مقبرة خع إم واست (QV44)

QV44 is one of several tombs located in the Valley of the Queens intended for the use of Ramesses III's sons. The painted reliefs decorating Khaemwaset E's tomb illustrate his ritual and symbolic journey in the Afterlife as he meets the main gods of that region as well as the genies who guard the gates of the kingdom of Osiris.

QV44 is one of several tombs constructed for the sons of Ramesses III. Others are QV55 (Amun-her-khepeshef), QV53 (Ramesses), QV43 (Seth-her-khopsef, and QV42 (Pareherwenemef). Abitz argues that the princes are identified with the Four sons of Horus and are all real sons of the King. The decorations in these tombs focus more on the King than on his sons.

Discovery

The tomb was discovered on February 15, 1903, during the first excavation campaign of the "Italian Archaeological Mission" led by Ernesto Schiaparelli between January and March. The find, together with that of the tomb (QV43) of Sethherkhepshef, another son of Ramesses III, was the most significant result of the first mission. The discovery was made by Francesco Ballerini, Schiaparelli's main collaborator.

In a letter dated February 17, 1903, Ballerini described the event, recounting how the workers found the initial section of a long, descending corridor, very wide and therefore most likely belonging to a tomb of considerable importance, and how Schiaparelli and Howard Carter, then Superintendent of Antiquities of Upper Egypt, were notified, and they arrived immediately upon hearing the news. The archaeologists, after clearing the doorjamb of a door, entered through an opening, crawling on the ground.

The tomb was found open and ransacked. After partially clearing the entrance, they entered a large room completely clogged with sarcophagi and mummies placed haphazardly. Schiaparelli and Ballerini thoroughly examined the tomb, which was entirely carved into the mountain. The corridor was 3 meters long, the central gallery had side rooms, and the entire space was cluttered with sarcophagi, many of them shattered, with mummies violated, probably by hyenas, others with cracked faces.

Inside, over forty wooden sarcophagi from a later period (25th-26th Dynasty) were found, as the tomb had been reused several times.