Archaeology, Volume 55, N. 2

On January 6, 1907, Theodore M. Davis, a wealthy American financier, and his hired archaeologist, a young Englishman, Edward R. Ayrton, opened a most unusual tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. The tomb, designated KV55 or simply Tomb 55, was unimpressive, with a single chamber and side niche, but its contents were extraordinary.

In the century following its discovery, Tomb 55 has been hotly debated, especially the identity of the remains in the coffin and how that person fit into the royal family and succession at the end of the 18th Dynasty.

Is it the "heretic" pharaoh Akhenaton  Could it be Smenkhkare? Or is there another explanation? The most straightforward interpretation of the inscriptions, artifacts, and bones is that the body from Tomb 55 is Smenkhkare. This means that Tutankhamon, like his father, came to the throne only through the early death of an older brother. The early deathsof both of them without heirs spelled the end of the 18th Dinasty.

 

(Cit. from the essay "Who's in Tomb 55?", by Mark Rose)