TT8, or Tomb 8, was the burial site of Kha, the overseer of works from Deir el-Medina, and his wife, Merit, during the mid-18th Dynasty.
TT8 was one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of ancient Egypt, an unparalleled tomb with two rooms of nobility left intact. It was unearthed by Arthur Weigall and Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1906 on behalf of the Italian Archaeological Mission.
Its discoveries used 250 workers to dig in pursuit of the tomb for several weeks. The pyramid-shaped chapel of Kha and Merit was already well-known for many years; scenes from the chapel had been copied in the 19th century by several Egyptologists, including John Gardiner Wilkinson and Karl Lepsius.
Egyptologists also knew that Kha was an important foreman at Deir el-Medina, where he was responsible for projects constructed during the reigns of 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.
Schiaparelli was surprised to discover the tomb in the isolated cliffs surrounding the village and not in the immediate proximity of the chapel itself, as was conventionally the case for other burials of Egyptian nobility.
Tomb of Kha and Merit
The items found in the tomb show that Kha and Merit were quite wealthy during their lifetime. Unlike the more chaotic burial of Tutankhamun, the burials of Kha and Merit were carefully planned out. Important items were covered by dust sheets, and the floor was swept by the last person to leave the tomb.
The coffins of Kha and Merit were beautifully wrapped in two nested coffins; Kha’s mummy was tightly wrapped and several items of jewelry were included within the wrappings.
The two anthropoid coffins of Kha are excellent examples of the wealth and technically brilliant workmanship of the artisans during the reign of Amenhotep III.
Khа’s outer coffin was covered with black bitumen, featuring the face, hands, alternately striped wig, bands of inscriptions, and figures of funerary gods in gilded gesso.
Khа’s inner coffin
Khа’s inner coffin was entirely covered in gold leaf, except for the eyes, eyebrows, and cosmetic lines, which are inlaid–quartz or rock crystal for the whites of the eyes, black glass or obsidian for the irises, blue glass for the irises and cosmetic lines.
The eye sockets themselves are framed with copper or bronze. His arms are crossed over his chest in the pose of Osiris, lord of the dead. He wears a broad collar with falcon-headed terminals. Below this is a vulture with outstretched wings grasping two shen-signs in its talons.
An x-ray of Khа’s mummy shows that it was “adorned with a gold necklace and heavy earrings, one of the earliest examples yet found of men wearing earrings.”
Unexpectedly preceded by Merit, Khа donated his own coffin to his wife. Since it was too big for Merit’s mummy, Khа was forced to pack linens, monogrammed for him, around her mummy.
Merit’s single coffin combines features of Khа’s inner and outer coffins; “the lid is entirely gilded, but the box is covered with black bitumen, with only the figures and inscriptions gilded.”
Both Khа’s and Merit’s anthropoid coffins were contained within Michael C. Carlos Museum storage “catalogued outer coffins covered with black bitumen and having vaulted, gabled lids.”
Khа’s coffin was mounted on sledges, notes Ernesto Schiaparelli in his 1927 publication report of the discovery.
The tomb was furnished with all the objects necessary in the afterlife. Ointments and kohl were reapplied as a necessary part of hygiene and these precious materials were held in a variety of lidded alabaster, glass, and faience vessels.
Egyptians protected themselves from flies and from sunlights by wearing dark kohl under the eyes, depicted as a long cosmetic stripe on sculptured stipes. Other objects in the tomb included sandals, jar vessels, and more than 100 garments.
All the funerary objects from Khа’s tomb, except for two small articles, were subsequently transferred to the Egyptian museum in Turin.