Tomb of Yuaa and Thuiu

James Edward Quibbell’s book Tomb of Yuaa and Thuiu was published in 1908 and is available on Internet Archive. Yuaa and Thuiu (Yuya and Thuya on Wikipedia) were ancient Egyptian courtiers…parents of Queen Tiye, the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III. The tomb was discovered in 1905 and was the best-preserved tomb discovered in the Valley of the Kings before that of Tutankhamun, their great-grandson. Both probably died in their early to mid-50s. Their mummies were largely intact, and the pictures of the faces show the sophistication of the mummification process in preserving the facial features.

Quibbell’s book includes many photographs of the contents of the tomb. He documented the find with many photographs very quickly after the initial discovery just as Carter would later do for the Tut tomb. Certainly, these finds and the documentation of them initially and over the years since, has increased the interest in ancient Egypt.

The initial publications may not be a starting point for learning about these finds now that there are books with color photographs of the artifacts, but they do provide insight from the historical perspective of the men that made the discoveries…and how much they learned from the excavation and first look at the artifacts. They are well worth browsing!