Discovered by a British archaeologist, Howard Carter, on November 4th 1922, the tomb of Tutankhamun is
located in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, in which is the best documented tomb in the area. The tomb is catalogued as KV 62. The Valley of the Kings is the location where most of all the kings and pharaohs have tombs containing their preserved bodies and grave goods. King Tutankhamun is the most well known pharaoh due to the explosion of media attention when discovered, the treasures found inside the tomb, and the completeness of the grave goods. Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, his sponsor, were searching for an undiscovered tomb for five years when one last expedition led them to the discovery. The tomb of Tutankhamun is composed of four rooms filled with both ritual and
personal items such as gold, art work, carvings of boats, and the untouched sarcophagus embedding the pharaoh
(Reeves, 1990). These treasures, found in the tomb, seem to show a sense of confidence, energy, and vitality instead of grief, depression, and sadness. He is also the only pharaoh to have a nickname in modern culture, 'King Tut'.
Son of the king Akhenaten, he began his reign at nine years old during the 18th dynasty. He reign started
during the period known as the New Kingdom and lasted from 1334 until 1325 BC when he died around the age of 19 or 20 (Silverman, 1976). The cause of death is unknown among anthropologists with theories of natural causes, murder or accidental. Tutankhaten which translates to 'Living Image of Aten' was his name for the first twelve years of his life, but then changed it to Tutankhamun which means 'Living Image of Amun'. As he was a very young age when ruling, Ay,
his advisor, was probably the one making most of the decisions. Tutankhamun was not that significant during Egyptian
times, except he did bring back the religion of honouring the gods.
was a very young age when ruling, Ay,
his advisor, was probably the one making most of the decisions. Tutankhamun was not that significant during Egyptian times, except he did bring back the religion of honouring the gods.
When Carter found the entrance to the tomb, he had to clear mass amounts of rubble like due to robbers that had tried to break into the tomb. Most of the rubble found was probably from Ramesses VI, since their tombs were right beside each other but it could also have possibly been created by a flood. Once the rubbish was cleared, he walked down the short amount of stairs to the corridor. At this point he noticed the opening and re-closing markings of robbers.There had been two counts of thieves breaking in, twice the inspectors of the necropolis had entered the tomb and
endeavoured to set things to rights, and twice they had resealed the doors. Before heading into the antechamber,
Carter discovered the carved head of Tutankhamun rising from a lotus-blossom. Carter did not include this find in his notes and travelled back home with it with the intentions of helping to preserve it. This head was carved of wood,
plastered and painted in which it represented the king as the god Nefertem, incarnation of the sun god at dawn. The
head rose from a lotus blossom, which closes at night and opens at sunrise, which is symbolic of resurrection and
rebirth (Hawass, 2007). Kerr (1977) also agrees with Carter’s analysis of the head statue as it symbolizes the sun and
life, being immortal and eternal. His was most surprised, however, when he entered the first chamber and found that
the tomb was still intact.