Tutankhamun: One Hundred Years of the Sacred Discovery of Pharaoh's Treasures

Tutankhamun: A Century of the Sacred Discovery of Pharaoh's Treasures

the early 20th century a young boy was carrying water from the Nile to his family who worked in the valley of the Kings in Luxor.

As he was trying to fix them he knocked one against something hard. He investigated with his small pickaxe and found a staircase

the boy told Howard carter the british archaeologist who was about to give up his search for Tutankhamun tomb after 5 long years.

Carter who had threatened to stop funding his expedition unless he found something big rushed to the location.

There he found 16 steps leading down to the tomb. on November 4th 1922 when carter looked into the tomb he said “This is the day of all days

Carter and his team entered the history books with the biggest discovery ever made. They went through the tomb and found an unprecedented amount of untouched golden treasures.

At the entrance of the burial chamber were two life sized wooden statues of Tutankhamun guarding the room. Inside they found the tomb of the young king Tutankhamun considered the greatest archaeological discovery of all time

The Golden Mask

tutankhamun was buried in four gilded coffins and wore the famous golden death mask. The mask weighing 10 kg depicted the king as a god holding a scepter and flail. Made of gold, lapis lazuli and precious stones its beauty and craftsmanship showed the use of tools far beyond what was available to the egyptians 3,000 years ago

bassem elshammaa member of the egyptian Historical Studies Association says the mask was part of a religious funerary ritual associated with death and resurrection to protect the king’s physical body

the mask is made of pure gold stands 54 cm tall and weighs over 9 kg. It’s two layers of gold hammered together and engraved with intricate designs and gemstones.

tutankhamun’s significance

tutankhamun ascended to the throne at 9 years old and died at 18 or 19 He was not a major figure in Egyptian history and very little was known about him before Howard carter found his tomb. Most of what we know about Tutankhamun is from his burial treasures not his historical impact.

he was not born as Tutankhamun the name was given to him by the priests of Amun after he restored the old god Amun back to power. His name means “Living Image of Amun”. Recent studies suggest that Tutankhamun was related to Akhenaten who tried to unify all the gods into one Aten and moved the capital to Akhetaten and marginalized the priests of amun.

after his father died Tutankhamun became king at 9 and died at 18. The cause of his death is still a mystery some say he was murdered while others say he was sick

howard Carter and Theft:

New evidence suggests Howard Carter, who found Tutankhamun’s tomb in the early 20th century, took some treasures for himself. Unpublished letters have surfaced saying Carter “stole” some of the objects from the site, according to The Guardian

In 2010 Der Spiegel called carter an “art thief” and said Carter had photos of the tomb but altered them to show the tomb had been robbed before he found it to deceive the egyptian authorities.

Some sources say some of the objects were removed with the knowledge of the Egyptian government at the time.

El Shammaa say the tomb contained large quantities of seeds and plants which were borrowed by Carter and sent to the Kew Gardens in London.

Despite being borrowed they have never been returned to Egypt and El Shammaa accuses Carter of conspiring to take them.

The dissection of the King Body:

Dr. Zahi Hawass an Egyptian archaeologist writes about the dissection of Tutankhamun body in his book.

The examination of the mummy started three years after the tomb was found in 1925.

first goal was to remove the mummy from the coffin which was stuck due to the resin used by the ancient embalmers.

carter and his team decided to expose the coffin to the sun to soften the resin. But the paraffin wax on the linen wrappings had adhered to the mummy so they used a hot knife to separate the skull from the mask. Parts of the body were cut and reassembled with resin. Carter didn’t document this but subsequent examinations revealed the details

the golden treasures of Tutankhamun are still revealing their secrets and the world is still in awe of this king whose fame endures because of his amazing burial treasures