The Excavation and Discovery of Tutankhamun's Tomb

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The excavation and discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb was as a result of the efforts of the Archaeologist Howard Carter and his team. Carter’s discovery of the tomb came by finding steps to the burial near the entrance to the tomb Ramses VI. The subsequent excavated of the site by Carter and his team revealed the greatest ever treasure found from an Egyptian tomb and showed the existence of Tutankhamun. Carter’s methodology for the excavation was that of maintaining records for each artefact and that every artefact that was brought out of the tomb was preserved appropriately. The discovery and excavation of the tomb was a long and complex process but with it revealed much about Tutankhamun.
Carter’s discovery of the tomb came by finding steps to the burial near the entrance to the tomb Ramses VI. Carter used the grid technique of dividing the area into rectangles and marking them off one by one. Carter was able to find the tomb as a result of finding the top step with another twelve steps following down to a blocked wall that had been plastered. Carter described what he saw when he opened the antechamber wall “As my eyes grew accustomed to light, details of the room emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues and gold- everywhere the glint of gold” describes the types of treasure that were found in the tomb and that the tomb probably had not been robbed. Carter goes on to recount more of what he saw “I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any long, inquired anxiously, ‘Can you see anything?’ it was all I could do to get out the words, Yes wonderful things”, describes the importance of the excavation of the tomb and the large amount of artefacts that were found in it. .The pr...

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... http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/tutexcavation.htm accessed 16/5/14
Hurley T, Medcalf P, Murray C, Rolph J, Antiquity 1, Oxford University Press, 2008, pp 91-94.
Author Unknown, 2000, Entering King Tut’s Tomb 1923, Eyewitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com accessed 16/5/14
Saunders J, 2012, Howard Carter and the Tomb of Tutankhamun, History in an hour, http://www.historyinanhour.com/2012/11/04/howard-carter-and-the-tomb-of-tutankhamun/ accessed 16/5/14
Kyffin J, 2013, The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the legacy of Howard Carter, The Independent, http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/17/the-discovery-tutankhamuns-tomb-and-the-legacy-of-howard-carter/ accessed 16/5/14
Author Unknown, 2014, Entrance to King Tut’s tomb discovered, History Channel, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/entrance-to-king-tuts-tomb-discovered accessed 16/5/14

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