Tutankhamun’s tomb, fascinating secrets still emerge

CAIRO – 21 July 2022: Howard Carter's discovery of the ancient Egyptian tomb of Pharaonic King Tutankhamun sparked global fascination in 1922. And it has continued to attract public attention for the past 100 years.

However, the stories of burials and excavations are not quite as straightforward as is often believed.

Fascinating pieces from the tomb have been exhibited in Egypt and around the world, but a new exhibition at Oxford's Bodleian offers a different perspective. It features a hand-picked collection of 150 items from the Griffith Institute archives, most of which from Carter's personal collection.

These archival materials, including original photographs, letters, notes, plans, drawings, and record cards, tell the story of the discovery of the tomb through the eyes of individuals on the ground, and provide a more accurate picture of events.

According to the British site, The Past, on a spring day around 1320 BC, the young king Tutankhamun was buried in a small tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb chambers were filled with funerary equipment ranging from exquisite pieces of handicrafts from the royal court to more personal items, like the little special furniture made for the king who ascended the throne as a boy.

After several days of elaborate ceremonies, the embalmed king was placed in his multiple golden coffins and sarcophagi within a series of gilded shrines in the burial chamber at the heart of the tomb, which was then permanently closed. Funerary objects were placed in the outer chambers, before the tomb was completely closed from the outside and marked with the name of Tutankhamun.

The unexpected death of the young king at the age of 19 meant that a small pre-existing tomb had to be redirected. The entrance has been expanded so that elaborate funeral goods can be accommodated inside. However, even then, the stressful royal burial process had not yet been fully completed.

Soon, thieves broke into the tomb on at least two occasions but failed to reach the burial chamber. The king's body remained and the officials were able to clear the mess in the outer chambers, but signs of the burial process are still visible in details, such as finger marks left on receptacles by individuals who tried to loot their contents.