KV62 as a Decoy Tomb, part 2...

 

 

 Theory #1.b, Copyright 2024 Michael J. Costa, All rights reserved.  

Was KV62 tomb a Decoy Burial? (#2):

If Tutankhamon buried Smenkhkara in KV62 as a decoy tomb it is because of Gossip/word of mouth that said "Tut died." This was presented to the people after the Hittites read letters from an Egyptian Queen saying: "I don't wish to wed a servant. My husband is dead, why would I deceive you? It is said you have many sons... Send me a son and he will be King of Egypt... I am... afraid."  Queens do not usually wed foreign Princes to be King of Egypt unless desperate.  Ay was the servant mentioned in the letters, as he usurped the throne while Tutankhamon was MIA (Missing in Action) while fighting the Hittites to the north; the Queen was attempting a Peace Treaty.  If the Queen was Ankh-et-Kheperura Nefer-Neferuaton the Ruler prior to being Queen Ankhesenamon (married to Tut), then she was already a Pharaoh reprising this role.  If this person was Sit-Amun (Royal Consort under Nebmaatra Amonhotep 3, her father) then she was delegating power as co-ruler while Tut was technically King in his first 3 years as Pharaoh.  

Tut wasn't actually dead.  So he created a mock funeral for "his prior life as Tutankhamon" with Smenkhkara's corpse wrapped as Tut in KV62.  The remains found in KV62 by 1922 CE by Howard Carter are Smenkhkara's.  80% of the items found there are property of family members, the other 20% are either ritual items (Standard Issue) or personal effects of Tutankhamon, such as toiletries and underwear.  The remains once unwrapped appeared brittle, thought once to be a chemical reaction to embalming liquids.  Most likely the mummy was torched (violated) in the tomb, so thieves could take the precious jewels.  This was Smenkhkara's remains.  So the real Tut/King Ay re-wrapped Smenkhkara and placed him in the coffins, shrines, and tomb "as Tutankhamon."  Another burial was for Queen Ankhesenamon near KV63, indicated by a "Pa-" glyph from her prior name Ankhesen-pa-Aton while she lived in the City of Aton.  

Tut lived as King Ay for 4 more years until he died in a hunting accident indicated in KV23 (Tomb of King Ay, WV23).  Vizier Ay was elderly and not likely to go on a hunting expedition; Tut was a sportsman and liked hunting.   He was buried as King Ay.  Pharaoh Horemhab found his remains when ordering the desecration of King Ay's tomb.  The remains were interred in KV55 with Tut's seal on it.  The broken lid to the red granite sarcophagus from KV23 was placed in KV62. 

The KV55 Mummy is not Akhenaton, due to age.  Tut said his father is Nebmaatra, as did King Ay.  Horemhab said that also but erased the other Pharaohs in-between him and Nebmaatra from Public Records, so people will forget what happened, and to not be looking for their tombs.  Tut's tomb wasn't found thereafter until 1922 CE.   

Egyptologists want KV55 Mummy to "be Akhenaton," for Tourist Dollars.  So they forced the dating of the Mummy to be older.  What an attraction to have "the Golden Pharaoh with his father, the Heretic King, the First Monotheist" on display here in Egypt for only $2000 per visit! And over there we have the towns where the "Holy Family" once visited... Anything resembling a spectacle to earn the Tourist Economy of Modern Egypt.

MC 2024.