© Charles Chandler

 

Ay became pharaoh after Tutankhamun died. Apparently in the interest of preserving the artifacts of Atenism, Ay had Tutankhamun buried in a tomb other than the one planned for him, and all of the grave goods made for Akhenaten, Smenkhare, and Tutankhamun were stored there. Since everything was not neatly arranged, such that it would please Tutankhamun for eternity, it's possible that KV62 was being used as temporary storage, perhaps anticipating a more stable time when the artifacts could be re-interred more properly. Of course, the suppression of Atenism only became more forceful, and those who knew the location of the tomb never got a chance to re-open it. The artifacts lay undisturbed for 3241 years, until rediscovered by Howard Carter in 1922.