This small, uninscribed tomb is located immediately in front of the entrance of the tomb of Mentuherkhepshef. It consists of a rough flight of stairs leading to a straight passage that is about long; this passage ends in a low, roughly cut chamber which measures about.
Discovery and investigation
This tomb was discovered by Howard Carter in 1903 during excavations conducted by the Antiquities Service on behalf of Theodore M. Davis. The burial was found to have been ransacked in antiquity but still held two female mummies, one lying in the base of a coffin, and some mummified geese. Carter reclosed the tomb, only removing the geese. In 1906 Edward R. Ayrton reopened it while clearing KV19; he removed one mummy together with the coffin base to the Egyptian Museum. Since neither Carter nor Ayrton drew plans or maps indicating the location of the tomb, the whereabouts of the tomb became forgotten. In 1989 the tomb was rediscovered, reopened and properly excavated by a team led by Donald P. Ryan and Mark Papworth. The remaining mummy was placed in a new wooden coffin, and left in the tomb, which was resealed.
Mummies
KV60A
This mummy is reasonably preserved, with a height of, and 50-60 at the time of her death. She was obese in life, and suffered from poor health. Many teeth are missing or badly decayed; one molar retains a single root. This tooth appears to have been abscessed and extracted just before death. Her poor oral health combined with her weight may indicate she had diabetes. Her brain was not removed; her torso is filled with embalming packs, and the heart is preserved in the chest. Her left arm is crossed over her chest while the right arm is at her side. She may have had cancer: a tumor destroyed part of her left hip, and spread to her lumbar vertebrae. Her cause of death is assumed to be due to the metastatic cancer, complications of diabetes, or an abscessed molar that was extracted shortly before her death. Elizabeth Thomas was the first to propose that this mummy was that of Hatshepsut, relocated there by Thutmose III, as part of his campaign of official hostility towards her. Ryan and Papworth's 1989 excavation produced evidence both in favour of, and casting doubt on the suggestion. On the supporting side, the mummy proved to be that of a relatively elderly lady, with her left arm flexed in the pose thought to mark a royal mummy. On the other hand, none of the pottery fragments recovered during the excavation could be dated to the 18th Dynasty. A wooden face-piece from a coffin possibly destined for a male was found – but the tomb contained only females, and Hatshepsut is known to have used the false beard. The identification of this mummy as Hatshepsut hinges on the contents of a wooden box inscribed with her cartouches discovered inside the cache DB320. When it was CT-scanned in 2007, it was found to contain a mummified liver and intestine, as well as a molar tooth that lacks one root. The tooth was found to match the size, shape, and density of the remaining molars, as well as lacking the same root that is still present in the jaw. Doubts have been cast on this attribution; Egyptology writer Dylan Bickerstaffe wrote that "it is important that the join with the root in the mouth of the mummy is physically corroborated. DNA tests should then also be able to confirm that the tooth and KV60A are one and the same person." Later, in a 2013 book, science journalistJo Marchant reported:
Most Egyptologists I’ve spoken to are very skeptical that this mummy has anything to do with Hatshepsut, and say they would like to study the team’s evidence. Unfortunately, neither the CT scans nor the DNA results have yet been published in a scientific journal.
KV60B
This well-preserved mummy is about tall. She has long red hair remaining on her head. Her right arm at her side, and the left arm is placed across her torso; the left hand is closed. She was eviscerated through a V-shaped embalming incision. Traces of fine linen bandages remain, with the fingers individually wrapped. Robbers looking for valuables have torn away much of the bandaging, which is bundled at the bottom of the coffin. She was once thought by Hawass to be the mummy of Hatshepsut. The coffin base she was found lying in was inscribed with the name and title wr šdt nfrw nswt In, meaning the Great Royal Nurse, In. This personage has been widely identified with Sit-Ra, called In, the royal nurse of Hatshepsut, who is known from her sandstone statue from Deir el Bahari.
