39 to KV34.

83 pages, 30 figures, 19 tables, extensive bibliography.

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