The tomb of Queen Ankhesenamon is KV62

The Tomb of Queen Ankhesenamon / Ankhkheperura is KV62

Copyright © Mike Costa 2020

The tomb where her husband (King Tutankhamon) was buried is actually hers when she was coregent Ankhkheperura Nefer-neferu-aton, and she kept it for her original burial.  After Tutankhamon’s original tomb was violated, his burial was moved into her tomb KV62, and she was moved elsewhere.  The contents of the tomb contain items from when she was coregent with her father, Pharaoh Akhenaton.  Items like his burial mask originally held her face which was replaced by his.  The Canopic Shrine has statues of her in the form of Goddesses (Neith, Nephthys, Isis, & Selqet).  The Canopic Jar stoppers have her likeness, not her husband’s.  Her original yellow Quartzite Sarcophagus is where Tut was interred, with his red granite lid.  She inherited her mother’s titles (of Nefertiti) when she became coregent; this led Egyptologists to believe that “Nefertiti was King.”  Egyptian Kings gained their political power by marriage to the Female Heir, as with first marrying their Queen, then their daughters.  Amonhotep 3 did this, as did Ramses the Great.  Akhenaton married Nefertiti, and after she was no longer powerful, he married his daughters Meritaton and Ankhesenamon.  One statue shows Akhenaton and Nefertiti holding hands but unhappy.  They never produced a male heir, only daughters, to inherit his rocky religion.  Tutankhamon is only Pharaoh by marriage to Ankhesenamon.  He was not the heir of Akhenaton, despite the wild claims of modern Egyptology.  Akhenaton was inept as a ruler so his wife/Queen Nefertiti did most of the required work.  Akhenaton was also a drug addict.  When Akhenaton tried initially to change the religion peacefully with his ideas, he forced the religion onto the people. He closed Temples, diverted all offerings to his Temple of Aton, destroyed Polytheist images or statues, and made the people unhappy.  This caused riots and rebellion.  His heirs tried in vain to appease the people. Temporary rulers governed the Capital City, until Tutankhamon was King; Tut was compelled to return the religion to Orthodoxy.  The Aton religion was basically reserved for the self-deified Pharaoh and his family, only.  Amonhotep 3 Nebmaatra started the “religion” by self-deification (declared himself as God); Akhenaton continued this practice and told Tutankhaton to continue it.  Tut’s face is on many rebuilt statues of the Gods as evidence of deification and self-preservation.  The mother of the 2 stillborn children found in KV62 is not Ankhesenamon due to mismatched Genetics.  The mother has a clubbed foot, as does Tutankhamon and his real father, Amonhotep 3 Nebmaatra; clubbed foot is inherited from the parents to the children.  The mummy in KV55 does not have clubbed foot (the one Egyptologists claim is “Akhenaton, the Father of Tut.” 

Before she was Queen Ankhesenamon, her coregent or “co-Pharaoh” name was Ankh-kheperura Nefer-neferuaton (or Ankh-et-kheperura), one of two individuals with the Smenkhkara name; Meritaton was the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaton with Ankh-kheperura as his other wife.  This occurred when Nefertiti “fell out of favor with the King” (Divorced).  Nefertiti was still alive one year before Akhenaton died.  

Ankhesenamon was “Akhenaton’s favorite.”  An unfinished statue shows him kissing her.  So she had a tomb in the Valley of the Kings where the other Smenkhkara was first buried – this is KV62.  That tomb was violated (robbed, set on fire, etc.) probably during the riots after Akhenaton’s death.

Some items (“80%”) from the burial were saved for Tutankhamon’s later use.  The main elements were from Ankhesenamon’s burial in KV62.  Parts of her funerary items were discovered in KV63/KV64 tombs (the duck glyph “Pa” from her original name Ankh-esen-pa-aton).  These tombs temporarily held items when the tomb KV62 was refitted for Tutankhamon.  

  

A granite plug separates her later burial from his.  Granite plugs are typical in Pyramids to block access to passages.  Some items like the solid gold statue of her from the “Love Shrine” are in her burial.  A void near the tomb was recently discovered; this would be her location.  She died during the reign of King Ay and was buried after Tut died but was moved later.  

Amonhotep 3 Nebmaatra co-ruled with his son Akhenaton and died shortly after Tut was born.  Tut was adopted by Smenkhkara and Meritaton.  Tut would be 5 years old when Akhenaton died.  This was followed by Ankh-kheperura’s reign, who later became Tut’s Queen after a few years of his co-regency while in the City of Aton.  When she became his Queen, Tut moved out of that City and changed the religion back to Orthodoxy.  

Copyright © Mike Costa 2020, All rights reserved.