Photographing Tutankhamun: Archaeology, Ancient Egypt, and the Archive

by Christina Riggs

They are among the most famous and compelling photographs ever made in Howard Carter kneeling before the burial shrines of Tutankhamun; life-size statues of the boy king on guard beside a doorway, tantalizingly sealed, in his tomb; or a solid gold coffin still draped with flowers cut more than 3,300 years ago. Yet until now, no study has explored the ways in which photography helped mythologize the tomb of Tutankhamun, nor the role photography played in shaping archaeological methods and interpretations, both in and beyond the field. This book undertakes the first critical analysis of the photographic archive formed during the ten-year clearance of the tomb, and in doing so explores the interface between photography and archaeology at a pivotal time for both. Photographing Tutankhamun foregrounds photography as a material, technical, and social process in early 20th-century archaeology, in order to question how the photograph made and remade ‘ancient Egypt’ in the waning age of colonial order.

Genres: Photography, Egypt

272 pages, Paperback

Published December 27, 2018

About the author

Christina Riggs is Professor of the History of Visual Culture at Durham University in the northeast of England. Her most recent book is Treasured: How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century (2021), an 'utterly original' account which Kirkus Reviews has described as 'an imaginative weaving of the personal and political into a fresh narrative of an archaeological icon.'

Riggs is a former museum curator who studied art history, archaeology, and Egyptology in her native United States before moving to the UK to complete her doctorate at Oxford University. She has held a number of prestigious fellowships, and her writing has appeared in Apollo, History Today, the Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books, and Italia magazine, the last reflecting her love of all things Italian. She lives between the north of England and the north of Italy – and wherever she is, she writes first thing in the morning, with a strong cup of coffee.

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about photographing the contents and excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb. Specifically it is about the photography of Harry Burton and the history of the Griffith Institute archives of photos in Oxford. The book is quite academic. The author has tried to use reasonably plain English but quite a few obscure words creep in which might make this hard reading for some people.

In some areas this book throws a new light on the excavations. It addresses the colonial politics of 1920s Egypt and the impact they had on the excavations and the problems copyright and an exclusive deal with the Illustrated London News caused Carter and Egypt.

This is also the first book to look at the local Egyptians who helped with the excavations. You often see them in the photos of the tomb but never with actual names given to the people in the photos. The author has attempted to look at some Egyptian sources of information but states she doesn't read Arabic so I'm sure there is more information on this subject to be found in Egypt itself....or at least I hope there is, because as it is rightly pointed out Carter did not excavate the tomb all by himself.

This book adds more detail to the excavation than you'll find in more general books on Tutankhamen. Its rigid focus on Harry Burton lets it down in some regards. The author discusses some colour photography done of the tomb and amateur photographs also taken but does not go into any great detail on the subjects. The review of the online Oxford archives is also interesting and when you visit the site you can see how difficult it is to use. Despite the somewhat dry reading this is recommended for those interested in Tutankhamun's tomb.