EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Small is beautiful: the gold coffinette G.6 from KV63 Earl L. Ertman and Otto J. Schaden describe a tiny coffin, covered in gold foil, that was recovered from the embalming cache KV63
The shaft-tomb KV63 was discovered in the Valley of the Kings on 10 March 2005 and was entered on 5 February 2006. Although no royal name was found in the tomb, evidence is now pointing to it as the place where some of the left-overs from the mummification of Tutankhamun may have been deposited, whose tomb lies only a few metres away. This embalming debris had been placed in a number of large pottery jars and some of the eight wooden coffins that were found in the tomb. Of these coffins, the two smallest (D and G.6) have gold-leaf attached to their surfaces. The latter is both the smaller and best preserved of the two, being sturdy, and, unlike most of the other coffins, undamaged and free of termite infestations. As it was contained in coffin G, it was not visible when we entered the chamber and consequently not given an identifying letter designation at that stage. Its number relates to its find spot – under five pillows and above a further one – when coffin G was opened and the contents were systematically removed and recorded (the pillows will be published by our textile
Above: Otto Schaden with the coffinette G.6. (Photo: Amenmesse Project) Left: KV63 tomb layout, showing coffin letter designations and pot numbers; coffin G is highlighted. (Map: Pieter Collet)
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