Howard Carter

Lore & Background

Carter came to Egypt as an artist, assisting in recording Egyptian tomb art, and was then trained as an archaeologist. In 1900 he became the Antiquities Service's inspector for Upper Egypt, including the Valley of the Kings. As inspector, Carter both restored and protected the open tombs in the valley and sought to dig for undiscovered tombs. He found Theodore M. Davis as a patron to fund these efforts, and with Davis's support Carter made several small finds and cleared three previously unexplored tombs. After the Antiquities Service transferred Carter to Lower Egypt in 1904, Davis held the concession to excavate in the valley for another ten years. Carter left the Antiquities Service in 1905 after a group of French tourists forced their way into a closed archaeological site at Saqqara and he ordered the Egyptian guards to eject them, causing a scandal. He subsequently worked as an excavator for George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, a collector of Egyptian antiquities, at several sites in Egypt. Carnarvon bought the concession for the Valley of the Kings when Davis relinquished it in 1914. Although the First World War made it difficult to conduct fieldwork, in 1917 Carter began to clear the valley down to the bedrock. The tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in the Valley of the Kings in 1922 by excavators led by Carter, beginning on 4 November 1922. After Carnarvon's death, tensions arose between Carter and the Egyptian government over who should control access to the tomb. In early 1924, Carter stopped work in protest, beginning a dispute that lasted until the end of the year. Under the agreement that resolved the dispute, the artefacts from the tomb would not be divided between the government and the dig's sponsors, and most of the tomb's contents went to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The last of the burial goods were conserved and shipped to Cairo in 1932.

Reader's Guide

Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 remains one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century. The tomb was virtually intact, containing more than five thousand objects, many of which were in a highly fragile state, so conserving the burial goods for removal from the tomb required an unprecedented effort. The opulence of the burial goods inspired a media frenzy and popularised ancient Egyptian-inspired designs with the Western public. To the Egyptians, who had recently become partially independent of British rule, the tomb became a symbol of national pride, strengthening Pharaonism, a nationalist ideology that emphasised modern Egypt's ties to the ancient civilisation, and creating friction between Egyptians and the British-led excavation team. The publicity surrounding the excavation intensified when Carnarvon died of an infection, giving rise to speculation that his death and other misfortunes connected with the tomb were the result of an ancient curse. The tomb's discovery did not reveal as much about the history of Tutankhamun's time as Egyptologists had initially hoped, but it established the length of his reign and gave clues about the end of the Amarna Period, which preceded his reign. It was more informative about the material culture of Tutankhamun's time, demonstrating what a complete royal burial was like and providing evidence about the lifestyles of wealthy Egyptians and the behaviour of ancient tomb robbers. The interest generated by the find stimulated efforts to train Egyptians in Egyptology. Since the discovery, the Egyptian government has capitalised on its enduring fame by using exhibitions of the burial goods for purposes of fundraising and diplomacy, and Tutankhamun has become a symbol of ancient Egypt itself.

Did You Know?

• Carter came to Egypt as an artist, assisting in recording Egyptian tomb art, before training as an archaeologist.
• He became the Antiquities Service's inspector for Upper Egypt, including the Valley of the Kings, in 1900.
• Carter left the Antiquities Service in 1905 after ordering Egyptian guards to eject French tourists from a closed site at Saqqara, causing a scandal.
• The tomb of Tutankhamun was hidden by debris for most of its existence and therefore not extensively robbed, becoming the only known near-intact royal burial from ancient Egypt.
• The last of the burial goods from Tutankhamun's tomb were conserved and shipped to Cairo in 1932.