This unusual separation contributed to its survival, allowing the entrance to be quickly buried by debris. Their tomb was discovered in February 1906 in excavations conducted by the Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli on behalf of the Italian Archaeological Mission, dug into the base of the cliffs opposite the chapel. The texts of the chapel were defaced during the Amarna Period and later restored, indicating it predated the reign of Akhenaten. The paintings show Kha and Merit receiving offerings from their children and appearing before Osiris, god of the dead. The pyramidion was reused in antiquity, and although in a ruined state, scenes from the chapel were copied in the 19th century by early Egyptologists including John Gardiner Wilkinson and Karl Lepsius. The couple's painted pyramid-chapel was known since at least 1824 when one of their funerary stele entered the collection of the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy. Kha died in his 50s or 60s, while Merit died before him, seemingly unexpectedly, in her 30s. He and his wife Merit had three known children, one of whom also worked in the royal necropolis. Of unknown background, he rose to his position through skill and was ultimately rewarded for his work by at least one king. Kha was an "overseer of works" at Deir el-Medina in the mid- Eighteenth Dynasty, where he was responsible for royal tombs constructed in the reigns of pharaohs Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III. They are known for their undisturbed tomb discovered in 1906 which is considered the best preserved non-royal burial in Egypt. Theban Tomb 8, abbreviated TT8, is the funerary chapel and tomb of the ancient Egyptian foreman Kha and his wife, Merit.
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