The Shaft Tombs of Wadi Bairiya

Shaft tombs which had only been noted in two brief paragraphs by Howard Carter in 1917 have now been revealed to be burial places of hitherto unrecognised members of the family of Amenhotep III. These architecturally unique shaft tombs had been repeatedly robbed but still contained the shattered remains of the largest collections of canopic jars ever found in Egypt. These and other surviving contents of the tomb seem to have been deliberately destroyed in phaoronic times in an attempt - successful until recently - to remove the names of the dead from history. The tombs were used over several generations and included the burials of the King's Great Wife, son, daughter, another of his wives and at least a dozen women bearing the title `Ornament of the King'. Although now the site of the burials appears remote, it was the site of a major crossroads during the XVIIIth dynasty - traces of plant life within the tombs point to a more fertile climate when they were created. The most pressing question the tombs raise is why and when these burials were destroyed, and why the names of several of the family of Amenhotep III and a group of court women should have been subjected to deliberate, systematic and official destruction.