There are two separate looting issues in TT16. The most noticeable feature of the tomb’s state of preservation is the damage done by robbers who have hacked out 6 scenes in the tomb. This damage was done before the 1980s. In her book City of the Dead. Thebes in Egypt, (1987) Lise Manniche makes reference to the clearing of the tomb: “The passage behind the transverse hall has been cleared in recent years and a shaft leads deep into the rock to a burial chamber below. The path is littered with bones and fragments of paintings provisionally stored in baskets.” A photo of the scene next to the tree goddess in room 1 (on p. 75) shows that damage had been done before the date of publication. A color photo published in a different book in 1965 (Egyptian painting and the Ancient East by Robert Boulanger) shows the same image of the seated couple behind the tree goddess in the first room intact. Since the exact date these photos were taken is unknown, and the exact date of the conservation is unknown, we can only narrow down the time frame to about 20 years, between the mid-1960s and the mid -1980s. This gives us our 20 year estimate for the time frame in which the robbing occurred.
The exact date of the clearing and conservation is unknown, but an initial inquiry at the west bank taftish indicated the work was done by the Egyptian government in the 1950s or early 1960s. Several areas of old plaster fall were filled in with a modern mud and straw mixture, typical of conservation from the mid-20th century. These areas of older damage are recorded in Baud and Droiton’s epigraphic volume on the first room (MIFAO 57.2; 1932), and are visible in the 1960s Chicago House photos. The theft of the scenes occurred after the government restoration as the cut marks of the looters sometimes extend into the conserved areas. Also, if the damage had been there when government work occurred those areas surely would have been restored with the rest of the tomb.
Chicago House photos taken in 1956/1957 show some of the tomb intact before the SCA conservation and clearing. Center of Documentation photos date to 1999 and show the damage already done (as expected since Manniche’s 1987 publication shows it already damaged). In 2007, one of the former inhabitants of the home on the hill above the tomb stopped by one day and told me that the tomb had been standing open without any door as recently as 15 years ago. This fits with what others have told me about the installation of doors on the tombs in the 1980s. Theft of the scenes could have easily happened any time before that as the tomb sits very close to the main road and would have been easily accessible. It is also situated between two alabaster factories at the base of a hill, so anyone entering the tomb could do so without being too visible.
These two images demonstrate the level of damage present in the tomb. The looter damage in the center of the color photo is adjacent to an area of earlier restoration style. The looters probably intentionally avoided taking the image of Amunhotep I on his carrying chair since it was reasonably well known. With careful preparation, the looters could have easily carved off the names and titles of the individuals in the scene, rendering them annonymous Ramesside people. Throughout the tomb, the looters focused on taking the heads and upper torsos of the figures, and in some places deliberately avoided text or any unusual scenes that could identify which tomb they came from.
Kuna mambo mawili tofauti ya kuiba katika TT16. Sehemu ya kwanza ya ukumbusho wa kaburi hilo ni uharibifu uliosababishwa na wezi ambao wamepanga sehemu sita za kaburi hilo. Uharibifu huo ulifanyika kabla ya miaka ya 1980. Katika kitabu chake City of the Dead. "Lise Manitch, Mtaalamu wa Mawe wa Thebes, anasema: ""Msafara ulio nyuma ya ukumbi wa msalaba umefanywa wazi katika miaka ya hivi karibuni na shaft inaongoza ndani ya mwamba kwa chumba cha mazishi chini." Njia hiyo imejaa mifupa na vipande vya michoro vilivyohifadhiwa kwa muda katika vikapu. <unk> Picha ya eneo lililo karibu na mungu-mke wa miti katika chumba cha 1 (p. 75) inaonyesha kwamba uharibifu ulikuwa umefanywa kabla ya tarehe ya kuchapishwa. Picha ya rangi iliyochapishwa katika kitabu tofauti mnamo 1965 (Mchoro wa Misri na Mashariki ya Kale na Robert Boulanger) inaonyesha picha hiyo hiyo ya wanandoa walioketi nyuma ya mungu wa mti katika chumba cha kwanza bila kuharibiwa. Kwa kuwa tarehe halisi ya picha hizo hazijulikani, na tarehe halisi ya uhifadhi haijulikani, tunaweza tu kupunguza muda hadi miaka 20 hivi, kati ya katikati ya miaka ya 1960 na katikati ya miaka ya 1980. Hii inatuwezesha kuamua ni miaka 20 au zaidi ambayo wizi ulifanyika. Tarehe halisi ya uharibifu huo haijulikani, lakini uchunguzi wa kwanza katika eneo la West Bank Taftish ulionyesha kazi hiyo ilifanywa na serikali ya Misri katika miaka ya 1950 au mapema 1960. Sehemu kadhaa za maporomoko ya plaster ya zamani zilijazwa na mchanganyiko wa kisasa wa matope na nyasi, ya kawaida ya uhifadhi kutoka katikati ya karne ya 20. Sehemu hizi za uharibifu wa zamani zimeorodheshwa katika Baud na Droiton's epigraphic volume kwenye chumba cha kwanza (MIFAO 52.32), na zinaonekana katika picha za 1960 za Chicago House. Wizi wa mandhari ulitokea baada ya kurudishwa na serikali kwani alama za kukata za waporaji wakati mwingine huenea katika maeneo yaliyohifadhiwa. Pia, kama uharibifu ulikuwapo wakati kazi ya serikali ilipotokea maeneo hayo bila shaka yangerudishwa pamoja na sehemu nyingine za kaburi. Picha za nyumba zilizochukuliwa mwaka 1956 na 1957 zinaonyesha baadhi ya makaburi hayo yakiwa yamebaki kabla ya SCA kuwahifadhi na kuifuta. Picha za kituo cha nyaraka ni tarehe ya 1999 na kuonyesha uharibifu tayari kufanyika (kama inatarajiwa tangu Manniche ya 1987 kuchapishwa inaonyesha tayari kuharibiwa). "Mwaka wa 2007, mmoja wa wakazi wa zamani wa nyumba iliyokuwa juu ya kilima cha kaburi alisimama na kuniambia kwamba kaburi lilikuwa limesimama wazi bila mlango hata miaka 15 iliyopita.""" "Hii inalingana na kile wengine waliniambia kuhusu ufungaji wa milango kwenye makaburi katika miaka ya 1980.""" Wizi wa picha hizo ungeweza kutokea wakati wowote kabla ya hapo, kwa kuwa kaburi hilo liko karibu sana na barabara kuu na lingekuwa rahisi kulifikia. Pia, kaburi hilo liko kati ya viwanda viwili vya kutengeneza mawe ya alabasti, na hivyo mtu yeyote angeweza kuingia ndani ya kaburi hilo bila kuonekana sana. Picha hizi mbili zinaonyesha kiwango cha uharibifu uliopo katika kaburi hilo. Uharibifu wa waporaji katikati ya picha ya rangi ni karibu na eneo la mtindo wa ukarabati wa awali. Yaelekea waporaji hao walijaribu kuepuka kwa makusudi kuchukua sanamu ya Amun-hotep I kwenye kiti chake cha kubebea mizigo kwa kuwa ilikuwa inajulikana sana. Kwa maandalizi ya uangalifu, waporaji wangeweza kwa urahisi kuchonga majina na vyeo vya watu katika eneo hilo, na kuwafanya watu wasiojulikana wa Ramesseside. Katika sehemu zote za kaburi, waporaji walikazia fikira kuchukua vichwa na sehemu ya juu ya mwili wa sanamu hizo, na katika sehemu fulani walijaribu kuepuka maandishi au picha zozote zisizo za kawaida ambazo zingeweza kuonyesha kaburi ambalo sanamu hizo zilitoka.