The Ramesses III (KV 11) Publication and Conservation project

Our project has been in development since 2011 and was officially founded in 2016, with its main objectives being the publication and conservation of the tomb of Ramesses III in the Valley of the Kings (KV 11). As of 2017, it holds the concession of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities to study the tomb. The project is officially based at Humboldt-University of Berlin and collaborates with the Universities of Luxor and South Valley University Qena. We combine traditional philological and archaeological research with more recent methods such as photogrammetry and virtual reality. Along with continuous fieldwork, a major focus lies on archival research that allows us to reconstruct the decoration programme of the tomb. Moreover, the project follows an interdisciplinary approach, integrating geological, petrological and hydrological studies in order to develop a strategy to preserve and protect this important part of the Egyptian World heritage. 

Ground plan of KV 11. (c) The Ramesses III (KV 11) Publication and Conservation Project, G. Rees and A. Weber.

Research by: Dr. Martina Grünhagen

In KV 11, the Litany of Ra is to be found in the first and second corridors. These texts have been studied by Erik Hornung (1975), who published a hieroglyphic transcription in comparison with further textual witnesses of the New Kingdom; specifics of this version, however, are not considered. Neither the exact direction of the hieroglyphs and lengths of the gaps, nor the correct division of the columns, the canon of the colors as well as the misspellings or the distribution of the text and the figures have been detailed. In addition to an examination of these aspects, omissions and additions of the text are to be interpreted with regard to the other variants of the Litany of Re. On the basis of these results, the structure of the text published by Hornung is to be checked and corrected. Moreover, this project aims to enhance our knowledge of the relation of the Litany of Ra to other texts in this tomb.

E. Hornung, Das Buch der Anbetung des Re im Westen (Sonnenlitanei), Teil 1: Text, Aegyptiaca Helvetica 2, Genf 1975.

E. Hornung, Das Buch der Anbetung des Re im Westen (Sonnenlitanei), Teil 2: Übersetzung und Kommentar, Aegyptiaca Helvetica 3, Genf 1976.

Images - Copyrights: The Ramesses III (KV 11) Publication and Conservation Project.

Research by: Gareth D. Rees, Lea Rees, Dr. Helen Strudwick

In 2017, we received the permission of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge for a photogrammetrical record of the sarcophagus lid of Ramesses III (Inv. No. E.1.1823). A team from Oxford Archaeology East (Gareth Rees, James Fairbairn) was able to record the lid and produce a 3D-model of it. This can be used as a basis for future reconstructions as well as for a virtual join with the sarcophagus itself, now housed in the Musée du Louvre in Paris (Inv. No. D1). Recently, we received permission for a photogrammetry record of this object. We would like to thank our colleagues Helen Strudwick, Vincent Rondot and Marc Etienne for their kind support.

A. Dodson, ‘Was the sarcophagus of Ramesses III begun for Sethos II?’, JEA 72 (1986), 196-198.

A. Dodson, ‘Sarcophagi’, in R. H. Wilkinson, K. Weeks, The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings (Oxford, [2016], 255-256.

Reconstruction of the sarcophagus ensemble

Research by: Dr. Lea Rees

The famous sarcophagus that was removed from the tomb of Ramesses III in the Valley of the Kings (KV 11) in the beginning of the 19th century is nowadays housed in two different European Museums: while the lid is displayed in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (Inv. No. E.1.1823), the coffer is to be seen in the Musée du Louvre in Paris (Inv. No. D1). This sub-project of The Ramesses III (KV 11) Publication and Conservation Project deals with the object’s biography, including its original function and ownership as well as the more recent research history and changing museum displays. We also aim to create a photogrammetric 3D model in order to virtually reunite the coffer with its lid.

Along with this sarcophagus, which we have known about since the 18th century, we have collected evidence that there must have been more than one sarcophagus in KV 11. Next to stone fragments of various rock materials discovered by Ted Brock in the 1980’s, another inscribed sarcophagus fragment was found in the tomb's burial chamber. Therefore, we now aim to reconstruct the multiple sarcophagi found in the royal tomb KV 11.

Yorke, Charles – Leake, Martin Les monuments principaux du Musée Brittanique et quelques autres qui se trouvent en Angleterre expliqués d’après la système phonetique, London 1827, pl. XIV.

Reuniting the burial equipment of Pharaoh Ramesses III

Research by: Lea Rees

Recent excavations of the Ramesses III (KV 11) Publication and Conservation Project have brought to light a number of objects which most likely belong to the original burial equipment of Ramesses III. Among other finds, these include a large number of sarcophagus fragments, which can be attributed to different types of sarcophagi. Similar to the sarcophagus ensemble of Merenptah, they may have been nested within each other.

The aim of this sub-project is to document all of the finds from the ongoing excavations in detail and prepare them for publication together with the other parts of the king’s funerary equipment, which were removed from the tomb until the 19th century. These objects are now housed in museums worldwide and can sometimes even be joined with new archaeological finds from the tomb.

The project deals with the following research questions: a) What kind of objects were meant to accompany the king in the afterlife? b) How does this compare to other royal burials of the New Kingdom? c) When exactly were particular objects removed from the tomb and how did they make their way into museums worldwide? d) How can the dispersed cultural heritage from KV 11 be reunited and made publicly accessible?

To answer these questions, the project combines several methodological approaches. The archaeological finds and museum objects are recorded with detailed descriptions, technical drawings, photos, sometimes followed by further analysis. Moreover, they are digitally 3D-modelled in order to virtually reassemble the fragments. To reconstruct the turbulent history of research, various archives holding material on the collection, shipping, storage, purchase and inventory of the museum objects will be consulted. On the basis of comparative pieces from other royal tombs, the burial equipment of Ramses III can be reconstructed, and contrasted with the funerary inventory of other royal tombs. The final goal is to virtually reunite the entire burial equipment, making it possible for the visitors of KV 11 to experience the objects in their original context.

Lea Rees working in museums and archives worldwide and in KV 11. (c) The Ramesses III (KV 11) Publication and Conservation Project and (image 3) The Supreme Council of Antiquities, photos: A. Weber and G. Rees.

Research by: Dr. Judith Bunbury, Dr. Klara Dietze, Karin Schinken, Dr. Anke Weber

For thousands of years, the Valley of the Kings, which is a dried out Wadi (river bed), suffers from flash floods. The sarcophagus chamber (hall J) of KV 11 has been flooded after heavy rainfall between 1885/90 and 1910. Nowadays, the chamber is heavily damaged and filled with debris. The project plans to clear Hall J in order to make it accessible for researchers, conservators and for the public in near future.

Images - Copyrights: The Ramesses III (KV 11) Publication and Conservation Project.

The maximum water level which decreased gradually is still visible today by the straight separation line between remaining plaster and the destroyed lower part of the walls in the sarcophagus chamber.

J. M. Bunbury, Geology of the Valley of the Kings, in: R. H. Wilkinson and K. R. Weeks, The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings (Oxford 2016), 15-22.

A. Dorn, The Hydrology of the Valley of the Kings: Weather, Rainfall, Drainage Patterns, and Flood Protection in Antiquity, in: R. H. Wilkinson and K. R. Weeks, The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings (Oxford 2016),30-38.

M. Marciniak, ‘Deux campagnes épigraphiques au tombeau de Ramsès III dans la Vallée de Rois (no. 11)’ ET 12 (1983), 295-305.

D. A. Werning, Das Höhlenbuch. Textkritische Edition und Textgrammatik, I: Überlieferungsgeschichte und Textgrammatik, (GOF IV/48; Wiesbaden 2011), 24 and pl. I.

Research by: Willem Hovestreydt, Dr. Anke Weber

The reconstruction of wall scenes in KV 11 will take place with modern methods and a comparison with drawings and pictures of earlier researchers. In this way, it was possible to reconstruct the well-known bakery scene in chamber Ba, using the drawings of Ippolito Rosellini (I Monumenti dell' Egitto e della Nubia, Teil II, Monumenti Civili, Pisa 1834, LXXXV.) as master copies. Very useful are the sketches of Robert Hay (British Library London, partly published in: F. Mauric-Barberio, ‘Reconstitution du décor de la tombe de Ramsès III (partie inférieure) d’après les manuscrits de Robert Hay’, BIFAO 104 (2004), 389-456.) for other parts of the tomb. Since Hay used a camera lucida, the distortion-free recordings can be matched with modern photographs within a photo editing programme, making it possible to reconstruct the original condition of the wall reliefs.

W. Hovestreydt, ‘Sideshow or not? On the Side-Rooms of the First Two Corridors in the Tomb of Ramesses III’, in B. J. J. Haring, O. E. Kaper, R. van Walsem (eds), The Workman's Progress. Studies in the Village of Deir el-Medina and other Documents from Western Thebes in Honour of Rob Demarée, (EU 28; Leiden, 2014), 103-132.

F. Mauric-Barberio, ‘Reconstitution du décor de la tombe de Ramsès III (partie inférieure) d’après les manuscrits de Robert Hay’, BIFAO 104 (2004), 389-456.

I. Rosellini, I monumenti dell'Egitto e della Nubia disegnati dalla spedizione scientifico-letteraria toscana in Egitto, II: Monumenti Civili (Pisa, 1834), pl. lix-lxii, lxxv, lxxx, lxxxv-lxxxvi, lxxxix, xcl-xclii, xcvil, cv, cvii-cviii, cxxi.

Research by: Dr. Lutz Popko

The depictions and texts of the so-called "Book of the Heavenly Cow" were shown in chamber Jc, which is situated close to the burial chamber. Nowadays, almost the whole decoration is lost. By aid of RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) and DStretch, we will be able to reconstruct the original reliefs.

E. Lefébure, Les hypogées royaux de Thèbes, seconde division: Notices des hypogées, (MIFAO 3 (1); Paris, 1889), 87-120, pl. 58-65.

É. Naville, Inscription of the destruction of Mankind in the Tomb of Rameses III, in: Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 7 (1884-1885), S. 93-94.

É. Naville, L’Inscription de la Destruction des Hommes dans le Tombeau de Ramsès III, in: Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 8 (1885), S. 412-420.

since 2019 Excavation and conservation

2018 Preliminary work and publications

2017 Geo-Survey and collection of picture material for comparison from the accessible

          New Kingdom temples and tombs

2016 Collation of the books of the Netherworld in Hall J and recording chamber Jc

2015 Survey of hall J and preparation of a "Preliminary Report" on the state of the site

2014 Recording of all scenes in the chambers Ba-Ch, chamber Fa, and hall J

2011 Return to record the royal bakery scene in Chamber Ba

2009 First visit of the tomb KV 11 in order to document its condition