QV 60

Queen Nebettauy

QV 60 is located on the north side of the main Wadi and is cut into the large rotated geologic block that makes up the valley. The original layout of QV 60 is not immediately apparent, given the loss of a number of internal walls that separate the chambers. The tomb is entered through a steep Ramp (A) leading into a pillared chamber (B) with barrel vault and eastern side chamber (Bb). Another small side chamber (Ba) lies to the northwest and connects to rear side chamber (Ca) through a break in the wall. On axis with the entrance to the tomb, a gate leads to the burial chamber (C), with a northern niche and gates to a large chamber to the east (Cb) (originally two side chambers with the separating wall having collapsed) and a side chamber to the west (Ca). The tomb is in poor condition with numerous structural problems, though it would originally have been one of the largest tombs in the valley with high quality painting. All the chambers presently connect and can be accessed at multiple points, which was not originally intended.

QV 60 is attributed to Nebettauy ('Mistress of the Two Lands'), who may have been the daughter of Rameses I and Isis-Neferet, although others propose her as a daughter of Nefertari and Rameses II. She appears fifth in the procession of daughters at Abu Simbel and is depicted with Bentanat (QV 71) at the foot of one of the colossi of Rameses Il on the façade of this temple. Otherwise, there is very little known about her life. She is part of a list on papyrus fragment Turin 1877, where she is labeled as 'great royal wife' along with other princess-wives of Rameses II. All of the images of Nebettauy in the tomb are damaged. QV 60 was not built in line with the other tombs of the daughters of Rameses Il (QV 68, QV 71, QV 73, QV 74, and QV 75) and the tombs of Nefertari (QV 66) and Queen Tuy (QV 80), but it was placed in front of QV 80 and near QV 58, also dating to the reign of Rameses II. Being the fifth daughter of Rameses II, it is probable that there simply was not enough room at the end of the valley for her tomb and so it was placed down the slope closer to the valley floor.

Chamber (B) has a barrel vault in the front section, which was first seen in a royal tomb in the burial chamber of Seti I (KV 17) and was also used in Rameses II's tomb (KV 7). Raised relief painting survives throughout the tomb, but has suffered significant losses. The entryway to QV 60 had decorations around the exterior doorway, of which very little remains. This is an innovation from the time of Rameses II, who added images of the sun god on the exterior lintel of his tomb's entrance. 

The tomb was cleared by the Franco-Egyptian Mission in 1981-83, but has been accessible since the time of Robert Hay of Linplum (1826). It was already largely damaged in Hay's time and Elizabeth Thomas (1959-60) notes sediment throughout the tomb. Christian Leblanc observed that the tomb flooded in 1994, and remaining evidence of that event and prior flooding includes a layer of dried mud on the floor, floodwater marks on the walls, and corresponding deteriorated rock below the floodwater lines. A 1993 geotechnical study recorded six or seven different deposition layers within over 1 meter of sediment accumulated against the north side of the wall between chamber (B) and chamber (C), indicating that the tomb has experienced at least that many flood episodes in its history. The absence of pillars in chamber B, thought to have been removed during the Coptic period to create a ceremonial space, was noted with confusion by Hay. Further evidence of Coptic reuse includes graffiti in the tomb, external mudbrick structures, and fired brick pavers outside the tomb. In relation to the extensive amount of extant pharaonic painting, Thomas noted their brilliance and compares their quality to that of Nefertari (QV 66). The tomb is not open to visitation and a door surround constructed with fired brick and a metal grill door with mesh has been installed.