Kha

The hieroglyphic
name of Kha

Kha was an official of the Eighteenth Dynasty. He  attended Amenhotep II (1427-1401  B.C.E.) and his two successors, Tuthmosis iv (1401-1391  B.C.E.) and Amenhotep III (1391-1353 B.C.E.). Kha was an architect involved in mortuary complexes for the royal homes. He was forgotten at Thebes.

The Tomb of Kha (TT8):

Scene of the gilded inner coffin of  Kha

TT8 was the tomb of Kha, the superintendent of works from Deir el-Medina in the mid-18th dynasty and his married woman, Merit. The New Kingdom tomb was one of the super archaeological discoveries of ancient Egypt, one of few tombs of aristocracy to survive intact. It was saw by Arthur Weigall and Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1906 on behalf of the Italian Archaeological Mission. Its spotters used 250 doers to dig in pursuit of the tomb for several weeks. The pyramid-chapel of Kha and Merit was already known for many years; settings from the chapel had already been simulated in the 19th century by different Egyptologists, including John Gardiner Wilkinson and Karl Lepsius. Egyptologists likewise knew that Kha was an serious foreman at Deir El-Medina, where he was trusted for projects made during the reigns Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III. The pyramidion of the chapel had been removed by an earlier visitor and was in the Louvre Museum.

Location of TT

Plan of TT8

Schiaparelli was stunned to discover the tomb in the separate cliffs immediate the village and not in the immediate propinquity of the chapel itself, as was conventionally the case for other burials of Egyptian nobility. The items saw in the tomb show that Kha and Merit were quite comfortable during their lifetime. Unlike the more broken burial of Tutankhamun, the burials of Kha and Merit were carefully planned out. Heavy items were addressed by dust planes and the floor was swept by the last someone to leave the tomb.

The coffins of Kha and Merit were entombed in two nested coffins; Kha's mummy was tightly wrapped and different items of jewelry were included within the wrappings. The two weak coffins of Kha are greatest examples of the wealthiness and technically grand craftsmanship of the arts during the rule of Amenhotep III. Kha's outer coffin "was addressed with black bitumen, with the face, hands, substitute stripes of the wigging, bands of inscriptions and figures of funerary gods [all] in gilded gesso. Accepted in one of Kha's coffins is one of the earliest exercises of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. An x-ray of Kha's mummy shows that it was "adorned with a gold necklace and heavy earrings, one of the earliest examples yet found of men enduring earrings."

Balance scale from the tomb of Kha (Torino)

Merit was buried in a various out coffin with one inner anthropoid coffin and a cartonnage mask. Her mummy was loosely white with funerary jewellery. A tomb of this magnitude would have taken years to check, a process that Kha certainly managed during his lifetime. Accidentally predeceased by Merit, Kha donated his hold coffin to his wife. Since it was too big for Merits mummy, Kha was drawn to pack linens, monogrammed for him, about her mummy. Merit's single coffin combines has of Kha's inner and outer coffins; "the lid is only gilded, but the box is addressed with black bitumen, with only the figures and letterings gilded." Both Kha's and Merit's human coffins were held within Middle Kingdom style "rectangular outer coffins covered with black bitumen and having vaulted, gable-ended lids." Kha's coffin was risen on sledge runners, notes Ernesto Schiaparelli in his 1927 publication report of the discovery.

The tomb was supplied with all the objects necessary in the afterlife. Ointments and kohl were regarded as a essential part of hygiene and these precious cloths were held in a variety of topped alabaster, glass and faience watercraft. Egyptians retained themselves from flies and from sun by hard dark kohl under the eyes, depicted as a long cosmetic stripe on sculptures. Other objects in the tomb include sandals, jar vessels and more than 100 garments. All the funerary objects from Kha's tomb, except for two small articles, were later transferred to the Egyptian museum in Turin. Tomb TT8 was discovered at almost the same time as KV55 and less than two years after KV46, the tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu, which held almost the same contents as TT8 and dated to only slenderly later in the reign of Amenhotep III.

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·        Keper
·        Masaharta
·        Nebseni Papyrus
·        Kerma
·        The Kingdom of Kush
·        Adule
·        Masara
·        Kewab
·        Nebt
·        Afnet