New 18th Dynasty tomb update

Obviously, there's a lot of stories coming out about this one. From all the reports, it's not going to turn out to be another exceptionally rich Tutankhamun-type thing. There are several small, uninscribed tombs in the VK (see Don Ryan's work, for example) that were probably meant to contain court officials and the like. Here's a roundup of some stories sent over the EEF:

A clear press report, with a brief interview with Patricia Podzorski, curator of Egyptian Art at the University of Memphis:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4700032.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4702060.stm

Note the map with find-spot and close-up photos of jars and coffin face.

Slideshow with photos also at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11252094/

And at
http://snipurl.com/mfjt

With close-up photo of coffins and a photo of Otto Schaden.
Also good photos of the discovered Amenhotep III head (see EEFNEWS 392), curiously mixed in with the tomb find.

Edwin Brock, co-director of the University of Memphis team, says "I don't think it's a royal tomb, maybe members of the court."
"Contemporaries of Tutankhamun are possible - or of Amunhotep III or even Horemheb," he said. Based on their style, the jars appear to date to the late 18th Dynasty:
http://snipurl.com/mfja

"It could be the gardener," Schaden joked to Hawass at he site. "But it's somebody who had the favor of the king because not everybody could come and make their tomb in the Valley of the Kings."
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=3734


University of Memphis press release, mainly containing information about the team/expedition (rather than the find):
http://www.memphis.edu/releases/feb06/kv10.htm


Two other reports:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article344496.ece

"The large storage jars [are] sealed with pharaonic seals,
according to Zahi Hawass. (..) The tomb is rectangular, and
the wooden sarcophagi are surrounded by the jars, which seem
to have been placed haphazardly, suggesting that the burial had
been completed quickly, according to Dr Hawass".
Some details of how the tomb was found are given.
"Some time ago a British team did remote sensing around
the tomb and said they thought there might be something
down there," said Dr Podvorzski [which refers to
http://www.ldolphin.org/egypt/egypt2/index.html ]
"The fact that the tomb contains a single chamber likely means it was
meant for only one mummy, Weeks said. More likely is that the
tomb was used as a storeroom for sarcophagi moved from
other tombs later -- either by priests to protect them from thieves,
or by thieves to stash before removing them completely. The
jars, he said, appear to be meat jars for food offerings."
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/09/egypt.new.tomb.ap/index.html


So, apparently, only the coffins and some offering jars are in there. There could be interesting items within the coffins, of course, and hopefully some texts.