The usual tomb plan consisted of a long inclined rock-cut corridor, descending through one or more halls (possibly mirroring the descending path of the sun god into the underworld[48]) to the burial chamber. In the earlier tombs, the corridors turn 90 degrees at least once (such as KV43, the tomb of Thutmose IV), and the earliest ones had cartouche-shaped burial chambers (for example, KV43, the tomb of Thutmose IV).[49] This layout is known as 'Bent Axis',[50] After the burial the upper corridors were meant to be filled with rubble and the entrance to the tomb hidden.[51] After the Amarna Period, the layout gradually straightened, with an intermediate 'Jogged Axis' (the tomb of Horemheb, KV57 is typical of this and is one of the tombs that is sometimes open to the public), to the generally 'Straight Axis' of the late Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasty tombs (Ramesses III's and Ramesses IX's tombs, KV11 and KV6 respectively).[52] As the tombs' axes straightened, the slopes also lessened. They almost disappeared in the late Twentieth Dynasty.[53] Another feature that is common to most tombs is the 'well', which may have originated as an actual barrier intended to stop flood waters from entering the lower parts of the tomb. It seems to have developed a 'magical' purpose later on as a symbolic shaft.[49] In the later Twentieth Dynasty, the well itself was sometimes not excavated, but the well room was still present.[49][54]
