by Frances Stanford

Created on: September 12, 2008   Last Updated: December 30, 2011

The discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamun was the most important archaeological discovery with implications on the study of ancient Egypt. This discovery took place on November 4, 1922 by Howard Carter, an English archaeologist.

There were archaeologists already excavating the tomb of Ramesses 1V and the huts in which those who worked in this tomb had lived. Kung Tut, as King Tutankhamun has been called, was discovered under this house. King Tut was the original name, but he changed it to Tutankhamun when the system of worshipping many gods was restored in ancient Egypt.

The rooms of King Tut's tomb appeared to have been constructed in haste, possibly due to his unexpected death at a young age. It was the most perfectly preserved of any of the tombs that had been discovered, and everything was still intact. What makes the discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamun so important is the extravagant artefacts that were discovered in the tomb, some of which were almost in perfect condition.

In keeping with the mummification process of the ancient Egyptians, King Tutankhamun was mummified and buried in a series of coffins. There were three coffins for this tomb, each inside the other, and an outer coffin, called the sarcophagus. This coffin was made of yellow quartzite and was so heavy that it required several men to move it.

The next two coffins were made of wood that had been elegantly carved and contained inlays of blue and red glass. The final coffin containing the mummified King Tutankhamun was made of solid gold. There was a mask at the head of the coffin that has become the most important discovery of the ancient Egyptian world.

The tomb of King Tutankhamun had lain in this place for over 3000 years. Carter worked in Egypt for 31 years and had uncovered several pieces of evidence leading him to believe that the yet undiscovered tomb of King Tutankhamun was there in the Valley of the Kings.

This evidence consisted of a faience cup, a piece of gold foil and some funeral ornaments bearing the name of King Tut. Carter was sponsored in his search by Lord Cameron, who was about to bring a halt to the excavations because nothing of any importance had been discovered.

The final season was to be in 1922, when the workers were excavating the huts of those that had worked on the Tomb of Ramesses 1V. On the fourth day of the excavation, they uncovered a step leading down even deeper. After a while, 16 steps were revealed leading to a blocked entrance.

Carter realized that several of the seals on the door bore the name of King Tut. The doorway was broken through, and there was evidence that it had been the victim of tomb robbery through the centuries. Once inside, they discovered two life size statues and a passageway leading to another room and another sealed doorway.

There was a hole in the doorway through which Carter and the others could crawl through, which was filled with countless artefacts. It took several weeks to carefully remove everything from this room.

Beyond the sealed door was the burial chamber, which had been painted yellow. There was a large shrine, with the walls made of gilded wood. As excavations continued, it was revealed that this was only the first of four shrines. The fourth shrine contained the tomb of King Tut. The wrappings on the mummy had disintegrated, but in all there were over 150 items on the mummy, most of which were solid gold.

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