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If compared to other great rulers of Ancient Egypt who built great monuments, led groups into battle, or promoted change in religion, King Tutankhamun was not as important. King Tutankhamun was just a boy of eight when he became pharaoh during the middle of the fourteenth century B.C. Tut died of suspicious circumstances at the age of eighteen or nineteen, he only reigned a few years. He was quickly buried. For three thousand years his mummy rested in peace in the Valley of the Kings. English archaeologist, Howard Carter, discovered it in 1922 A.D. The discovery caused more excitement than his life or death together because his was the first tomb found undisturbed by tomb robbers. The tomb was filled with many golden statues and precious items. Carter said, "Yes, wonderful things," when asked what he saw because the sight made him speechless. Howard worked as an illustrator for Antiquities Service and as a draftsman. His work promoted him to be Chief Inspector of upper Egypt in 1899. While working in Egypt he decided to use his main hobby, painting. In 1903 he quit with the Antiquities Service and opened a little shop in Luxor to sell his paintings. At the same time he was quitting the Egyptian government was giving permission to lord Carnarvon to excavate near a valley of the kings. This valley of the kings was noticed as a burial ground for many royal pharaohs and noblemen. Carnarvon quickly realized he didn't have what it took to explore this place properly. Carter started working for Lord Carnarvon in 1907. Carter researched pharaohs and found out that there was still one more tomb to find. So he went to Lord Carnarvon to ask for more money to go and explore and find this tomb. Carter took a few people to the valley of the kings to look for the tomb, they only had two months to find it. Eventually one of them found what seemed to be a village. By early November one of his men struck something at first they thought it looked like the top of a flight of stairs. They cleared the are with excitement and care. They found that it was a flight of stairs with sixteen steps. Immediately after Carter's discovery Lord Carnarvon set sail for Egypt with his daughter, Lady Herbert, seventeen days after Carter discovered the tomb him, lord Carnarvon, his daughter, and the Inspectors of the Antiquities Service broke the seal on the door. After they went through a long passageway they came to another door they tried to open it but they needed more people. When they finally got it open they discovered that it was King Tutankhamen's tomb. After they were in they saw a lot of jewels stacked in piles. There were flowers that were still beautiful after 3,000 years. they looked across the room and saw two life-size statues of King Tut guarding another door. Carter thought this passageway would lead to the burial of the king's mummified body. They carefully took out everything examining it and recording everything making sure nothing got stolen when it was being shipped for safe keeping. After they cleared the first room they opened the next door and found a wall of gold. Behind the wall they found three coffins all had the image of Tut, one of them was completely gold and contained the now famous mask that was thought to look like the king when he was alive. Inside was the mummified body of king Tut. The body of Tut was layered with many layers of linens. underneath which was 143 items of jewels and amulets. After the discovery of Tut it took them ten years to finish clearing out the tomb. After they had the tomb cleared out they went back to London, and Illustrated newspaper articles to sell. |