Valley of the Kings public. At the same time, powerful and influential nobles began to be buried with the royal family; the most famous of these tombs is the joint tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu, KV46. They were possibly the parents of Queen Tiy. Until the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, this was the best-preserved of the tombs that had been discovered in the Valley. The return of royal burials to Thebes after the end of the Amarna period marks a change to the layout of royal burials, with the intermediate 'jogged axis' gradually giving way to the 'straight axis' of later dynasties.
Minor tombs in the Valley of the Kings was a tomb intended for Tetisheri, wife of Senakhtenre Tao I of the seventeenth dynasty. If so, this would be one of the earliest tombs in the valley. KV44 is situated in a side wadi, close to KV45. It was discovered and excavated by Carter in 1901 and has recently been re-examined by Ryan. It consists of a single chamber accessed by a shaft. When discovered the tomb was blocked and inside were discovered three mummies in wooden coffins, these belonged to Tentkerer, a lady of the house of Osorkon I, Heiufaa, and an unnamed songstress of Amun. These burials,