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Tutankhamun's tomb and discovery



Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun died young, probably during his ninth regnal year. Evidence for this is twofold. First, forensic analysis of his mummy has put his age at death at about 17. Secondly, clay seals on wine jars found in his tomb record not only the type of wine, the vineyard and the name of the chief vintner, but also the king's regnal year when each wine was laid down. The highest recorded date is Year 9, suggesting that Tutankhmnun died in that year.
There is no positive evidence on Tutankhamun's mummy as to how he met his death: he certainly did not die of consumption as was once thought. However, autopsies and Xrays have located a small sliver of bone within the upper cranial cavity. It may have arrived there as the result of a blow, but whether deliberately struck, to indicate murder, or the result of an accident, such as a fall from a chariot, it is not possible to say.
Several finds made in the Valley of the Kings over the years led Howard Carter to believe that the king was still somewhere in the Valley: a small faience cup bearing Tutankhamun's name (1905-6 season), the remnants of materials used in the king's enbalming and of a funerary feast or wake (1907), followed two years later in 1909 by a cache of gold frag~nents froth chariot and furniture fittings with the king's name and that of Ay as a commoner. The story of Carter's quest and his understanding patron, the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon, is well known.



Lord Canarvon


Howard Carter
After many years of frustrating and meticulous working through the Valley, clearing down to bedrock, the first of a flight of 16 descending steps was found on 4 November 1922, just in front and to the north side of the entrance to the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV 9). By the next day the stairs had been cleared, revealing the top of a blocked door, sealed with the impression of the necropolis guards (the recumbent jackal over nine captives); behind it was a sloping corridor filled with debris and, at the far end, another blocked doorway. Beyond it and at right angles was a large chamber, dubbed the Antechamber, and off it to the back left was a smaller room, the Annexe. To the right was a blocked doorway in the end wall guarded by two larger-than-lifesize black wood statues of the king. Beyond that was the burial chamber, almost completely filled with the huge catafalque of four gold overlaid wooden shrines enclosing the red quartzite sarcophagus with its cracked granite lid.
Of the nest of three coffins in the sarcophagus, the innermost was of solid gold, the outer two of wood overlaid with gold. The king's mummy lay in the midst of all this splendour with its famous gold mask but, by comparison, the actual remains of the king himself were pitiful, the result of poor embalming. Beyond the painted burial chamber (the only decorated room in the tomb), through an open doorway guarded by a large recumbent wooden figure of the jackal Anubis, lay the Treasury. Here stood the great canopic wooden shrine enclosing the calcite canopic chest. The chest held four jars containing Tutankhamun's viscera, whose human-headed lids were modelled in the likeness of the king.


The tomb of Tuatnkhamun


Tutankhamun's Death Mask
Hopes were high that amongst all the splendour there would be some important literary or historical documentation, but nothing of that nature was found. Apart from the king's own remains, the most moving aspect of the tomb must surely be the two stillborn mummified fetuses of baby girls, aborted at five months and possibly eight or nine months, found in the Treasury. They must have been daughters of Tutankhamun by Ankhesenamun. Had either lived, she would have taken her mother's place in due course as the Great Royal Heiress, carrying on the Amarna blood line - indeed, the whole later history of Egypt's 19th Dynasty could have been changed.
Hopes were high that amongst all the splendour there would be some important literary or historical documentation, but nothing of that nature was found. Apart from the king's own remains, the most moving aspect of the tomb must surely be the two stillborn mummified fetuses of baby girls, aborted at five months and possibly eight or nine months, found in the Treasury. They must have been daughters of Tutankhamun by Ankhesenamun. Had either lived, she would have taken her mother's place in due course as the Great Royal Heiress, carrying on the Amarna blood line - indeed, the whole later history of Egypt's 19th Dynasty could have been changed.



Tutankhamun's Sarcophagus


Tutankhamun's Treasury
The immediate availability of the gold coffin and mask as well as the large granite sarcophagus box suggests that provision for Tutankhamun's eventual burial had been in hand for some time. However, his actual death was obviously unexpected, for not only were a number of the items provided for the burial 'from stock' and originally intended for previous use, but even the tomb he was laid to rest in was not intended for him. Signs of haste are evident everywhere, since the ritual required that all preparations and the embalming be completed within a period of 70 days.

The tomb is far too small for a royal burial, and had almost certainly been granted as a royal favour to the elderly Ay in recognition of his signal service over the years. (There are other instances of high officials being granted a similar privilege of burial in the Valley of the Kings.) Because of the king's sudden demise, and the fact that this tomb was virtually ready, it was appropriated and steps immediately taken to decorate the burial chamber. Tutankhamun's intended tomb seems to be that found by Giovanni Belzoni in 1816 at the far end of the western Valley of the Kings (KV 23) and later used by Ay. This conforms to the pattern of 18th Dynasty royal tombs and was probably chosen with a propaganda motive in view, that is to bury the king fairly close to his grandfather Amenhotep III, thereby underlining the return to old ways and the old religion.


Stautue of Tutankhamuns Guards
Amongst Tutankhamun's equipment there were a number of items that had obviously come from a funerary store. At least one of the great wooden shrines had been made for Smenkhkare, as had the four small gold coffinettes that held the king's viscera. It can be seen, sometimes with difficulty, where the earlier name had been excised and Tutankhamun's added over the top. It is also possible that the second coffin of the three had also been intended for Smenkhkare, since its features are unlike the other two and the miniature canopic coffinettes are copies of it.
Even the sarcophagus box was second-hand. Extensive recurring was undertaken, to the extent of removing all the original texts (thus lowering the surface), and adding new ones; wings were also added to alter the standing figures of the goddesses (possibly because they were originally standing queens, as on Akhenaten's shattered sarcophagus? ). The granite lid was made to fit the quartzite box - obviously a different material but, again, time may have been of the essence and a suitable slab of granite was available at Thebes. In the event there was an accident and the lid was split in two.
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Tutankhamun's tomb and discovery (Countries of the World)    -    Author : Karman (GB) - Egypt


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