The Discovery of King Tut's Tomb

There have been many great archaeologists who have studied ancient civilizations, but Howard Carter's persistence led him into a golden world that had not been entered for more than 3,200 years. In 1922, he discovered one of the richest tombs found intact in Egypt, that of Pharoah Tutankhamen. Howard Carter was born in Swaffam, England. He was one of eight children. When his family moved to London, Howard was left behind to be raised by his aunts because of poor health. He grew up without many friends and often felt isolated.

When he was eight years old while visiting his father in London,he went to see an Egyptian exhibit at Didlington Hall. He then became fascinated with Egypt and mummies. On a return visit as a teenager, he became even more interested in Egypt.

Howard Carter started his career as a painter sketching pictures. His father was also a painter. At 17, he became a tracer for the Egyptian Exploration Fund in May, 1891. He went to Egypt and trained under the British archaeologist, Flinders Petrie. There Howard learned the techniques of digging and the language of Arabic. He was appointed Inspector of Antiquities in 1899 and he began working in the Valley of the Kings. He was successful because of his ideas. Putting up iron gates to stop thieves and using electric lights in tombs were his ideas.

Carters career really took off when the Antiquities Services gave him money to excavate a tomb of his own in 1900. He joined forces with Lord Carnarvon in 1909 and continued digging in the Valley of the Kings. While working in the Valley of the Kings, he read the excavations of Theordore Davis. Carter learned of a blue cup, pieces of gold foil near the tomb of Ramses VI, and a jar wrapped in cloth with the name Tutankhamen on it.

In 1917, Carter began the difficult task of digging around Ramses VI Tomb. Near the tomb, he found the remains of ancient huts and assumed that they had been put up in the time of Ramses VI, who reigned after Tutankhamen.

In June 1922, after Lord Carnarvon had spent about two million dollars, he wanted to stop digging. Carter convinced him to give him one more try. After the workmen had removed a group of huts , rock, and soil; they found a step cut in the rock. Carter realized that most tombs in the valley had stairways cutting into the rock.

On November 6, 1922, as the men were digging out the twelfth step, something caught Carter's eye. He noticed the upper part of the doorway was blocked, plastered, and sealed. Carter found no name, but recognized a familar seal indicating that the tomb had been built for a very important person. The opening was small, compared to that of the average King?s tomb. The door had a horizontal beam above the opening. Carter and his men continued digging and on November 24, with Lord Carnarvon and his daughter at the site; all sixteen steps of the staircase were in clear view and the doorway was exposed. Carter examined the lower part of the door and read the name, Tutankhamen. Soon after, Carter discovered a passageway behind the door that slopped downward.

On November 26, the workmen reached the end of a 30 ft. passageway and another sealed door. After making a small hole in the upper left corner, Carter pushed an iron rod through and saw "wonderful things". After widening the opening, Carter and the workmen went into the tomb. Everything was exactly as it had been more than three thousand years before. Besides the glorious gold throne found under a bed, there were vases, couches, chariots, statues, jewelry, and a beautiful ostrich feather fan in perfect condition. There was even the scent of perfume that had lingered through- out the years. In another chamber, Carter discovered a huge shrine. Inside the solid gold coffin was the mummy of King Tutankhamen, perfectly preserved. He also found the king wearing a solid gold mask. A wreath of flowers was lying on it. The wreath probably had been put there by the kings wife, Ankhesenamen. On November 29, 1922, Carter opened the tomb to the public.

A small group of officials and the London Times were present in the Antechamber. Reporters from all over the world came to the Valley of the Kings to write their front- page articles causing ?Tutmania?. Tension began to build between Lord Carnarvon and Carter because of "Tutmania". The "Curse of King Tutankhamen" was mentioned in the newspapers when Carter?s canary was eaten by a cobra. The cobra was a symbol of the Epyptian Kings that had taken revenge on the bird for revealing King Tutankhamen's tomb. Carter and Lord Carnarvon also fought on how to divide the tomb's treasures. Carnarvon wanted to keep the treasures because he had invested so much in excavation. Carter was interested in getting on with his work.

Suddenly on March 7, Lord Carnarvon became ill when he was biten by a mosquito. Carter went to Cairo and he made up with Lord Carnarvon before he died on March 5, 1923. After Lord Carnarvon's death, Carter closed the tomb. The treasures were sent to the Cairo Museum. Carter published a three volume book called The Tomb of Tutankhamen. He also became a good lecturer traveling to the United States and Canada.

When he returned to Cairo in 1925, he performed an autopsy. Carter wanted to know how the king had died. It was difficult trying to remove the black, hardened perfume from the layers of bandages. Carter found the body tissues had been burned by the oils. The king's head had been spared. Carter thought that King Tutankhemen looked like the man who was supposed to be his father in law. Carter wrote in his book that Akhenaton was Tutankhemen's father. Carter learned that King Tutankhamen was about eighteen or nineteen when he died. The reason for his death was a mystery.

The following season, Carter cleared the last two rooms in the tomb. He found the statue of Anubis. Carter aslo found a plain wooden chest containing a lock of hair from Tutankhamen's grandmother. The last items removed were the golden shrines from the burial room which were sent to the Cairo Museum in 1932. Howard Carter had stayed with the project for ten years. He died at the age of sixty five, but his work will be remembered for a long time.

Carter's refusal to give up and his determination to do things his way led to the greatest archaeological find of the century. He will be remembered as the archaeologist who discoved the only resting place that had not been violated by robbers. Carter's discovery provided people with information about life in the land of the pharaohs.

Bibliongraphy
Edwards, I.E.S. Tutankhamun. New York, N.Y: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1976.
MacQuitty Willam. Tutankhamun-The Last Journey. New York, N.Y: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1977.
Reeves, Nicholas. Into the Mummy's Tomb.Toronto, Ortario: Madison Press Books, 1992