KV26 is a small, undecorated tomb whose original owner remains unknown. Located in a secluded branch of the Valley of the Kings near several tombs associated with the family and court of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II, it was probably created for one or more highly favored members of the royal household during the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
The tomb lacks the decorated corridors, pillared halls, and religious texts associated with the burials of reigning pharaohs. Instead, a deep vertical shaft leads to a short corridor and a single unfinished chamber. Its modest architecture resembles other private shaft tombs constructed for queens, princes, officials, and royal attendants who received the exceptional privilege of burial within the royal necropolis.
For many years, very little was known about KV26. Early explorers recorded its location, but no properly documented excavation took place until the University of Basel’s Kings’ Valley Project cleared the monument in 2009. The excavation uncovered fragmentary human remains, pieces of black-painted coffins, faience beads and inlays, calcite vessel fragments, and pottery representing at least 100 vessels from the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Although none of these discoveries revealed the occupants’ names, they confirmed that KV26 had been used for burial and had probably contained more than one individual. The tomb was later entered and robbed, possibly during the Third Intermediate Period, before floods filled its passages with debris.
- Structure: KV26
- Location: Valley of the Kings, East Valley, Thebes West Bank, Luxor
- Owner: Unknown
- Possible Occupants: One or more elite members of the Eighteenth Dynasty court
- Site Type: Non-royal shaft tomb
KV26 lies in a side valley leading toward KV34, the tomb of Thutmose III. It is positioned on the eastern slope of the path leading to several Thutmosid monuments, including:
- KV32, the tomb of Queen Tiaa
- KV34, the tomb of Thutmose III
- KV42, associated with Queen Merytre-Hatshepsut and possibly an earlier royal owner
- KV37, another undecorated elite tomb
- KV59, a small unidentified shaft tomb
- KV40, a large burial complex used by members of the royal household
The concentration of undecorated shaft tombs in this area suggests that it served as a cemetery for people closely connected with the Eighteenth Dynasty royal court.
KV26’s location near tombs belonging to royal women and court officials supports the conclusion that its occupants held a privileged position, even though their names have been lost.
Description
KV26 has a simple, straight plan composed of three principal sections:
- A deep vertical entrance shaft
- A short connecting corridor
- A small rectangular burial chamber
The shaft descends approximately six meters into the bedrock. Its opening measures about 1.4 by 2 meters and is roughly east-west aligned.
At the bottom of the shaft, an opening leads northeast into Corridor B. This short passage connects the entrance with the burial chamber, designated Chamber J.
The tomb is approximately 11 meters long.
The shaft and corridor were carefully cut and still show visible chisel marks left by the ancient workmen. The final chamber, however, was never completely finished. Its ceiling is unusually low, approximately 1.2 meters high, and several surfaces were left rough and unsmoothed.
The incomplete burial chamber may indicate that work stopped abruptly, perhaps because of the death of an intended occupant or a change in burial plans.
Shaft Tomb Architecture
KV26 belongs to a group of vertical shaft tombs constructed within the Valley of the Kings during the Eighteenth Dynasty.
In this type of monument, the entrance was not a broad descending staircase like those found in royal tombs. Instead, mourners and burial workers descended a vertical shaft before entering the underground chambers.
The shaft served several practical purposes. It created a hidden, defensible entrance, made robbery more difficult, and provided a place to seal the opening after the funeral.
KV26 represents the corridor-and-chamber variety of shaft tomb. The shaft does not open directly into the burial room but instead leads through a short passage before reaching the final chamber.
This layout distinguishes KV26 from even simpler tombs consisting only of a shaft and one room.
An Undecorated Tomb
KV26 contains no carved reliefs, painted scenes, or funerary inscriptions.
Its walls were never covered with the Amduat, Book of Gates, or other religious texts found in royal tombs. No representation of the deceased standing before the gods survives, and no cartouche or written title identifies the occupants.
The absence of decoration was typical of many non-royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. These monuments were intended primarily as secure burial places rather than elaborate memorial chapels.
The tomb’s rough burial chamber also suggests that the monument may not have been completed according to its original plan.
Who Was Buried in KV26?
The identities of the individuals buried in KV26 remain unknown.
Archaeologists recovered fragmentary human bones, including a relatively well-preserved skull found beneath flood deposits in the southeastern part of the corridor. Other human remains were scattered throughout the debris.
The number of bones, coffin fragments, and funerary vessels suggests that KV26 may have contained more than one burial.
The occupants were probably members of the royal household, high-ranking officials, or relatives of the royal family. Burial in the Valley of the Kings was an extraordinary privilege normally reserved for the pharaoh and people closely associated with the court.
No surviving object names a specific individual, so any identification remains speculative.
Could KV26 Have Belonged to Sennefer and Senetnay?
One theory proposes that KV26 may have served as the original burial place of Sennefer and his wife Senetnay.
Sennefer was an important official during the reign of Amenhotep II, while Senetnay served as a royal nurse. Funerary objects bearing their names were found in nearby KV42, raising questions about whether their burials had been transferred there from another tomb.
KV26 has been suggested as one possible original location because of its date, proximity, and apparent use for multiple burials.
However, no object inscribed for Sennefer or Senetnay has been found in KV26. The theory remains an interesting possibility rather than an established identification.
Pottery and Burial Equipment
Pottery provided the strongest evidence for dating KV26.
The University of Basel excavation recovered fragments representing at least 100 vessels from the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty. These included:
- Whitewashed storage jars
- Flowerpots
- Bowls and dishes
- A funnel-necked jar
- A nemset ritual vessel
- Tall vessel stands
- Jugs
- Decorated flasks
- Marl-clay vessels
Many of the large whitewashed jars probably held embalming materials, food, drink, oils, or other provisions deposited during the funeral.
Fragments belonging to the same vessel were found in different rooms and excavation layers. This indicates that robbery, flooding, and later disturbance scattered the original contents throughout the tomb.
The pottery dates the tomb primarily to the period of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II.
Stone Vessels, Beads, and Figurines
Fragments of calcite vessels were recovered from the burial chamber, although none carried inscriptions naming an owner.
Archaeologists also found:
- Faience beads
- Decorative faience inlays
- Pieces of very small figurines
- A fragment representing a falcon-headed deity
- A fragment representing a jackal-headed deity
The falcon-headed figure may have represented Horus or another falcon deity, while the jackal-headed fragment may have depicted Anubis, the god associated with embalming and the protection of tombs.
These small objects probably formed part of the funerary equipment intended to protect the deceased in the afterlife.
Coffin Fragments and Human Remains
The organic remains inside KV26 were badly deteriorated.
Archaeologists found fragments of wooden coffins covered with black paint and traces of yellow hieroglyphic signs. This style is consistent with funerary equipment from the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Only strips of linen remained, and the original mummy wrappings had been removed from the bodies. This suggests that robbers searched the mummies for jewelry, amulets, and other valuables.
The human remains had become highly fragmented because of robbery, movement of debris, water exposure, and the pressure of stones washed into the tomb.
Despite their poor condition, the bones confirmed that KV26 had received at least one actual burial and probably more.
Discovery and Early Exploration
The early history of KV26 is poorly documented.
James Burton may have visited or entered the tomb during the 1820s or 1830s while exploring monuments throughout the Valley of the Kings. However, no detailed excavation report survives from his work.
Victor Loret recorded and numbered the tomb in 1898 while investigating the area around KV34.
The Theban Mapping Project surveyed the monument during the 1980s. At that time, debris still covered the floors, so the original dimensions and height of its chambers could only be estimated.
No fully documented clearance of the interior occurred before the University of Basel excavation.
University of Basel Excavation
The University of Basel Kings’ Valley Project undertook the first properly recorded excavation of KV26 in 2009.
The entrance shaft was filled with modern rubbish in its upper layers. Below this material, archaeologists encountered limestone chips, sand, and large flint boulders deposited by earlier flooding.
The corridor and burial chamber were almost completely filled with debris. In parts of the passage, the deposits rose nearly to the ceiling.
Excavators removed the fill in carefully documented layers, recovering pottery, vessel fragments, beads, faience inlays, coffin pieces, linen, bones, and small funerary figures.
The excavation established that KV26:
- Dates primarily to the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty
- Was used for at least one burial and probably several
- Had been robbed in antiquity
- Had experienced significant flooding
- Was later entered during the Third Intermediate Period
- Contained an unfinished burial chamber
- Had never been decorated
A protective iron door was installed over the shaft after the excavation.
Flooding
Floodwater repeatedly entered KV26.
The open shaft allowed rainwater, sand, limestone chips, and large stones to descend directly into the tomb. Flood deposits were identified in the corridor and burial chamber.
Several very large flint boulders had been carried or deliberately placed inside the shaft and passages. Some may have entered through natural flooding, while others may have formed part of a later attempt to fill or block the entrance.
Water caused severe damage to the organic material. Wood, linen, and human remains were especially fragile, even though the limestone walls themselves remained in comparatively good condition.
Ancient Robbery
KV26 had been thoroughly robbed before its modern excavation.
Robbers unwrapped the mummies, broke apart the coffins, and removed valuable objects. Surviving fragments were scattered throughout the tomb rather than remaining in their original positions.
Pottery from the late Twentieth or Twenty-first Dynasty suggests that the tomb was entered during the Third Intermediate Period. A vessel with bitumen on its surface and several later sherds may relate to the robbers or to a later phase of activity.
The evidence suggests that the bodies were not removed for protective reburial. Instead, they remained in KV26 after being stripped of valuables.
Later Reuse
Most objects from KV26 date to the Eighteenth Dynasty, but a small number belong to the eighth or seventh centuries BCE.
These later vessels indicate that the tomb was entered or reused during the Third Intermediate Period, possibly during the Twenty-second or Twenty-fifth Dynasty.
The limited later material does not necessarily indicate a complete new burial. It may instead reflect robbery, inspection, ritual activity, or a small intrusive interment.
The principal burial phase remains firmly associated with the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Objects Recovered
Objects and materials recovered from KV26 include:
- Fragmentary human remains
- A human skull
- Pieces of black-painted wooden coffins
- Linen and mummy wrappings
- Whitewashed storage jars
- Flowerpots
- Bowls and dishes
- Jugs and flasks
- Calcite vessel fragments
- Faience beads
- Faience inlays
- Small divine figurine fragments
- Late-period pottery
- Debris carried into the tomb by floods
No inscribed object identified the owner.
Noteworthy Features
KV26 is notable for several reasons:
- Its original occupants remain unknown.
- It dates primarily to the reigns of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II.
- It was intended for one or more elite non-royal individuals.
- Its six-meter shaft leads to a corridor and single burial chamber.
- The burial chamber was left unfinished.
- The tomb contains no wall decoration.
- Evidence suggests that it held multiple burials.
- More than 100 Eighteenth Dynasty pottery vessels are represented among the fragments.
- It was robbed, probably during the Third Intermediate Period.
- Floods filled much of the tomb with stones and debris.
- The first documented excavation occurred in 2009.
- Its occupants have tentatively been connected with Sennefer and Senetnay, but this remains unproven.
Measurements
Minimum width: Approximately 0.8 m
Maximum width: Approximately 2.84 m
Total length: Approximately 11.26 m
Total area: Approximately 20.05 m²
Shaft depth: Approximately 6 m
Maximum internal height: Approximately 2 m
Burial chamber height: Approximately 1.2 m
Additional Tomb Information
Owner type: Unknown elite individual or members of the royal household
Entrance type: Vertical shaft
Interior layout: Shaft, corridor, and chamber
Axis type: Straight
Decoration: None
Condition at discovery: Filled with flood debris
Public access: Closed
Dating
KV26 was used during the following periods:
- New Kingdom, Middle Eighteenth Dynasty: Construction and original burials, probably during the reigns of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II
- Late Twentieth or Twenty-first Dynasty: Probable robbery or intrusion
- Third Intermediate Period: Limited later activity or reuse
- Modern period: Survey and archaeological excavation
History of Exploration
- James Burton, 1820s or 1830s: Possible early visit or entry
- Victor Loret, 1898: Recorded and numbered the tomb
- Theban Mapping Project, 1980s: Survey and architectural planning
- University of Basel Kings’ Valley Project, 2009: First documented excavation and clearance
- University of Basel, 2010 and later seasons: Continued documentation, mapping, and study of the finds
Conservation History
After the 2009 excavation, an iron door was installed over the entrance shaft on a protective brick structure. The door was designed to prevent visitors, rubbish, stones, and animals from falling into the open shaft. It also helps protect the tomb from unauthorized entry. The original entrance dimensions remain visible around the modern protective construction.
Site Condition
The limestone architecture of KV26 is generally stable, but the funerary material recovered from inside was severely damaged.
Floodwater and humidity weakened the wooden coffins, textiles, and human remains. Ancient robbery had already broken and scattered much of the burial equipment.
The tomb is not open to the public.
Why KV26 Matters
KV26 demonstrates that the Valley of the Kings was not used exclusively for reigning pharaohs.
Queens, royal children, nurses, officials, attendants, and other favored individuals could also receive burials within the protected royal landscape. Their tombs were usually smaller and undecorated, but their location reflected exceptional status and proximity to the king.
The pottery and coffin remains from KV26 provide valuable evidence for private funerary customs during the reigns of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II. The monument also helps archaeologists understand how the side valley leading to KV34 developed into a cemetery for members of the Thutmosid court.
Although the occupants remain anonymous, KV26 preserves the story of people important enough to rest among Egypt’s kings, yet not important enough for their names to survive.
Interesting Facts About KV26
- KV26 is only about 11 meters long.
- Its entrance is a vertical shaft approximately six meters deep.
- The tomb’s owner remains unknown.
- It probably dates to the reigns of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II.
- It may have contained more than one burial.
- The final chamber was never completely finished.
- No wall decoration or identifying inscription survives.
- More than 100 pottery vessels are represented among the recovered fragments.
- Pieces of falcon-headed and jackal-headed figurines were discovered.
- Ancient robbers removed the wrappings and valuables from the mummies.
- Floodwater filled the tomb with sand, stones, and large boulders.
- Its first documented excavation did not take place until 2009.
