KV36

Not much is known about Maiherpri as he does not appear in sources outside the tomb. Only two titles appear on the objects within the burial: "child of the kap (nursery)" and "fan-bearer on the Right Side of the King". Examination of his mummy showed that he was a young man when he died, aged 25-30 years.[4] He is generally thought to have been buried in the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty, between the reigns of Hatshepsut and Amenhotep III. More specific arguments by the Egyptologists Catharine Roehrig and Christian Orsenigo place his interment in the reigns of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, while Dennis C. Forbes considers him a contemporary of Thutmose IV or Amenhotep III.[5]

KV36 is located in the Valley of the Kings between the tombs of Amenhotep II (KV35) and Bay (KV13),[6] cut into the floor of the valley opposite the entrance of the wadi that contains the tomb of Thutmose III (KV34).[7] The tomb of Maiherpri is a small shaft tomb with a chamber at the bottom on its west side.[6] The burial chamber was undecorated, as with all burial chambers of non-royals in the Valley of the Kings. It is 3.90 m (12.8 ft) long and 4.10 m (13.5 ft) wide[8] with an area of 15.30 m² (164.7 sq ft).[9]

KV36 was discovered in 1899 during the second season of excavations by the French Egyptologist Victor Loret.[6] The then-director of the Antiquites Service focused his work in the southern Valley of the Kings, opening test pits or trenches to the bedrock (sondage) in likely-looking locations.[9][10] A map of the valley annotated by him indicates approximately 15 test excavations were sunk in the general vicinity of KV36 prior to its discovery.[11]

The tomb was discovered on 30 March 1899 in approximately the 16th test pit, cut into the gravel near the base of the cliffs to the south of the tomb of Amenhotep II.[12] At the base of the shaft was a partial blocking closing the door of the chamber. Loret entered the burial chamber on 31 March 1899; it was immediately apparent the tomb had been robbed but still contained much of its furnishings and burial equipment.[11] The large black-painted and gilded sarcophagus sat close to the north wall with a canopic chest at its foot; Loret read the name "Maiherpri" on the sarcophagus' gold inscription. Food offerings and bouquets were piled in the corner and large jars were clustered against the far wall. A large coffin lay overturned in the middle of the room. The rest of the space was strewn with various objects and personal belongings including ceramic and alabaster vessels, quivers, arrows, and two dog collars.[13][14]

The tomb was recorded and cleared quickly for fear of robbery, with everything packed into 16 crates by 7 April 1899. At least five photographs were taken of individual objects but none are known that show the chamber as it was discovered. The contents of KV36 were transported from the Valley of the Kings to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo which was housed in the former palace of Khedive Isma'il Pasha; when the new museum building opened in 1902 in Tahrir Square, they were displayed in their own large gallery on the second floor.[15][16]

Despite being the first reasonably intact tomb discovered in the Valley of the Kings, very little was known of KV36's excavation until the early 2000s.[6] Loret never published on the discovery and resigned as director of the Antiquities Service at the end of 1899.[9][17] In 2004, a collection of his notes and photographs preserved in the University of Milan, Italy and the Institut de France, Paris were published. Prior to this, the only records available of the tomb's discovery and arrangement of its contents was an account written in 1900 by Georg Schweinfurth[18] who visited the tomb during its clearance, and a list of contents published in 1902 by Georges Daressy[19] in a volume of Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire.[9][11]

The tomb was robbed in antiquity of the easily recyclable objects such as clothing, fabric, and metal vessels but still contained over 100 items.[20]

Maiherpri was placed in a set of three coffins. The outer one is rectangular,[21] painted black with gilded inscriptions and gilded decoration. It is more a shrine than a coffin. Inside it there were two anthropoid coffins[22] also in black with gilded decoration. There is a third anthropoid coffin[23] found next to this coffin ensemble with its lid placed next to the box. This caused some confusion and discussion in Egyptology. It seems that the 'extra' coffin was intended as the innermost one, but was actually too big to fit into the set and was therefore left unused next to it. Parallels have been drawn to the burial of Tutankhamun, where the foot of his outermost coffin was slightly too large for the sarcophagus. There the coffin was shortened directly in the tomb chamber, while in the burial of Maiherpri his mummy was placed into the second coffin of his set.[24][25]

The mummy of Maiherpri was adorned with a mummy mask.[26] At the foot end of the rectangular coffin, on the east side was found his canopic box[27] with the four canopic jars in it. Next to it was the Book of the Dead of Maiherpri[28] and several boxes with mummified pieces of meat.[29] At the head of the coffins many pottery vessels were found. Other objects from this tomb are stone vases, a senet game, a nicely painted faience bowl, a quiver, a glass vase and a funerary bed with the shape of Osiris laid out in wheat.[30]

• Theban Mapping Project: KV36 includes detailed maps of most of the tombs.