Amid all the furore over the centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb scant attention was paid to the fact that Carter’s discovery in 1922 was only half the story. A burial comprises both the place where the body is interred, and the location where prayers are said and offerings left. In the case of a king, these would comprise a tomb and a mortuary/memorial temple, known as the ‘mansion of eternity’. So where is Tutankhamun’s mansion?
Mortuary temple of Ay and Horemheb
We know where Tutankhamun’s temple should be, because royal mortuary temples of the Eighteenth Dynasty ran in sequence along the edge of the desert, from Hatshepsut in the north, through Thutmose III, Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV, Amenhotep III, to that of Ay and Horemheb in the south. The remnants of the last of these were discovered by excavations conducted in 1931 for the Chicago Oriental Institute by Uvo Hölscher. A crucial discovery was of nine foundation deposits beneath the sacred core of the temple, containing items naming Ay, proving that he was responsible for the first building on the site. Indeed, he had raised a substantial structure in a reign about half the length of that of Tutankhamun, so it is not a valid argument to suggest that Tutankhamun did not have time to build a mortuary temple. Ay’s temple was subsequently usurped and extended by his successor, Horemheb, to include a columned court 40% larger than the Sun Court at Luxor Temple.
Two standing statues of golden quartzite discovered on the site by Hölscher are thought by some to resemble Tutankhamun, but neither show any name other than those of Ay overwritten by Horemheb.
