[4] Although Lepsius explored it in 1844 and 1845,[3] no further attempts to excavate the tomb were undertaken until Howard Carter started his clearance of the rock-hard fill in the corridor in the spring of 1903.

"[6] The second corridor was identical to previous sections, ending in a chamber with another set of stairs cut into the floor leading to a further hallway.

At this point work stopped "on account of the heat and the exhaustion of the air, owing to the great numbers of workmen required to carry out the excavation."

In this corridor Carter began encountering the remains of funerary items, mostly stone vases bearing the cartouches of Ahmose-Nefertari, Thutmose I, and Hatshepsut.

[6] Also found in the burial chamber were fifteen limestone slabs bearing chapters of the Amduat in red and black ink[6] and illustrated with 'stick figures' like those seen in the tomb of Thutmose III (KV34).

[10] Smaller finds included fragments of vases, bowls, and jars in stone and pottery, burnt pieces of coffins and boxes, the foot and face of a large wooden statue (probably a guardian statue), faience vases and ushabti coffins, and small pieces of inlay.

[6][8] Carter's excavation was completed at the end of March 1904, and the sarcophagi and canopic box were removed to Cairo,[6] although the sarcophagus of Thutmose I was given to Davis for the Boston Museum.

Some of the interior decoration at the head and foot ends was later hastily cut away, presumably during the reburial of Thutmose I, when it was discovered that it was slightly too small for his coffins.

[12] A box inscribed for Hatshepsut as pharaoh, containing the remains of a mummified liver or spleen was recovered from the DB320 royal cache.

[4] Other items associated with Hatshepsut, including the legs and footboard of a couch or bed and a fragmentary cartouche-shaped lid are of uncertain origin, but might come from either the Deir el Bahari cache or KV6 (tomb of Ramesses IX).

[13] Despite the foundation deposit of Hatshepsut and the existence of another tomb for Thutmose I, (KV38), it is now generally presumed that KV 20 originally was quarried for the latter king.

It also has been noted that the proportions of the KV20 burial chamber are different from those in the rest of the tomb and that they display a design relationship to the architecture of Hatshepsut's pharaonic mortuary temple.

[7][4] Therefore it has been suggested that KV20 originally extended only to its present penultimate chamber, in which Thutmose I first was interred, and that the tomb was re-cut and refurbished during the reign of Hatshepsut to accommodate the burial of both her and her father.