(a Saturday) Howard Carter and his team discovered the steps of a previously
undiscovered Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt.
They may have anticipated but they could not have hoped for the significance
of this discovery. Carter had been searching for this exact tomb for five years
in the sands of the Valley but searching and finding are not the same.
the
man
Howard Carter was born in Swaffam, Norfolk, England in 1874.
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...he was not interested in continuing
the family business. |
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His father was an artist and trained his son in this discipline and although
Howard demonstrated a skill in this field he was not interested in continuing
the family business.
So instead of continuing the work of drawing pets and families of local worthies
from Norfolk he looked for an opportunity to get to Egypt to work as a tracer.
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| CAVANDERS, ANCIENT
EGYPT [1928] |
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There was a need for people capable of seeing and reproducing the drawings
and inscriptions which were constantly being dug out of the Egyptian sands.
early
career
At the age of 17 Howard was sailing for Alexandria to work with the Egyptian
Exploration Fund.
So like a good many overnight sensations, years of hard work and graft ensured
it was possible.
By all accounts he was a diligent worker. His first task being the copying
of scenes found as Bani Hasan. He worked through the day and slept in the tombs
at night.
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...was really only getting beyond the
dig it up and sell it stage. |
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The young Howard had the fortune of working with Flinders Petrie, who at the
time was at the cutting edge of archaeological technique which was really only
getting beyond the dig it up and sell it stage.
Petrie was of the opinion that Carter did not possess the skills to become
an excavator.
Carter went about proving him wrong and gained enough respect from Petrie for
the great man to help him in his development.
By the age of 25 Carter had been offered the job of Inspector General of Monuments
for Upper Egypt. Along with many other duties the responsibilities included
the supervision and control the archaeology along the Nile Valley.
the
incident
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...because of an incident involving
drunk French tourists. |
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His employment with them was blighted, and indeed eneed, because of an incident
involving drunk French tourists.
These tourists had become abusive towards the Egyptian site guards. Carter
allowed the guards to defend themselves.
At the turn of the century the idea of Egyptians defending themselves against
Europeans was not looked upon with any amount understanding.
The French were livid and reported the incident to the highest officials they
could get their hands on.
A formal apology was demanded of Carter but Howard refused on the basis he
had done the right thing.
Howard resigned from the service in 1905, having been re-assiged to a non-job.
the
employer
For a number of years it looked like all going sour for Carter as he tried
to sustain a living with his artistic skills or as tour guide. Then in 1908
he was introduced to the Fifth Lord Carnarvon.
The two got on well together and by 1914 Carter was the Supervisor of Excavation
at the Thebes dig funded by Carnarvon.
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Carnarvon was no dabbler in things Egyptian...
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Carnarvon was no dabbler in things Egyptian, at the time he owned the largest
private collection of Egyptian artefacts and intended to expand that collection.
Cater had fixed his eyes on the major prize. Having heard of Tutankhamen he
set about searching for this lost tomb based on a few clues he had put together.
Year after year the digging continued all over the Valley of the Kings but
little was found.
Carnarvon was rich but his patience was not inexhaustible and in 1922 he told
Carter there was funding for just one more season of digging. It had taken some
persuasion by Carter to ensure that last year of funding as there had been five
fruitless years preceding it.
the
discovery
Work began on November 1st, 1922. Three days later the first of the steps leading
down to the tomb were discovered.
By the 26 November 1922 Carter had reached the second plaster block and was
ready to break through to one of the greatest archaeological finds ever.
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The artefacts...took a decade to catalogue.
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The artefacts, famously described as 'wonderful things' took a decade to catalogue.
During that time Lord Carnarvon had died. He had died only a few months after
the tomb had been opened. The exact cause was unknown but at the age of 57 Lord
Carnarvon lay dead in Cairo hospital after a brief illness.
the
curse
Legend has it all the lights of Cairo briefly went out and at his estate, Susie,
his faithful hound howled once and dropped dead at that exact time (apparently
making allowance for the time zone differences).
Although the exact reason for his death was not known it seemed possible there
was an insect bite on his cheek (or he had nicked himself shaving and it had
become infected).
When the mummy was unwrapped there was an insect bite on the left cheek in
exactly the same spot as was Carnarvon's.
This after a canary Carter had brought to the dig had been struck dead by a
Cobra at the time the first sealed door to the tomb had been discovered.
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The press had a field day with all manner
of nonsense. |
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The press had a field day with all manner of nonsense about 'the curse'. and
by 1929 11 people 'connected to the dig had died early.
Most exciting was the suicide of Carter's personal secretary's father (yes,
that is considered a connection), Lord Westbury who leapt to his death after
leaving the note, 'I really cannot stand any more horrors and hardly see what
good I am going to do here, so I am making my exit.
By 1935, 21 victims had been connected to the curse.
Carter failed to listen to all this nonsense and in tempting the wrath of the
curse lived well until his 66th year when he was unsporting enough to die entirely
of natural causes.
the
truth
The legend of the curse continues with such video selling headlines as 'Virtually
every person associated with the discovery of King Tut’s tomb eventually suffered
a mysterious and untimely death.'
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[Radon] may not have caused the Curse
of Tutankhamen but it probably won't have done those early Egyptologists
much good. |
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Recently it has been decided the tombs hold a good deal of Radon gas because
of the decay of building materials over the years. Murdoch Baxter the editor
of the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity says, "The high radon levels may
not have caused the Curse of Tutankhamen but it probably won't have done those
early Egyptologists much good."
And whilst I'm mentioning it. The canary had been given to a friend of Carter's
Minnie Burton and she passed it on, alive and well to a bank manager.
The lights went out briefly in the hospital when Carnarvon died. Power shortages
not uncommon 60 years later.
His dog seemed strangely interested in international time zones, expiring at
2am GMT the 'exact time' his master died, 2am Cairo time.
For those interested in the death count a decade after the tomb discovery:
| EVENT |
NUMBER OF PEOPLE THERE
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NUMBER OF DEATHS AFTER 10
YEARS |
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Burial
chamber opening
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26
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6
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Sarcophagus
opening
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22
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2
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Mummy
unwrapping
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10
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0
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Information taken from a study by Egyptologist Herbert E. Winlock conducted
12 years after the tomb was opened.
Still the facts should not get in the way of a good yarn.
