British archeologist Howard Carter strained to see into a
small hole he chiseled through a thick, mud wall. Stretching his arm into the
opening, he held a candle into the darkness and waited for his eyes to focus in
the dim light.
Standing behind him was George Hebert, the Earl of
Carnarvon, who paid for the expedition into the hot, Egyptian desert. After
several seconds, his patience was gone. The earl asked, “Can you see anything?”
Carter calmly said, “Yes, wonderful things.”
It was February 17, 1923. The men stood at the bottom of
sixteen steps that led to the opening of the only pharaoh’s tomb that wasn’t
violated by robbers. Excavation of the steps began in November of 1922 after
Carter accidently found the top of the first step under the desert surface.
The days of building pyramids to house the bodies of dead
kings had passed hundreds of years before the young, 19-year-old Tutankhamun
died circa 1346 B.C. The pharaohs
started using tombs that were secretly dug deep into the lifeless landscape of
the Valley of the Kings.
Carter spent nearly 31 years searching the Valley of the
Kings for any pharaoh’s tomb. Weather conditions were terrible. The average
temperature reached 90 degrees in the winter and 120 degrees during the long
summer season.
The royal families hoped that using buried graves in such an
unhospitable climate would stop tomb robbers from plundering the enormous
riches that were put in the pharaoh’s eternal resting places. However, all the
gravesites, even the ones underground, were robbed except for the one Carter
found. Publicity of the find spread throughout the world, and the Boy King
became known as King Tut.
Tutankhamen’s reign was short, only ten years, and the size
of his tomb was accordingly small by comparison to most pharaohs. Since the
contents of his small tomb were intact, the numerous riches and artifacts inside
gave archeologists throughout the world the best insight into the lives of the
ancient Egyptians.
The cause of Tutankhamen’s death has encouraged speculation
for several years. After the king’s remains were x-rayed, many forensic experts
analyzed the results. A popular theory from a few years ago explained that the
Boy King was murdered and died from a blow to his head. Further investigations
disputed that idea.
Today the popular belief is that King Tut suffered a broken
leg injury that probably caused an infection. From the looks of the x-ray of
the leg, the king could have endured a long, painful death from gangrene. The
injury may have come from a fall from a chariot, but that’s strictly
speculation. As pharaoh, he would have been expected to be proficient as a chariot
driver.
When Carter and the members of the expedition broke the wall
and stepped into the tomb, they saw a wall made of gold. It was a large golden
box that was next to a narrow corridor that led to another box or shrine that
contained yet a third container. A fourth shrine inside that one contained a
stone sarcophagus that held King Tut’s coffin. The king’s coffin was solid gold
and weighed 225 pounds. Tut’s mummified body was inside.
The third shrine held treasures that were placed to help the
Boy King make his travels into the outer world. He was considered a living god
who would physically leave his tomb. Several model boats were inside the space.
Ebony chests contained jewels, clothes, boyhood toys, games, weapons and even
musical instruments. These were the items that provided information to modern
archeologists about Egyptian society.
A solid gold death mask dominates all the items found. Its
value is priceless.
Inside a chest of alabaster were four, small busts of the
pharaoh. Beneath the busts were four miniature coffins that held Tut’s internal
organs. During the Egyptian mummification process, the lungs, stomach,
intestines, heart and liver were removed and preserved to be used later during
the deceased’s travels in the afterlife. Interestingly, human brains had no
significance and weren’t preserved. The embalmers used long copper probes and
pulled out the brains of the dead a piece at time through the nose.
Carter’s crew spent months carefully removing and cataloging
the thousands of items inside the tomb.
He spent the rest of his life lecturing and touring the world as he
spread information about his discovery. All things Egyptian became popular as
publicity of King Tut spread.
A fable called “The Pharaoh’s Curse” circulated for many
years after Carter’s work. It surmised that the people who opened King Tut’s
tomb suffered an early death. Carter was
64-years-old when he died of lymphoma on March 2, 1939. That dispelled any
credibility to the rumor.
Thanks for reading this blog. Please visit my website at www.joevlatino.com for information about
my book of short stories, “The Device.”
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