Exacavation
of King Tutankhamen
In ancient
Egypt, a story of a boy king unfolded in which he would only rule
till his seventeenth year. For centuries, a fascination for that
youth led to many unsuccessful attempts in finding his tomb. During
the twentieth century, led by archaeologist Howard Carter, King
Tutankhamen was finally discovered in a valley ridiculed by others
as "exhausted." An understanding and examination of
Howard Carter's excavation and the history of Tutankhamen's tomb,
enhances the reader's appreciation of ancient Egyptian history
and the process modern archeologists undertake in rewriting history.
When that boy king unexpectedly died at the age of seventeen,
obviously his tomb was not ready for his passage into the afterlife.
Instead, the next ruler of Egypt Ay appropriated a tomb that might,
in fact, have been his very own. According to history, Ay had
been in charge of the young king's burial ceremony. With a time
span of only seventy days for the completion of the muffication
process, the future pharaoh had an impasse. Should Ay be faced
with not having a suitable tomb and disgrace the previous ruler?
Or as a sign of grace, the future ruler could donate his own,
ambient smaller tomb, to house the remains of the recently deceased.
In reality, Ay's tomb is a significant step down from the traditional
royal tomb. Comprised of only four rooms, the tomb barely contains
the all the artifacts and treasures for the next life. But having
a tomb readily on hand, being that he was already advanced in
years, the then future pharaoh utilizes his own burial room for
Tutankhamen. Also, being a chief priest of Egypt, Ay's original
tomb was located in the same proximity as Amenhotep III. That
ruler was the last pharaoh that worshipped the God Amen. After
his passing, Amenhotep IV's radical ideas shocked the Egyptian
world. Considered by many as a heretic, Amenhotep IV denounced
all the other Gods beside Aten. In starting a new religion, his
rule was absolute. No longer was the power play between the priests
and the pharaoh. He even moved the capital of Egypt to a barren
part of the desert. In granting the boy king to be buried near
Amenhotep III would certainly symbolize the return of Egyptian
culture back to its previous Gods and Goddesses.
Upon opening Tutankamen's final resting place, Mr. Carter knew
the meticulous care urgently needed in the excavation of the tomb.
Instead of hastening an expeditious excavation of the site, Howard
Carter wisely arranged for the clerisy of archeology to accompany
him on his journey. The primary exigency, before a single item
or relic was even moved, was the employment of a photographer
to record the tomb in its original grandeur. Knowing the immense
expertise and proficiency of such an undertaking, Mr. Carter called
upon the Metropolitan Museum of New York for their own master
photographer. In an unexpected act of deference towards their
rival archaeologist, the Museum gladly offered anyone from its
own extensive staff. First on aboard Carter's new excavation team
was photographer Harry Burton. The next members of the Metropolitan
following Burton were draughtsmen Mr. Hauser and Mr. Hall. Both
artists were previously indisposed at a rival excavation near
Carter's own and left their respective site to work alongside
Burton. Lastly, Mr. Mace, a director of New York's excavations
on a pyramid field at Lisht, was added to the guild. Using this
cooperation-operation between the two archaeological rivals, four
members of the Metropolitan Museum dedicated their services to
the uncovering of Tut's tomb. Satisfied with the newly formed
team, Carter unexpectedly acquired one more member to his congregation.
Mr. Lucas, formerly the director of the chemical department of
the Egyptian Government, readily offered his knowledge of chemicals.
With that final addition, Mr. Carter had his primary work staff
and went forth on the mission of uncovering King Tut.
The tomb is separated into four rooms. A staircase comprised of
sixteen steps leads to a mud-sealed doorway. On that door, several
necropolis guards in the form of seals ornament the front. Behind
that doorway is a descending passage. Upon entering a descending
passage, the excavators came to another door that was sealed.
To the left corner of the antechamber is the annexe, and to the
right of the antechamber is the burial chamber. From the burial
chamber is the treasury.
The antechamber, the first room excavated, contained many unique
artifacts. Carter explains the objects discovered as "types
well enough known to us; others were new and strange, and in some
cases these were complete and perfect examples of objects whose
appearance we had here to fore but guessed at from the evidence
of tiny broken fragments found in the other royal tombs."
Examples of specimens found in the antechamber vary from large
to small. Such as three gilt couches, with ends resembling animals,
with impeccable rendition of the heads. Other relics, include
two life size figures of Tutankhamen himself, painted in black
and facing one another as if some sort of guardians. Painted and
inlaid caskets spill onto the floor, as do the alabaster vases,
mysterious black shrines, and time worn bouquets of flowers. Another
wondrous discovery was an ancient chariot, possibly used by the
boy king.
The next room found was in the left corner of the antechamber.
It was discovered by chance from a small robber hole underneath
one of the couches. Labeled as the "annexe," it contained
numerous objects that were cluttered the floor, from a thief sifting
through the treasures, to such a degree that one could not walk
in without damaging the artifacts. The objects found in the annex
room were considerably smaller than those found in the antechamber.
An example is a chair made of precious materials such as ivory,
gold, wood, and leather. More vases, a painted box similar to
the one found in the antechamber, and other miscellaneous items.
Even a gaming board carved in color treated ivory was found in
the annex.
The burial chamber, or sepulchral chamber, contained the mummified
Tutankhamen. Gorgeous in its architectural execution, upon entering
the small room, a huge shrine was erected to protect the king's
sarcophagus. Grandiose in size, the shrine left little room for
navigation. Carter explains the dimensions of the shrine as "So
enormous was this structure (17 feet by 11 feet, and 9 feet high)
that it filled within a little the entire area of the chamber,
a space of some two feet only separating it..." Despite its
narrow appearance, the walls of the burial chamber were exquisite
decorated. When opening the shrine at its east end, another shrine
was underneath the first one. This shrine was bolted and sealed,
which erupted an emotion unbearable to all those on the excavation
team because it meant the sarcophagus, hence Tut's body, lay untouched.
After careful attention to the structure of the shrine, it was
revealed that in fact, four shrines protected the mummy of the
deceased pharaoh. Each shrine was encrusted with gold leaf and
inscribed with the traditional spells and writings that promise
the passage of the king to eternity. Also noted, each shrine was
built as a framework or box to protect the pharaoh, being that,
each inner shrine had no floor. Beneath the last shrine was the
sarcophagus of King Tutankhamen. Its lid was made of pink granite,
painted to compliment the base, and protected three coffins that
enclosed the body of the boy king. Directly under the sarcophagus,
was the first coffin that was wood overlaid with painted gold.
The second coffin was also decorated in the same flare. Only the
final third coffin held a surprise, its structure was entirely
of solid gold!
The final room in the tomb is the treasury. It is located on the
east side of the burial chamber and is protected by a stunningly
realistic looking Anubis jackal. Within the walls of the treasury
contains one of the most interesting specimens, Tutankhamen's
two stillborn mummified baby girls. Other items collected from
the treasury were model ships, the boy king's own viscera, each
in the traditional four canopic jars, and other precious stones.
The aforementioned viscera were found in canopic wooden shrine,
which housed a canopic chest.
In actuality, at least twice, ancient graver robbers desecrated
the tomb of King Tutankhamen. Yet, even though his final resting
grounds were violated, Tutankhamen's tomb still remains the most
intact of its kind yet found. Upon entering the site, Howard Carter
hypothesized how the robbers carried out their malicious deeds.
The first disruption occurred a few years after the tomb was completed.
Carter describes his first encounter of the remains of this act
as "There was broken scattered objects on the floor of the
entrance passage and staircase, proving that at the time of the
first attempt the passage-way between the inner and the outer
sealed doors was empty." But, the robbers did not make out
with most of the loot, being that the treasures taken were returned
into the chamber and the door resealed. Unfortunately, the person
or persons in charge of rearranging the displacement of objects
from the robbers did a substandard job. Yet, even though the remnants
of the first robbery are disarranged in an untidy state, the artifacts
of such an excavation are priceless. Subsequently, after that
robbery, the descending passage was completely covered in rubble
and stones. The next thieves that visited Tut's tomb had to dig
directly into the one of the chambers. These ancient plunders
caused grave harm to the annexe room. When Mr. Howard Carter discovered
the room in nineteen twenty-two, it was in complete disarray,
apparently from the robbers sifting through the treasures. "It
was quite evident that the plunders had turned everything topsy-turvy,
" explains Carter, "and that the present state of the
chamber was precisely that in which they had left it."
History reminded Carter of the irreparable damage of the accomplishments
of self-serving thieves. Hence, security at the excavation site
was airtight. Wisely, Carter knew the possibilities of his situation
and dutifully spared no expense in taking the precautionary methods
against any possible theft. In the midst of worldwide attention
and reporters alike, Howard Carter arranged for several devices
for protecting the newfound treasure against foreign invasion.
Firstly, before even Carter's initial announcement to the world
of his discovery, the tomb was reburied a least four times. Then,
during the excavation, the excavator took no chances. Three battalions
of watchmen, under supervision to a different authority, incessantly
probed the site. Even the government of Egypt, themselves, hired
guards to protect the tomb. Other contributors to the well being
of the site, were soldiers on loan from the Mudir of Kena and
the most loyal people from Carter's original group. In conjunction
with the heightened patrols, placed at the gates was a heavy wooden
grille at the entrance of the tomb. To further deter intruders,
the grille had four padlocks that required four different keys.
The separate keys were distributed to a different member of the
European staff, not to taken out of site.
With the announcement from the Times of the tomb's discovery,
Carter's humble excavation basked in the limelight seemingly overnight.
Scores of letters, telegrams, reporters, and visitors flooded
the site. Carter, always eager to welcome appreciative people,
was beleaguered with the problem of being a "showman"
instead of an archaeologist. Constant attention and cordial tours
to respected guests considerably delayed the entire excavation
process. The problem of guests came to such a hindrance that Carter
would gather a collection of objects for examination, reseal the
tomb, bury it, and then proceed to the adjacent tomb for examination
in the laboratory.
Yet, with fame and the world's attention came negative publicity.
Two weeks after the official opening of King Tut's tomb, The Earl
of Carnarvon died in the most curious of ways, which subsequently
caused a media panic. Many actually believed, with the members
of the press feeding the fabrication that the dead pharaoh had
cast a curse upon all those that disturbed his final resting place.
To the reporter's credit, Lord Carnarvon had indeed suffered an
unusual death. After two weeks transpired from the official unveiling
of the tomb, The Earl was inflicted with a mosquito bite. To further
severe the situation, while he was shaving the bite got infected.
Then, the enfeebled Carnarvon contracted pneumonia and passed
away at the age of fifty-seven. Ignoring the fact that Lord Carnarvon
was a semi-invalid from a motor accident twenty years ago, the
reporters hot on a story, contrived the a phony taboo. While Earl
Carnarvon's death may raise doubts, others that caused far more
intrusion into King Tut's tomb were spared this so called wrath.
Ironically, Howard Carter, the man responsible for discovering
the boy king's tomb, lived another seventeen years after his famous
endeavor to the age of sixty-five. Another prime victim for the
curse, being Dr. D. E. Derry, the one responsible for the autopsy
of Tutankhamen, lived until nineteen sixty-three. Lastly, the
survivor that outlived everybody was Lady Evelyn Herbert. Being
one of the first intruders into Tut's tomb, the Earl's daughter
lived until nineteen eighty to the age of seventy-nine. During
the time of the excavation, many believed King Tutankhamen had
a curse upon his tomb. Even notable celebrities of the time fueled
the media's speculation. Such famous individuals as novelist Mari
Corelli warned of potential consequences from entering the final
resting place of the pharaoh. Even Sir Conan Doyle, the infamous
creator of Sherlock Homes, declared to the world that Carnarvon's
death was the "Pharaoh's curse." Fortunately, modern
day scholars dismiss this fascination of a potential curse as
nonsense.
An appreciation of ancient Egyptian history and the meticulous
process modern archeologists undertake, such as Howard Carter's
excavation of Tutankhamen's tomb, enhances the reader's understanding
of such an undertaking. After ten years of research and recording
of Tutankhamen's tomb, Carter retired as an archaeologist and
became an antiques dealer. His famed excavation has become one
of the most famous, if not the most important discovery of ancient
Egypt. Seemingly overnight both Carter and Tutankhamen has become
household words. Now, immortalized in time both Carter and Tutankhamen
have become a coupled topic that will be studied, remembered,
and revered by generations to come.
