ARCE-DC: Thebes West: The Excavation and Restoration of Tombs TT 416 and TT 417 at el-Khokha, Qurna

The tombs of a man named Amenhotep/Rebiu (TT 416) and his son Samut (TT 417) have recently been discovered to the east of the tomb of Djehuty (TT 110), where they share the same court. TT 110 was discovered in 1909 by Arthur Weigall, who published with Alan Gardiner two stelae of the transversal hall. In 1932, Norman De Garis Davies documented the inscriptions preserved on the internal walls. There was, however, no mention of any other tombs in the area. The two new tombs were discovered in March 2015 by ARCE. The clearing work started under the direction of the author in September 2020 and January 2021. A thorough restoration program followed, and the site was soon prepared to receive visitors. The surrounding area is now paved, and the two tombs will be opened to the public in the future. TT 416 belongs to an Amenhotep, also called Rebiu. His son, Samut, was only able to begin the decoration of nearby TT 417. Both individuals held the seemingly low-level title of “Door-Keeper of Amun.” However, Rebiu’s existence was already known from a single funerary cone that once adorned his tomb’s façade.

The two monuments did not preserve any royal name, except for a small fragment of a cartouche ending with a kheper sign. But, according to their decorative style, both can be dated to the 18th Dynasty. Rebiu may have been a contemporary of Thutmose III and thus of his neighbor Djehutymes, while the style of what was realized in the tomb of Samut, with the contributions of at least two distinct painters, points to the end of the reign of Amenhotep II and the beginning of the reign of Thutmose IV. What is preserved of the decoration of TT 416 places it among the masterpieces of the Theban necropolis.