Location and display of objects
Display case in Museo Egizio, as seen in 2005
Following the discovery, Gaston Maspero, director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service,
awarded the majority of the contents of TT8 to Schiaparelli.[42] They are housed in the
Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy, where Schiaparelli was appointed director in 1894.
[203]
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo retained only a few objects from the tomb, keeping
one of the two lamp stands, loaves of bread, three blocks of salt, and nineteen pottery
vases.[42]
Maspero's reasons for allowing nearly the entire contents of this intact tomb to leave
Egypt are unknown. Maspero was a friend and former mentor of Schiaparelli. It is
probable that Maspero considered the contents of TT8 to be duplicates or not unlike
anything already in the museum's collection.[204][205] Vassilika suggests that, with the
discovery of the largely unrobbed noble burial of Yuya and Thuya in the previous year,
1905, the discovery of more noble burials may have been expected.[205] The writer
Dennis C. Forbes suggests space may also have been a factor, with the contents of
Yuya and Thuya's tomb, and that of Maiherpri, discovered in 1899, occupying a large
amount of exhibition space.[204]
The contents of the tomb have been displayed since their arrival in Italy. Within months
of arriving, the change in humidity affected the leather seats of the stools and the Book
of the Dead, rendering them cracked and fragile.[187] The objects were displayed within a
single small room, refurbished in the 1960s, which then-museum director Silvio
Curto said gave visitors "a good idea of the place at the moment of discovery".[161]
[206]
They were moved to a larger gallery in the 2000s, and redisplayed again in 2015 in
an even more spacious gallery after the Museo Egizio underwent extensive renovations.
[206]
Notes
1. ^ His name is also rendered as KhaꜤ[2] (with an Egyptological ayin) or Khai.[3]
2. ^ Beginning with the title of Ernesto Schiaparelli's 1927 publication, Kha has been
commonly referred to as an "architect".[7][8][9] His role is otherwise equated to a "foreman".
[10][11][12]
3. ^ Ernesto Schiaparelli considered Kha to have spent the bulk of his career under the
preceding king, Thutmose III, based on seals bearing his throne name within the tomb,
and the lack of a royal gift from that ruler.[21] Schiaparelli suggested Kha was born late in
the reign of Thutmose I, and placed his death in the reign of Amenhotep III, making him
over 100 years old at death.[22] From examination of his mummy, it is estimated Kha died
in middle age, making it is unlikely that he was a mature professional over 60 years
earlier during the rule of Thutmose III.[23] It may instead reflect the use of this king's name
long after his reign.[24]
4. ^ Russo suggests Kha entered the bureaucracy at the end of his career based on these
two titles.[25] Eleni Vassilika suggests "royal scribe" was an early position he held,[17] while
Russo considers it was late in his career based on the style and intricacy of the two
staffs the title appears on.[26] The Egyptologist Dimitri Laboury [fr] doubts the title referred
to Kha at all as the texts in both the chapel and tomb have many grammatical errors. He
posits the sticks were gifts from a colleague who bore the title.[27]
5. ^ The standard numbering system for private tombs in the Theban necropolis was
implemented by the Antiquities Service in the early 1900s and published by the
Egyptologists Alan Gardiner and Arthur Weigall in 1913. Tombs and chapels discovered
later were added in sequence.[40] Kha and Merit's burial chamber, separated from their
chapel, was initially given the tomb number 269 before being connected with the
existing chapel number.[41]
6. ^ Brief descriptions of the find were published as early as March 1906. A description of
the contents appeared in 1908 when the gallery displaying the objects opened.
Schiaparelli himself authored two brief letters in 1906, and a very brief, partial
description of the goods and their owner, Kha, in 1920.[87][88]
7. ^ Kha and Merit are presumed to have lived in Deir el-Medina.[121] No house can be
definitely assigned to them. Vassilika and Russo consider the possibility that they lived
temporarily in the village during work periods and had a separate residence elsewhere,
based on the large quantity of furniture and the small house sizes in the workmen's
village.
