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Howard Carter
By the time he discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, British
archaeologist Howard Carter had been excavating Egyptian antiquities The Metropolitan Museum of Art
returned this lapis lazuli sphinx
for three decades. At the time of the discovery, archaeologists believed bracelet inlay from its collection to
that all the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, across the river from Egypt because it had been stolen
ancient Thebes, had already been cleared. Carter believed otherwise and from the tomb of King Tut.
was driven to prove he was right.
Carter had been excavating in the Valley of the Kings under the Photo courtesy of the
patronage of George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon (better known Metropolian Museum of Art, New York.
as the real-life Lord of the fictitious Downton Abbey home) since 1917,
but by 1922 he still had not made any finds of major significance.
When Lord Carnarvon threatened to withdraw his funding, Carter the third and innermost coffin is made of solid gold and was found
convinced Carnarvon to bankroll a final excavation season. The request wrapped in linen. Tutankhamun was laid to rest within this innermost
paid off, and on November 4, 1922, Carter’s team discovered the top coffin, with his death mask among other items on him.
of a staircase. Further digging revealed a door to what would turn out Tutankhamun’s gold death mask, created in the likeness of the
to be Tutankhamun’s tomb. Three weeks later, on the 26th, Carter deceased to help their souls recognize their own bodies and return to
smashed a hole into a stone wall in an underground hallway there. them, provides us with another likeness of the boy king. Placed on
Asked if he could see anything as he aimed his flashlight into the dark- Tut’s face, the 21-inch-long (53 centimeters) ornate mask was manu-
ness, Carter replied, “Yes, wonderful things,” according to his book The factured mainly from gold inlaid with semiprecious stones and colored
Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen, written with Arthur Cruttenden glass paste and weighs a whopping 22 pounds (10 kilograms). The
Mace in 1923. In fact, so great was Carter’s find that it took eight years mask depicts Tutankhamun with a long beard and a headdress bearing
for all the objects in the tomb to be documented and removed.
a cobra and a vulture. On the back of the death mask is a spell from the
Book of the Dead, written in hieroglyphs, which “guaranteed the mask’s
ability to function as the face of the deceased.” The third innermost
coffin that Tutankhamun was buried in has the same spell written on it.
Tutankhamun was buried with two daggers – one with an iron
blade placed by his right thigh and one with a gold blade placed above
his abdomen. Both daggers were found wrapped in different layers of
the pharaoh's mummy bandages. The iron used in the dagger was out
of this world, crafted from a meteorite, with a pommel made of rock
crystal. Both daggers have a gold handle with intricately carved patterns.
Both daggers show signs of wear, although it is not certain whether
either dagger was ever used in a hunt or some other activity.
At least four board games were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Some of the boards and game pieces found in the tomb were made of
ivory, and the boards seem designed for the “game of twenty” and
“senet.” Neither game’s rules are entirely clear. The Grand Egyptian
Museum notes that senet was played with a board of 30 squares and the
goal “was to safely navigate all the pieces off the board while preventing
the opponent from doing the same.” The “game of twenty” rules are
also uncertain. Among scholars who have studied the game, “it is
generally assumed that the two players started on each of the opposite
sides of the board” and that “they then moved their pieces down the
central aisle toward the final field and off the board to win the game.”
One of the lesser-known
Harry Burton and Howard Carter examine King Tut’s sarcophagus. treasures from Tutankhamun’s
tomb is a mannequin used to
help choose, adjust, and store
Three months later, in February 1923, Carter entered the burial
chamber to find Tut’s sarcophagus. His mummified remains, hidden the king’s wardrobe and jewelry.
Tut was a very snappy dresser
from the light of day for more than 3,000 years, were about to propel with a huge wardrobe, both
this marginalized and long-forgotten king of ancient Egypt into the for his life and afterlife.
media spotlight and make him a household word that still draws big Carter uncovered hundreds
crowds a century later. of garments – 12 sumptuous

robes, dozens of sandals,
Hidden Treasures underwear, socks, and even
In total, it is said that over 5,000 objects were eventually removed Tut’s baby clothes.
from the tomb. The trove of items from his life and for the afterlife, as
well as Tut’s well-preserved body, provide Egyptologists, scientists, and
historians with an unprecedented look into the young king’s life and This 1923 advertisement
the times in which he lived to help piece together his story. Here are makes reference to the discovery
just a few of the many items that help bring King Tut to life: of the tomb of Tutankhamun:
Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus is probably the most known and rec- “A Treat for ‘Tut.’
ognized artifact to come out of the burial chamber. Tut was laid to rest After 3,000 years, if old
within three coffins nested within each other and weighing in total Pharaoh ‘Tut’ would come to
about 1.25 tons (1.3 metric tons). All three coffins show Tutankhamun life - oh, what a thirst! He
with a long beard and holding a crook and flail. The Egyptian Ministry would probably call for a
of Tourism and Antiquities notes that the outer coffin is made of gilded Ward’s ‘Crush”‘first thing ...”
wood and has blue and red glass on its crook and flail. The second cof-
fin is also made of gilded wood and was found with several plants— The Detroit News, 1923.
including disintegrating lotus flowers—on it. The Ministry notes that

16 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles