Carter Unveils Tutankhamun: Treasures Awaken After 3000 Years

Howard Carter held a candle through a small hole in a sealed doorway and peered into a chamber closed for over 3,000 years. When Lord Carnarvon asked if he could see anything, Carter replied with the most famous words in archaeology: "Yes, wonderful things." On November 26, 1922, Carter and his patron became the first people to gaze upon the treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb since ancient Egyptian priests sealed it around 1323 BCE. Carter had been searching for the tomb for six years, funded entirely by the Earl of Carnarvon. By 1922, Carnarvon was ready to abandon the search, and the upcoming season was to be the last. On November 4, a water boy stumbled upon a step carved into the bedrock of the Valley of the Kings. Carter's team excavated a descending staircase that led to a sealed doorway bearing royal necropolis seals. Carter cabled Carnarvon in England and waited three weeks for his patron to arrive. The tomb, designated KV62, was the most intact royal burial ever discovered in Egypt. The antechamber alone contained over 700 objects: gilded couches shaped like animals, dismantled chariots, alabaster vases, and food offerings. Beyond lay the burial chamber with its nested shrines, three coffins fitting inside one another, and the solid gold innermost coffin weighing 243 pounds. On the mummy rested the iconic gold death mask, eleven kilograms of beaten gold with inlaid lapis lazuli. The discovery sparked a global sensation. Egyptian motifs flooded fashion, architecture, and design. Lord Carnarvon died from an infected mosquito bite five months later, spawning the "Curse of the Pharaohs" legend. Carter spent ten years cataloguing 5,398 objects. Tutankhamun, a minor pharaoh who died at roughly nineteen, became the most famous ruler in Egyptian history because his tomb was the one the grave robbers missed.