The Tomb of Tutankhamun

by Howard Carter, David P. Silverman (Introducer), Sandro Vanninni (Photographer)

‘Three thousand, four thousand years maybe, have passed and gone since human feet last trod the floor on which you stand, and yet, as you note the signs of recent life around you — the half-filled bowl of mortar for the door, the blackened lamp, the finger-mark upon the freshly painted surface, the farewell garland dropped upon the threshold — you feel it might have been but yesterday.’

There have been countless accounts of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, from the sober to the sensational, but none is as powerful as Howard Carter’s own firsthand testimony. He recalls the evidence that first drew him to the Valley of the Kings in 1914; the six seasons of patient, fruitless searching; moonlit encounters with would-be tomb-robbers; and the near-miraculous discovery at the eleventh hour, just as funding was about to run out, of the royal necropolis seal – the jackal and nine captives – which signalled a pharaoh’s resting-place. With admirable restraint, Carter cabled Lord Carnarvon, the excavation’s sponsor, and waited two weeks for him to arrive before breaking the sealed doorway. What they found was beyond imagining. Unlike most royal tombs, Tutankhamun’s had largely escaped plundering; with more than 5,000 artefacts, it remains the most complete Egyptian burial ever discovered.

With the discovery of the tomb, Carter’s work was only beginning. As well as exploring the significance of the objects found, he describes the careful cataloguing and photographing, the precautions taken against looting and the constant stream of visitors, who, for diplomatic and other reasons, had to be shown the site, wasting valuable time. Carter expresses his frustration with press sensationalism, and the ‘unpardonable and mendacious’ rumours of a curse that supposedly killed Lord Carnarvon, which he saw as an insult to the deceased.

This two-volume edition features an entire volume dedicated to magnificent colour photography of Tutankhamun’s treasures taken by Sandro Vannini. In recent years, Vannini has been given rare access by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities to carry out photography at the Cairo Museum. He uses a digital sensor to create high-resolution enlargements that would be impossible with film alone, meaning that we can appreciate these artefacts in unprecedented detail as well as from new angles. In the other volume, we have reproduced the text together with the original photographs by Harry Burton, who worked with Carter at the exhibition site and was the first to photograph the tomb. Professor David P. Silverman of the University of Pennsylvania, a leading authority on Egyptology and curator of the major exhibition ‘Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs’, has contributed an introduction. The binding designs are by Peter Suart, based on images of winged guardian goddesses. The endpapers to the first volume show the ropes and royal necropolis seal that secured the doors to the second shrine before being opened by Carter.

608 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Howard Carter is best known for his discovery of the tomb of the 14th century BCE Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Carter was an English archaeologist and Egyptologist who devoted his life to archaeology. He first travelled to Egypt in 1891, where he held several archaeological positions, until in 1907 he was privately funded by the English aristocrat Lord Carnarvon to carry out work at Carnarvon's excavation sites. This work was interrupted by World War One, but resumed immediately after. In 1922, growing tired of the lack of results Carnarvon offered Carter one more year of funding.

On the 4th of November 1922 Carter discovered the entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun. This discovery immediately gained international attention, and huge crowds flocked to see the tomb. This was the first intact ancient, royal Egyptian discovered. The immensely demanding task of excavating and examining the artefacts continued for several years, amidst a great amount of controversy and difficulties.

Carter eventually left Tutankhamum for others, and spent the remainder of his life as an agent for collectors and museums, and as a public speaker on the subject of Egyptology.

Reviews

[Abhïshék Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richly illustrated, wonderfully told and bought for a bargain (2 British Pounds) at an OXFAM store in Edinburgh. I have been utterly fascinated with all things ancient Egypt since I was 9 - and this book successfully quenches so many of my wishes. Carter writes with amazing precision on the excitement, dangers, frustrations and incredible work needed to not only “discover” a tomb - but ensure its documentation and preservation for posterity. While there can be many naysayers for the ethics of a colonial power carting away treasures to their own lands, the undeniable fact is that the science of archaeology was leveraged to bring many of these treasures to light - by these “foreign” eyes. Because for the orient, we live through “history” and don’t consider the need to “hide it all away behind the glass chambers of museums.”

[John Haake · Rating 5 out of 5]

While it took me a long time to read this book, the effort was well worth the time.

This is a fantastic book -- placing the reader looking over the shoulder of the author as he tackles the most amazing archeological discovery of all time -- Tutankhamun's tomb.

So detailed, so precise, and so many little tidbits of information strewn throughout these pages making this armchair amateur archeologist's life complete!!! I enjoyed every page from cover to the chemistry of the tomb found in the last Appendix.