The mummy of Yuya was discovered partially wrapped, with only his torso exposed due to ancient robbers. When Yuya’s body was removed from his innermost coffin, a partially strung necklace made of large gold and lapis lazuli beads was found behind his neck. It was likely dropped there by looters.
Yuya, a courtier from Akhmim, Egypt, held various titles including “King’s Lieutenant Master of the Horse Father-of-the-god.” He was a prophet of Min, the chief god of the area, and served as the deity’s “Superintendent of Cattle.” His mummy was found in the Valley of the Kings along with his wife Thuya’s in Tomb KV46 in 1905 by British Egyptologist James Edward Quibell. Yuya was buried in a rectangular wooden sarcophagus placed against the north wall, with a lid shaped like the vaulted per-nu shrine of Lower Egypt.
Yuya and Thuya’s tomb was considered the most famous “untouched” tomb until the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb (Yuya and Thuya’s great-grandson) 16 years later. Despite Yuya not being a king, their tomb was one of the most spectacular ever found in the Valley of the Kings. Although the burial site was robbed in antiquity, many objects not deemed worth plundering by the robbers remained. Both mummies were largely intact and in an excellent state of preservation. Their faces, in particular, were relatively undistorted by the mummification process, providing an extraordinary insight into their appearance in life.
Sir Grafton Elliot Smith described Yuya’s mummy as one of the finest examples of embalming practices of the 18th Dynasty. The mummy is that of an older man with thick, wavy hair that appears yellowish, likely bleached by the embalming materials rather than naturally blonde. Smith noted that Yuya’s hair was white when he died. His body cavity was packed with balls of linen soaked in resins, and his perineum was thickly coated with resinous material, completely covering his genitals.
Quibell, J. E.; Smith, Grafton Elliot (1908). Tomb of Yuaa and Thuiu. Le Caire Impremerie De L’Institut Francais D’Archeologie Orientale. pp.IV
Yuya’s arms were crossed over his chest with the fingers extended. His eye sockets were packed with linen, and his eyelids had been pulled closed.
Studies estimate that Yuya died between the ages of 50 and 60.
