Қызыл теңіз жағасындағы Сеннефердің ежелгі қабірі

Ancient Egyptian tomb of Sennefer of Thebes

Tomb KV42 (Kings Valley 42) is an ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt. It was constructed for Hatshepsut Meryetre, the wife of Thutmose III, but she was not buried in the tomb. It may have been reused by Sennefer, a mayor of Thebes during the reign of Amenhotep II, and by several members of his family. The tomb has a cartouche shaped burial chamber, like other early Eighteenth Dynasty tombs.

The tomb was uncovered by two local Copts, Chinouda Macarios and Boutros Andraos, in late 1900; they obtained an excavation permit through their statement that they knew the location of a tomb. However, Howard Carter notes in his report that "I doubt the secret was really their own, as the site was discovered by and known to Monsieur Loret some eighteen months previously, and probably their informations was obtained from his workmen." The excavation commenced on 27 November 1900 and the blocking in the doorway was officially taken down on 9 December. Only the lower part of the door sealing was original, the rest being composed of fallen rock. It was immediately apparent that the tomb had suffered from ancient robbing and had been inundated with water. A set of fragmentary jars were located, along with an alabaster offering table, both inscribed for a woman named Baketra who bore the title "royal ornament". Additionally, four canopic jar lids in the form of bearded heads were found which Carter suggested belonged to Sennefer.</blockquote>
This may record the uncovering and emptying of the tomb on the orders of Piankh, the High Priest of Amun, either for reburial elsewhere or as part of a state sanctioned campaign of robbery. The discovery of foundation deposits by Carter in 1921 point to the intended owner being Queen Merytre Hatshepsut. Unusually, the vessels in this foundation deposit are inscribed in hieratic written in ink instead of the usual incised, blue pigment filled hieroglyphs. This may indicate the vessels are secondary, to claim the tomb left vacant by Thutmose II.

Carter ascribed the tomb to Sennefer, a mayor of Thebes, based on the presence of a set of canopic jars belonging to Sentnay, four male canopic jar lids, and numerous model vessels inscribed for the pair. Catherine Roehrig, in her tracing of the tomb's contents, proposed that Sentnay, as the royal nurse of Amenhotep II, was originally granted a burial elsewhere in the Valley and later re interred in KV42 with two other individuals as part of a cache, possibly as late as the 21st Dynasty. Nicholas Reeves sees the presence of parts of the original blocking and the storage jars as proof that the tomb was used for a primary burial. He suggests that Sennefer and Sentnay were granted use of the tomb by Amenhotep II, something which Marianne Eaton Krauss considers highly unlikely given that Yuya and Tjuyu, the parents in law of Amenhotep III were granted a much smaller, undecorated tomb (KV46) despite their close relationship to the king.