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latest update:

KV63 lecture by Otto Schaden
by Jane Akshar
9th March 2006
(Friday, March 10th, 2006)
At 2 metres down they were still finding rock chips and the occasional stone. They found rocks that were almost like those used to block a robber’s tunnel and fragments encased in plaster and these were a good sign that they were dealing with something. But sadly they also found evidence of termites however termites would not be going down there unless there was something there, so that was both a good and bad sign. The termites were actually dated to the 19th dynasty as they start at the huts. Further down the shaft they found ostraca, one piece was a man with long straggly hair and bald top of the head with a carrying pole over his shoulder with bags hanging from it...

The blocking stones in the doorway were not original suggesting that the doorway had been opened and closed a few times. The original blocking stones were inside the tomb. So someone had re-entered and sealed the tomb in antiquity...

The reason for the confusion over the number of coffins was because 5 were all they could see from the doorway but once they got inside they saw 2 more. So there are 7 coffins, 4 are in a really bad state of repair. Most are covered in black resin and there are no inscriptions visible. There is significant termite damage. The first 2 coffins are open and there are no signs of mummies, they appear to be filled with odds and ends, natron and bandages, however some of the other coffins are closed and their contents are unknown at present...

The conservators are at work trying to stabilise the first 2 coffins and as yet the team can not look at the others until these are out of the way...

There is a child coffin with a lovely yellow face...

One coffin has glass inlaid eyes. There is one with crossed arms and a black face. The ones that have the resin on them might have to have this cleaned off to identify them, It is possible that this obscures the identify[ing] marks...

A cache can mean many things, this does not look like a royal cache because there are no names or insignia...

It would help the team tremendously if there were mummies. They can’t get to the closed coffins yet so do not know if there is anything inside them or not. The open ones are full of rubbish...

The storage jars are almost identical to those in KV54. If this is a burial it is a very incomplete one as there are no canopics or ushabits, unusual not to have basic funeral provisions...

The termite damage is huge but they hope to save at least the faces and collars.

another update:

KV-63 blog
by Dr. Otto Schaden
31 March 2006
A Discovery TV crew has been onsite since March 12th filming and interviewing for an upcoming special or specials to be aired starting in June. Please continue to access our website for further details.

This coming April, I will be taking a short break from KV-63 to lecture at the Fifty-Seventh Annual American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) meeting in New Jersey on Saturday, April 29th on Recent Work in KV-63 and co-lecturing with Professor Earl Ertman on Sunday, April 30th on Notes on the Decorative Wall Program in the Tomb of King Ay, WV-23, Plus Analysis of a Chryselephantine Fragment Found outside WV-24.