KV8

---

title: "KV8" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["buildings-and-structures-completed-in-the-13th-century-bc", "valley-of-the-kings", "merneptah"] description: "Ancient Egyptian tomb of Pharaoh Merenptah" topic_path: "general/buildings-and-structures-completed-in-the-13th-century-bc" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KV8" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Ancient Egyptian tomb of Pharaoh Merenptah ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Egyptian tomb"]

Field	Value
name	KV8
owner	Merenptah
image	File:Égypte, Vallée des Rois, Nécropole thébaine, Tombe de Merenptah (KV8), Couvercle du Sarcophage de Merenptah (49835124627).jpg
caption	Lid of Merenptah's stone sarcophagus in KV8
coordinates
location	East Valley of the Kings
date	Open in antiquity
excavated	Howard Carter
layout	Straight axis
prev	KV7
next	KV9
::

| name = KV8 | owner = Merenptah | image = File:Égypte, Vallée des Rois, Nécropole thébaine, Tombe de Merenptah (KV8), Couvercle du Sarcophage de Merenptah (49835124627).jpg | image_alt = | caption = Lid of Merenptah's stone sarcophagus in KV8 | coordinates = | map_alt = | location = East Valley of the Kings | date = Open in antiquity | excavated = Howard Carter | decoration = | layout =Straight axis | prev = KV7 | next = KV9 Tomb KV8, located in the Valley of the Kings, was used for the burial of Pharaoh Merenptah of Ancient Egypt's Nineteenth Dynasty. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/KV8_Merenptah_Schematic.jpg" caption="KV8 schematic"] ::

The burial chamber, located at the end of 160 metres of corridor, originally held a set of four nested sarcophagi. The outer one of these was so voluminous that parts of the corridor had to have their doorjambs demolished and rebuilt to allow it to be brought in. These jambs were then rebuilt with the help of inscribed sandstone blocks which were then fixed into place with dovetail cramps.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/MERENPTAH_tomb_KV8.jpeg" caption="Merenptah's reconstructed stone sarcophagus in 2023"] ::

The pillars in Chamber F were removed to allow passage of the sarcophagus, only two were replaced. The other two pillars may have been stolen by Paneb, a worker in the craftsman's village (Deir el-Medina), for use in his own tomb.

During the Third Intermediate Period, Merenptah's mummy was relocated to the mummy cache in DB320. His outer sarcophagus was smashed to retrieve the middle sarcophagus for reuse by Psusennes I in his own tomb in Tanis. The inner sarcophagus was left intact.

References

• Reeves, N & Wilkinson, R.H. The Complete Valley of the Kings, 1996, Thames and Hudson, London
• Siliotti, A. Guide to the Valley of the Kings and to the Theban Necropolises and Temples, 1996, A.A. Gaddis, Cairo

Gallery

File:Egipt 2020 (51827654240).jpg|KV8 Tomb corridor File:Égypte, Vallée des Rois, Nécropole thébaine, Tombe de Merenptah (KV8) (49834281528).jpg|Egyptian Divinities in tomb KV8 File:Égypte, Vallée des Rois, Nécropole thébaine, Tombe de Merenptah (KV8) (49835125352).jpg|Delicate Bas-hieroglyph reliefs in a long tomb corridor of KV8 File:Amdoeat.JPG|Copy of the Amduat on the walls of the tomb File:Tumba de Merenptah, Valle de las Reyes, Luxor, Egipto, 2022-04-03, DD 79.jpg|Merneptah greets the god Ra in tomb KV8 File:Egipt 2020 (51827271444).jpg|Another view of the reconstructed sarcophagus

References

1. Christine Hobson, Exploring the World of the Pharaohs: A complete Guide to Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson (1987). p. 123.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::