On February 16th, 1923, Howard Carter, an English archaeologist, entered and discovered the airtight burial chamber of the ancient Egyptian boy Pharaoh, Tutankhamen, in Thebes, Egypt. Pharaohs were considered, by the ancient Egyptians, as the sons of Amen Re, the Sun God. Therefore, they were seen as gods placed on earth to rule over the ancient Egyptian people. Because of this, the Egyptians would carefully preserve the pharaoh's body after their death, burying them in elaborate tombs that contained rich treasures and statue representations of people, animals, objects, and such items that they had in their earthly life, to bring with them into the afterworld.
During the 19th century, the world of archeologists flocked from all parts of the world to try to uncover an undiscovered ancient Egyptian tomb, which a number of them were successful in doing. It was like the United States' California Gold Rush of 1848. Everyone wanted a piece of the buried treasure.
Prior to the 19th century, grave robbers, or tomb raiders, had for centuries broken into these tombs to steal the treasures within them, but Tutankhamen's tomb was untouched.
Carter was convinced of this in 1891, when he first arrived in Egypt in search for an undiscovered tomb. At the time, little was known about the boy-King, Tutankhamen, of "King Tut" - like some people like to refer to him as -, who lived around 1400 B.C.E., the late 18th Dynasty, and died when he was just about 19 years of age. The cause of his death is believed to be due to tuberculosis, although a bone fragment was discovered inside the mummy's skull (suggesting a more violent death - or he could have just fallen off a chariot while hunting). The reason for his death are still unknown.
A Lord Carnarvon, a rich Brit, backed Carter in his search for Tutankhamen's tomb. He dug for five years without any success. By the beginning of 1922, Lord Carnarvon did not want Carter searching any longer for this possibly non-existant tomb. Carter convinced him to wait one more year.
The wait paid off. In November 1922, Carter's team found a set of steps leading down to an ancient, sealed doorway bearing the name "Tutankhamen." These steps were hidden in th debris near the entrance of another tomb that had already been discovered. On November 26, Carter and Lord Carnarvon entered the interior chambers of the tomb and were excited to find that the tomb was virtually intact, with treasures that had been untouched for over 3,000 years.
There were four rooms of the tomb. The men in this expedition, being watched by a number of important officials, began to explore all these rooms and on February 16, 1923, Carter opened the door to the last chamber to find a sarcophagus with three coffins nested inside one another.
The final coffin was made of solid gold. It contained the mummified body of King Tutankhamen. This was a discovery well worth noting. Within the tomb of Tutankhamen, they also found several items, such as: golden shrines, jewelry, statues, a chariot, a variety of weapons, clothing, and much more. Not only they found the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen, but they also found the first mummy to ever be discovered.
Rumors of a curse to all those that enter the tomb is still considered an urban legend by some. Others say there was never a curse. Either way, Carter and Lord Carnarvon made sure to carefully catalogue each item within the tomb and remove it from its resting place, to be part of a famous traveling exhibition, known as the "Treasures of Tutankhamen." This exhibitions is permanently located in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and has only traveled the world a very limited amount of times.
To find out more about Pharaoh Tutankhamen, visit the following Web Sites:
1. Arts and crafts in the age of the pyramids:
http://www.rom.on.ca/egypt/case/arts/writing.html
2. "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" Exhibit Information - Currently in Philadelphia between February 3, 2007 - September 30, 2007:
http://www.gophila.com/go/tut/exhibition.html
3. Short Summary of King Tut's life & contain his hieroglyph cartouches for your viewing pleasure!:
http://www.prntrkmt.org/pharaoh/tutankhamun.html
4. History Channel Video of the discovery of King Tut:
http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=52404
5. Curse of the mummies:
http://www.abcnews.com/
6. Entering King Tut's tomb:
http://www.ibiscom.com/tut.htm
7. Hieroglyphic alphabet:
http://www.greatscott.com/hiero/hiero.html
8. Wikipedia Summary of King Tut:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun
9. King Tut's tomb:
http://www.osirisweb.com/egypt/tutpage.htm
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