The tomb was grand, but it seemed not to have been completely finished. It was “tolerably large and well painted” in Belzoni’s estimation, with a red granite sarcophagus in the centre. In October 1817, he finally found the tomb of a great pharaoh: the first king of the 19th Dynasty, Ramesses I.Ī staircase led into the bedrock from the Valley floor, and was followed by a descending passageway, and then another steep staircase that terminated in a beautifully decorated burial chamber. Returning to the main branch of the Valley of the Kings, he discovered the resting place of Mentuherkhepeshef (a son of Ramesses IX), then another undecorated tomb. This one was unfinished and undecorated, but contained the coffined mummies of eight individuals probably belonging to a family of the 22nd Dynasty. “I cannot boast of having made a great discovery in this tomb though it contains several curious and singular painted figures on the walls and from its extent, and part of a sarcophagus remaining in the centre of a large chamber, have reason to suppose, that it was the burial place of some person of distinction.” The world would not know it was Ay’s tomb until it was investigated again in the 1970s, although almost all the figures and names of the pharaoh had been defaced.īelzoni soon found a second tomb in the same area.
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