Tomb Paintings

In the Valley of the Kings we visited a tomb of an overseer who supervised the workers who built the tombs and pyramids. It was located in the general area of King Tut's tomb. A steep, narrow passage descended into the overseer's tomb, lit by an occasional naked light bulb.

The image above is probably of royals. The smaller figures indicate children and those of lesser rank.

The overseer was important enough to have received a tomb, but because he was not a royal, the inside of his tomb was decorated only in paintings and not with carvings. Our guide said the tomb was probably hastily constructed, and paintings could be done much faster than carvings.

The paintings in the overseer's tomb are my favorites. I like these even more than the ones I saw in King Tut's tomb.

This image shows Anubis, the dog-headed god of the underworld, preparing the dead king for burial.

Because the tomb was completely underground and was not subject to deterioration by weather, the paintings were still very vivid.

There is no way to match the paint colors, so when the tomb began to develop cracks or if portions of the painted scenes crumbled away, the damaged portions, such as that seen here at the top of the image, were only patched with cement. No attempt was made to restore the painting itself.