By Donald P. Ryan Some Observations Concerning Uninscribed Tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Knowing this, one is struck by the amazing lack of interest in and documentation for most of these tombs. Sheer numbers alone demand that these uninscribed monuments are worthy of attention as does their location in this most special of valleys. The term 'uninscribed' here refers to tombs which bear no inscriptions and generally applies to those tombs whose walls are blank. Examples of graffiti and masons' marks are not considered as intentional attempts to decorate the tombs.
Uninscribed tombs offer a host of intriguing problems.
Most obvious is the fact that one cannot simply 'read the walls' of a tomb to determine its date, ownership, and other information of interest. Without the crutch of texts and decorations, the tombs become archaeological problems compounded in the Valley of the Kings by their serious lack of documentation. Typically, most of the uninscribed tombs were savagely robbed in antiquity. This fact, combined with the tombs' relative simplicity, seems to have generated a profound lack of interest by their nineteenth century or early twentieth century discoverers. With archaeological thought and technique in its infancy and with the possibilities of richer, more colourful discoveries ahead, it is not surprising that these early excavators showed little interest in the examination or recording of uninscribed corridors and chambers and bits of broken wood and pottery.