The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. 6th grade A.

King Tut.

During life, king Tut was not one of the main pharaohs in Ancient Egypt. He ruled the kingdom from 9 to 19 years. He died very young; so he could not do great things. Besides, he was a very sickly boy: he suffered osteonecrosis (an illness which destroys bones from the inner marrow) and an awuful deformity on his left foot, which did not allow him to walk properly. Furthermore, he had scoliosis (a deviation of vertebral column) and malaria (a contagious illness produced by the biting of a mosquito). Archeologists think that was this malaria the thing that killed young Tut.

Valley of the Kings. Tombs.

The thing is that pharaoh Tut dies at the age of 19; and after his death the burial process starts. The body was mummified, carried to the Valley of the Kings and deposited in a tomb. But not inside a royal tomb. The early death of Tut had not permited to dig a proper one; so his body was laid in a smaller chamber, possibly belonging to a nobleman.

 After that, time passed. Empires arose and fell. And Tut's tomb, so small and humble, was forgotten. It wasn't so vissible as other big burial sites in the Valley of the Kings; sites which were raid one by one by tomb raiders.

Tomb's entrance.

November, the 4^th. 1922. An English archeologist, Howard Carter, has been exploring the Valley of the Kings exhaustively. He knows that Tut's tomb hasn't been already found. He has searched every corner, every crack... But nothing. That morning one of the workers of Carter has been exploring a high area, almost hidden from sight. There, he finds something which seems like a step, half buried. Carter climbs up and starts to remove sand. A complete step appears. Then, other. And other. That looked good.

Door's sealing.

At the end of the day, after a lot of digging, at the end of the steps, they found a blind door, with the royal cartridge intact: a jackal with 9 kneeling prisoners. Whoever was behind that door, he must be a very important person. Although because of the small size of the door, Carter thinks that this person could not belong to royalty.

The archeologist dug a hole in the wall and checked that the corridor was full of rubbish till the ceiling. That meant only one thing: the tomb hadn't been spoiled yet! 

Carter and his team expent two days digging and cleaning the descendent corridor. At the end of it they found a second door, like the first one, also with the royal cartridge. It was November, the 26^th. A date never forgotten in Archeology.

The treasure, as it was found in 1922.

That day Carter dug a little hole in the left upper corner of the door, and he introduced an iron bar. At the other side nothing. He widen the hole, he lighted a canddle and looked inside. All people behind him held breath. Carter would tell later:

At the beginning I could not see nothing, because the hot air from inside made the candle's flame tilted; but then my eyes adapted to the light, and details from the inner chamber appeared slowly from darkness. Strange animals, golden statues, and everywhere the shining of gold. For a moment, eternal for people behind me, I was stunned by surprise. And when my friend Lord Carnarvon asked me “Can you see anything?” all I could answer was: “yes: wonderful things”.

Tut's cartridge.

 After demolishing the blind door they could watch the amazing objects that Carter had seen: dismantled golden chariots, big beds adorned with animal heads, boxes and chests, marvelous pottery... That seemed to be important. No doubt the treasure was a pharaonic treasure. When examining the loot they found that many of the things were marked with the cartridge you can see on the right: Tut's cartridge.  

 Soon they discovered that at the end of that chamber there was another blind door, also sealed with the jackal and the nine kneeling prisoners, and flanked by two satues of human size. No doubt the mummy of the pharaoh was there.

The chamber opens.

 After a lot of work (items classification, excavation, etc) on February, the 17^th the team could reach the mortuory chamber. Carter removed stones from the blind door. The first thing he saw was a black statue of Annubis, looking him in the eye from darkness, covered by a linnen cloth, as priests had let it 3.300 years ago. Behind, four golden chapels which contained the gutters of king Tut, stored in the canopic jars. Around, a great number of chests and toy ships filled the space.

In order to reach the stone sarcophagus the team had to dismantle the golden chapels. When they could reach it and open it, they found another three sarcophagus: two made of wood, and the last one made of gold. Inside, the royal mummy. The amount of treasures was enormous: golden canes, weapons, gold statues, jewels... Today the estimated value of the treasure es about 1.000.000.000 €.

Tutankhamun's mummy.

Step by step the most important and solemn moment was comming: time to meet Tutankhamun face to face. 3.300 after his death the last sarcophagus, the golden one, would be open; and the mummy would see the light again. And so on February, the 16^th, 1923, Carter met Tut. A golden mask covered the face and the chest of the pharaoh. After the discovery, Howard Carter left the burial chamber to inform the authorities. Now was Doctor Derry's turn. Derry was expert in mummies... But he was not ready for what he found.

Carter opens the sarcophagus..

What happened?

During the burial of the pharaoh the priests had spilled, supposedly accidentally, a big amount of ointments (myrrh, resines, etc) between the last two sarcophagus and on the mummy. That substance had solidified, being like a glue. So, it was not possible to separate neither the coffins, nor the king's body. Under this circumstances, Dr. Derry decided to study the mummy inside the coffin. He removed the amulets and the bandages, which fell appart when touching them. They found a total of 143 objects: amulets, weapons, jewels, etc. Finally they could reach the body, which was badly preserved.

Tut's mortuory mask.

At this point Derry could not reach the back part of the coffin, because the mummy was firmly stuck. And Derry, who was a bizarre guy, didn't think twice. He rolled up sleeves and pull back. He tore Tut's legs and broke his body just over the hips. After removing this parts, and observing that there were already some stuck fragments, Derry did his best: with two red hot knives he scraped the upper part of the body. The vertebral column broke in the process, and the head too, remaining inside the golden mask. In all the process Derry help himself with the always effective hammer and chisel. At the end of the job, poor Tut's body was a broken puzzle of 18 pieces, which would not be composed until next year. With the macabre procedure of Dr. Derry the excavation concluded. All founded items, including the mummy, were carried to the Egiptian Museum in Cairo. However, Tut had not said his last word.

Tutankhamun's mummy.