In October 2022, new revelations emerged about the most famous archaeological discovery of the 20th century when American Egyptologist Bob Brier published letters in his book Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World, suggesting that Howard Carter, the British archaeologist who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb, may have engaged in looting artifacts from the site.
According to Brier, both Egyptian authorities and contemporary archaeologists suspected that Carter and some of his collaborators had entered the tomb before the official opening and had removed items without registering them. The book details how Carter gifted objects from the tomb to his friend Sir Bruce Ingram, further fueling theories of looting. The controversy shed new light on the legacy of Carter, who lived his last years in solitude and died in 1939 at the age of 64, without receiving official recognition from the British government, something he considered a great disappointment.
Ironically, the "curse" associated with Tutankhamun's name and the controversies surrounding Carter only increased his fame worldwide. The interest in Tutankhamun's tomb remains strong even today, with visitors from around the world coming to see the funerary temple, which features scenes depicting funerary rituals and Tutankhamun with deities. Despite closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, which shut down many sites, they reopened in September with limited visitor numbers and protective measures, according to BBC News.
The tomb of King Tutankhamun is located in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt, and his mummy is housed in a glass chamber. Most of the treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb, including the golden mask and other artifacts, are displayed inside the Egyptian Museum, with some transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum.
Since its opening, the tomb of Tutankhamun became a tourist destination in Egypt, attracting around ten thousand visitors daily. Over the years, some changes were made in the way the tomb and its contents are displayed to preserve and protect them from damage, including the closure of original tombs. The expected lifespan of the tombs is reduced to less than a hundred years due to heavy foot traffic.
To address the issue, when the author took over the Supreme Council of Antiquities, they converted Carter's rest house in the Valley of the Kings into a museum for all his belongings. They also created replicas of the tombs, including Tutankhamun's tomb, Seti I's tomb, and Queen Nefertari's tomb, to reduce wear on the original sites.
After years of excavating without results, Carter's persistence paid off when he and his team discovered a step leading down into the entrance of Tutankhamun's tomb on November 4, 1922. The tomb had been hidden by debris near the entrance to another tomb. On November 26, 1922, Carter made a small opening in the door of the tomb and looked inside. When asked by Earl Carnarvon if he saw anything, Carter replied, "Yes, I see wonderful things," a phrase that would go down in history.
Inside, they found more than 5,000 artifacts, including a golden coffin containing the mummy of the young king, his gold mask, chariots, jewelry, and numerous figurines, many in perfect condition. Tutankhamun, popularly referred to as "King Tut" today, ruled from about 1332 BCE until his death around 1323 BCE, ascending to the throne while still a child at the age of eight or nine. His death at about age 19 may explain the smaller tomb, as preparations for a larger tomb may not have been complete due to the unexpected nature of his death. Despite the modest size and architectural design of his tomb compared to other tombs, it was filled with wealth, which puzzled researchers.
It was the first time that archaeologists had the opportunity to see an ancient Egyptian tomb in its original state, with all the treasures with which the ancient Egyptians sent off their rulers. The discovery occupied the headlines in the foreign press, becoming a sensation with tourists flocking to Egypt and false news about the deaths of expedition members shrouding Tutankhamun in a new veil of mystery. Shortly after the tomb's discovery, the death of Earl Carnarvon in 1923 fueled rumors of a "curse" associated with disturbing the pharaoh's rest, which researchers continue to investigate. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, defended the hypothesis of supernatural retribution against tomb desecrators. Despite the sensationalism, only six of the 26 present at the tomb opening died in the next ten years.
The discovery of Tutankhamun was one of the few pieces of good news in a world that was just recovering from World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic. The magnitude of the discovery awakened interest worldwide, giving rise to a fever for ancient Egypt in much of the world. Clothing with ancient Egyptian motifs became fashionable, a style carried by the singer and dancer Josephine Baker, who was nicknamed Jazz Cleopatra. In 1932, the first version of the movie The Mummy was released.
Carter carefully explored the four-roomed tomb for many years, and his discovery was the intact pharaoh's tomb ever found. Inside the sarcophagus were three nested coffins, with the innermost coffin made of solid gold weighing 4,110 kilograms. When the inner golden coffin was opened, the golden mask of the young king appeared around the head of the mummy. Among the treasures discovered were personal articles and weapons, revealing unknown aspects of Tutankhamun's daily life and rituals, including a collection of objects destined for his journey to the afterlife. These artifacts included items he would have used in daily life, such as clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, incense, furniture, chairs, toys, vessels, and weapons.
One of the notable findings was the iron dagger, forged with a material for the time and decorated with motifs; recent studies suggested that the iron may have come from a meteorite. The discovery of the tomb shed light on ancient Egyptian culture and history, giving historians new insight into ancient Egyptian burials, according to National Geographic.
BBC News, Infobae, Al-Masry Al-Youm, and USA Today recently reported on the discovery of Tutankamun's tomb from a historical perspective.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.