6th Grade Social Studies March 2014 | Page 7

by Michael Cadwallader Imagine digging around in a yard and finding a coffin lying underground. Well, that’s what happened to British adventurer Howard Carter and his dig team in Egypt. In fact, they found the entrance to a tomb, a house, chamber, or vault for the dead. Unfortunately, grave robbers have entered this tomb before Carter. In this article, you will learn how King Tut’s tomb was discovered. Howard Carter was digging around in Egypt and found the entrance to a tomb. Cater was William Flinders Petrie’s protégé. As author Charles Freeman mentioned, “Petrie was the son a Christian fundamental-ist who believed the Great Pyramid was built with divine guidance and God’s message of humanity.” Because Carter was Petrie’s protégé, Carter and a few other people started to dig around in Egypt and hope to find something. They were in luck! The team had found the entrance to the tomb of the “Boy King,” King Tutankhamen, or King Tut, as a lot of people know him as! Carter and his dig team decided they should check on the tomb first, so they went back home. At this time, Europeans discovered tombs for a living, like our old pal Carter. As author Michael Burgan stated, “[Later on,] Carter then worked for Lord Carnarvon, a man [whom was] interested in Egyptian artifacts.” As for the Europeans that discovered tombs for a living, they brought mummies back to where they lived and they showed them (the mummies) off. Finally, after all this fuss, Carter and Carnarvon entered the tomb at once, with a bunch of other people. However, there were signs of other people that had been there before Carter. Grave Robbers! was the first thing that came to his mind. His team then found a hidden door, guarded by two black statues. However, there were fingerprints on this door. Oh no! As author Stephanie Ann Reiff has written, “Carter wondered if he should call off the search and order everyone to go home. Just then, a worker cried out, ‘Another hole!’ Carter rushed over to the other worker’s side. Sure enough, there was another hole. It was hidden under a beautiful couch.” Unfortunately, Egyptians called off the dig out of nowhere! Great! Fortunately, Carter found a way to continue. After so much hard work, Carter finally found the “Boy King.” All in all, Carter went through a whole lot of work before actually finding King Tut’s mummy itself. But that’s not what this article’s about! It’s about his whole entire tomb, and getting through it was hectic! And you learned how King Tut’s tomb was discovered, as well as the bonus of finding the mummy as well. So when you find that coffin in your yard, don’t open it. If you do, you might find another universe lying beyond just in order to find the actual body, and you might not want to do that! Carter examines the coffin containing King Tut