Editing Tomb of Seti I (section)

== Archaeology and conservation ==
The tomb was uncovered by Italian explorer and early [[Egyptology|Egyptologist]] [[Giovanni Belzoni]]<ref>{{cite web |last=Dunn |first=Jimmy<!--source says "by Jimmy Dunn writing as Mark Andrews", whatever that means--> |title=The Tomb of Seti I |date=<!--none given--> |url=http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/seti1t.htm |access-date=March 7, 2014}}</ref> on 16 October 1817. Upon entering the tomb, Belzoni found the wall paintings in excellent condition with the paint on the walls still looking fresh, and some of the artists' paints and brushes still on the floor.<ref name="Romer107">{{cite book |title=The Rape of Tutankhamun |last1=Romer |first1=John |author-link1=John Romer (Egyptologist) |last2=Romer |first2=Elizabeth |year=1993 |publisher=Michael O'Mara Books Limited |isbn=1854791699 |page=107}}</ref> The tomb became known as the "Apis tomb" upon the discovery of a mummified [[Apis (deity)|Apis Bull]] found in a side room off the burial hall<ref>{{Cite web |title=KV17 (Tomb of Seti I) – Madain Project (en) |url=https://madainproject.com/kv17_(tomb_of_seti_i) |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=madainproject.com}}</ref> when Belzoni uncovered the tomb.
[[File:La tombe de Sethi 1er (KV.17) (Vallée des Rois, Thèbes ouest) -7.jpg|thumb|262x262px|Depiction of Osiris in the Tomb of Seti I. Jean-Pierre Dalbéra]]

The body identified as Seti's [[mummy]] was not found in his coffin upon Belzoni's discovery of the tomb, but rather in the royal cache [[Royal Cache|DB320]] amongst 36 other mummies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bart |first=Anneke |date=2004 |title=The Mummy Cache Found In DB320 |url=https://mathstat.slu.edu/~bart/egyptianhtml/mummycaches/DB320%20Cache.htm }}</ref> His coffin (perhaps the inner or secondary coffin) was heavily damaged, as was his mummy. It has been postulated that priests of numerous dynasties attempted restorations of both his tomb and his coffin, but his mummy was finally moved in the Year 11 of [[Shoshenq I]] to cache DB320.<ref>{{Cite web |title=View 19'th Dynasty Royal Mummies from DB320 & KV35 |url=https://members.tripod.com/anubis4_2000/mummypages2/19A.htm#Seti%20I |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=members.tripod.com}}</ref> The [[Sarcophagus of Seti I|outer coffin]] was going to be sold by Belzoni to the British Museum in 1817, but it was sold for US$2000 to architect [[John Soane|Sir John Soane]] later that year, and now rests in the [[Sir John Soane's Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-05-16 |title=Sarcophagus of Seti I |url=https://www.soane.org/sarcophagus-seti-i |access-date=2023-03-13 |website=www.soane.org |language=en}}</ref>

Much of the structural damage to the tomb before the 1950s and 1960s was caused by Belzoni. Belzoni, in an effort to bring back pieces of Egyptian art, damaged much of the work within the tomb. He made "squeezes", a form of copying artwork by pressing wet wax, plaster and sometimes paper against the reliefs; when they dried, the color was pulled away, and a negative impression was made of the carvings, but it also damaged many of the reliefs and carvings.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Factum |title=Factum Foundation :: Squeezes, an invasive conservation technique |url=https://www.factumfoundation.org/pag/1506/ |access-date=2023-03-13 |website=www.factumfoundation.org |language=en}}</ref> Beyond the use of "squeezes", Belzoni also hacked off large pieces of relief to send back to Europe, along with clearing rubble that held back flash floodwaters; the tomb subsequently flooded, damaging large portions of the structure and damaged the reliefs in the entryway.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wüst, Raphael & McLane, James |date=2000 |title=Rock deterioration in the Royal Tomb of Seti I, Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222896047 |publisher=Engineering Geology}}</ref>

The outer layer of the [[sarcophagus of Seti I]], removed on behalf of the British consul [[Henry Salt (Egyptologist)|Henry Salt]], is located in the [[John Soane|Sir John Soane]]'s [[Sir John Soane's Museum|Museum]] in [[London]] since 1824. [[Jean-François Champollion]], translator of the [[Rosetta Stone]], removed a wall panel of 2.26 x 1.05 m (7.41 x 3.44&nbsp;ft)<!-- These exact measurements are not mentioned in the cited sources (Coppola et al 2017, Hornung 2001) and they were included here before these citations were added, but these particular details seem likely to be verifiable somewhere else.  --> in a corridor with mirror-image scenes during his 1828–29 expedition. Other elements were removed by his companion [[Ippolito Rosellini|Rossellini]] or by [[Karl Richard Lepsius]] in the German expedition of 1845. The scenes are now in the collections of the [[Louvre]] in [[Paris]], the [[National Archaeological Museum, Florence|Egyptian Museum]] in [[Florence]], and the [[Neues Museum]] in [[Berlin]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Coppola |first1=M. |last2=Bracci |first2=S. |last3=Cantisani |first3=E. |last4=Magrini |first4=D. |date=2017 |title=The Tomb of Seti I (KV17) in the Florence Egyptian Museum. Integrated Non-Invasive Methods for Documentation, Material History and Diagnostics |journal=International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences |volume=XLII-5/W1 |pages=127–135|doi=10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-5-W1-127-2017 |bibcode=2017ISPAr42W4..127C |doi-access=free |hdl=2158/1120382 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Hornung |first=Erik |title=Valley of the Kings: The Tombs and Funerary Temples of Thebes West |publisher=VMB Publishers |year=2001 |isbn=978-8854009769 |editor-last=Weeks |editor-first=Kent R. |pages=195–211 |chapter=The Tomb of Seti I}}</ref>

A number of walls in the tomb have collapsed or cracked due to excavations in the late 1950s and early 1960s causing significant changes in the moisture levels in the surrounding rocks.<ref name=Romer25>{{cite book |title=The Rape of Tutankhamun |last1=Romer |first1=John |author-link1=John Romer (Egyptologist) |last2=Romer |first2=Elizabeth |year=1993 |publisher=Michael O'Mara Books Limited |isbn=1854791699 |pages=25–30}}</ref>

There have been a number of recent 21st century attempts at preservation, both through image-mapping projects like the Theban Mapping Project and the Maidan Project, and through intense laser scanning of the reliefs on the walls of the tomb by the Factum Foundation leading to much of the images within the tomb available to the public. A 3-D scan of the temple was made available in 2002, allowing viewers to 'walk' through the tomb through a series of 3D photos. Restoration has been a nearly constant effort, as the tomb remains closed due to damage.

Facsimiles of two rooms from the tomb, the Hall of Beauties and Pillared Hall J, were made by the Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.factumfoundation.org/pag/1502/|title=Factum Foundation :: The Tomb of Seti: recording and facsimile|last=Foundation|first=Factum|website=www.factumfoundation.org|language=en|access-date=2020-04-08}}</ref>