Tutankhamun was buried in a tomb (KV62) that was unusually small considering his status. His death may have occurred unexpectedly, before the completion of a grander royal tomb, causing his mummy to be buried in a tomb intended for someone else. The entire chamber was occupied by four gilded wooden shrines which surrounded the king's sarcophagus. Currently the only item in the burial chamber of King Tutankhamun is his quartzite sarcophagus. The sarcophagus contains the golden coffin which in turn contained the mummy of the young pharoah, Tutankhamun.

Though the chamber looked as if it housed very little items, the burial chamber inside the tomb had the most important and glorious treasure ever found within Egypt— Tutankhamun’s mummy, his solid gold coffin, and his death mask. The little space that was left between the large blue and gold shrine and the tomb walls of the northern wall included boat ores and an Imiut Fetish (emblem of Anubis) positioned ever so neatly across. The burial chamber encompassed a more sophisticated view in that it was not filled with hundreds of items such as the annex room, the treasury room, or the antechamber. The elegance of this room was made obvious through the reliefs on the wall and the large golden shine that encased two more shrines and Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus.

circa 1325 BCE

Northern Wall
North wall of the King Tut's burial chamber bears a three act narrative, arranged to be read from right to left (east to west). The first scene (right) presents the opening scene with a king – the figure on the right – conducting, as sem-priest (most likely Ay), the Opening of the Mouth ceremony for a mummiform figure (Tutankhamun) shown standing on the left. In the next scene and in the middle of the mural, Tutankhamun is seen as a young boy being greeted by the Goddess Nut. To the left side of the mural is Tutankhamun embracing Osiris. This scene shows the pharaoh perhaps being accepted into the afterlife. Behind him stands his Ka (his spiritual representation) embracing Tutankhamun.

circa 1325 BCE

Western Wall
The western wall of the burial chamber depicts the twelve hours of the King's journey through the Amduat (That Which Is In the Afterworld). Like many funerary texts, it was found written on the inside of the pharaoh's tomb for reference. It tells the story of Ra, the Egyptian sun god who travels through the underworld, from the time when the sun sets in the west and rises again in the east. It is said that the dead Pharaoh is taking this same journey, ultimately to become one with Ra and live forever.

circa 1325 BCE

Southern Wall
The representations of the king with various deities (Anubis, Isis, Hathor and others now destroyed) on the south wall. Though a great deal of the painting on this wall was damaged, the other half shows Tutankhamun surrounded by the God Anubis and the Goddess Hathor. In their hands they are holding Ankhs which symbolize Tutankhamun’s eternal life in the Afterworld. The southern wall of the burial chamber was unfortunately damaged as there was no door to easily access the room. From the antechamber, Howard Carter chiseled his way through damaging a portrait of the Goddess Isis that would have been on the opposite side of the wall.

circa 1325 BCE

Eastern Wall
The eastern wall on the tomb is much more dramatic. Upon this wall, the king is being carried to his tomb by mourners, high officials of Upper and Lower Egypt, and possibly Horemheb towards the rear procession. In this scene, Tutankhamun’s body is being slid across the ground upon a ship that has been anchored on a sled with a canopy used to shelter and protect his mummy.

circa 1325 BCE

Funerary Shrines, Sarcophagus and Coffins
The entire chamber was originally filled with four gilded wooden shrines encasing the sarcophagus. The outermost shrine (inspect), constructed of multiple gessoed wooden panels overlaid with gold, measured approximately 5.08 meters in length, 3.28 meters in width, and 2.75 meters in height. Its surfaces were decorated with motifs such as djed pillars and tet-knots, and its interior bore inscriptions from the Book of the Dead. The ceiling featured winged solar discs and thirteen vultures. Between this and the second outer shrine stood a wooden pall frame (4.32 m x 2.93 m x 2.78 m), originally covered by a linen cloth (5.5 m x 4.4 m) embroidered with gilded bronze stars intended to represent the night sky. This linen was irreparably damaged during the 1924–1925 excavation hiatus, when Carter and his team were denied access to the tomb.

The second outer shrine measured 3.75 meters in depth, 2.35 meters in width, and 2.25 meters in height. Made from sixteen large wooden sections, it was fully coated in gold leaf and gesso both inside and out. Its roof was treated with black resin segmented by gilded bands—a decorative style also used for coffins of earlier royal ancestors. Notably, the cartouches on this shrine had been reinscribed: the original name beneath the gilding appears to contain the element “-aten,” suggesting the name Tutankhaten had been altered to Tutankhamun. The third outer shrine, slightly smaller at 3.4 meters in length, 1.92 meters in width, and 2.15 meters in height, was assembled from ten sections and similarly gilded. It was decorated with sunken reliefs and extracts from Egyptian funerary texts.

The innermost shrine, measuring 2.9 meters by 1.4 meters by 1.9 meters high, was built from five gold-covered wooden sections. It is believed to symbolically represent the “Palace of the North.” Enclosed within this final shrine was the quartzite sarcophagus, measuring 2.75 meters in length, 1.33 meters in width, and 1.49 meters in height. Its red granite lid, cracked across its width, had been repaired with gesso and painted yellow. It has been proposed that the hieroglyphs on the sarcophagus were reworked to bear the name of Tutankhamun, possibly indicating that it was originally made for someone else—perhaps bearing his earlier name, Tutankhaten—though the identity of any prior intended occupant remains unknown.

The sarcophagus contains the golden coffin, which held the mummified remains of Tutankhamun himself. Today, the sarcophagus remains the only object left within the burial chamber.

circa 1325 BCE

Mummy
The mummified body of Tutankhamun was discovered within the innermost of three nested coffins, the last being made of solid gold and placed inside the quartzite sarcophagus. The mummy was found in a fragile and carbonized condition, likely caused by a chemical reaction between embalming substances and the confined environment. Adorned with gold amulets, rings, and a beaded skullcap, many of these objects had fused to the resin-coated wrappings. During the initial excavation, Carter’s team had to physically dismantle parts of the body in order to retrieve these embedded items. Modern examinations, including CT scans and DNA analysis, have contributed to a better understanding of the king’s age at death, health conditions, and genetic lineage. The mummy, although separated from its original burial assemblage, is currently preserved and displayed in a climate-controlled glass case within the tomb itself, KV62, in accordance with conservation protocols for human remains.