Across the river Nile on the western shore of Thebes, there lays a desolate winding valley that hibernates within a barren and silent city for the dead, where no life can sustain on its parched desert rocks. In ancient days this was a secret place with only one way into the valley, its dusty road was only followed by the ritual funeral entourage of ancient times, and It encloses the subterranean tombs and final resting places of the once living Gods of Ancient Weset, the pharaohs of The New Kingdom.
‘I am yesterday today and tomorrow, and I have the power to be born a second time' - The Book of the Dead
Taking the road that leads to the valley of the kings and passing a long sweeping bend you can see three unusual houses neatly spaced with domed roofs , passing beneath them as the moonlight glowed on the white walls of the house Howard Carter had used when working in The Valley of the Kings, I felt that it held ghosts from the past and memories of the presence of a determined yet stubborn man who had made a fantastic discovery. Entering Bilban el Muluk, the gateway of the Kings and passing through the winding avenue between its mountain walls, echoes reverberated round the bends and bounced off the high ridges and the ancient Madjay the bodyguards of the Kings of Egypt awoke from their slumber their ghostly army surrounded the edges of the Quorn
Lord Carnarvon Howard Carter
Howard Carter (1874 – 1939) was the English archaeologist and Egyptologist who achieved fame in November 1922 on his discovery of the most amazing intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings, KV62 belonging to the young king Tutankhamun, who had ruled during the 18th Dynasty. Despite the significance of his archaeological find, Carter received no honours from the British government. However, in 1926, he received the Order of the Nile, third class, from King Fuad I of Egypt.
Carter was trained as an artist by his father, and having English friends that encouraged his interest he started work in Egypt at the age of 17 as an artist of tomb decoration, Carter’s first job was at the beautiful tombs of Bani Hassan in middle Egypt with their magnificent wall drawings and inscriptions, In 1892 he spent a season at Armarna working for Flinders Petrie who was considered as one of the best field archaeologists of this time, Petrie really did not believe that Carter would ever become a good excavator, but Carter proved Petrie wrong by unearthing several important finds. leaving Armarna he worked with Édouard Naville at Deir el-Bahari, where he recorded the wall reliefs in the temple of Hatshepsut.
Hoopoe bird in an acacia tree painting by carter from the tomb of Khnumhotep 111, Beni Hassan
When the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, an Englishman who was in Egypt for his poor state of health, wanted to dig at Thebes, Maspero recommended Carter to him, and so In 1907, Carter began work for Lord Carnarvon, who employed him to supervise the excavation of nobles' tombs in Deir el-Bahri, near Thebes. Gaston Maspero, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, had recommended Carter to Carnarvon as he knew he would apply modern archaeological methods and systems of recording. Carter soon developed a good working relationship with his patron who had received the concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings. Carter made a systematic search for any tombs missed by previous expeditions, in particular that of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun who was originally named Tutankhaten, whose father was known as the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, who insisted that Egyptians must worship only one God, the Aten. When Akhenaten died Tutenkhamun became King, he was only nine years old, together with his child bride Ankhesenpaaten they arrived back in Weset, (Luxor) and under the firm grip of Ay his chief advisor and General Horemheb they began to repair the damage that had been done to Ancient Egypt’s religion, it’s people and The City of Amun. Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun and ruled Egypt for a decade, his wife Ankhesenpaaten became known as Anaksenamun. Tutankhamun was the 12th king of the 18th Dynasty, until the age of 19 when he died suddenly. Anaksenamun had lost her childhood friend, her husband and two small children whose fetuses' were also found in the tomb in tiny coffins. She was alone and just turned twenty one years old.
In 1914, Lord Carnarvon received the concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings. Carter led the work, undertaking a systematic search for any tombs missed by previous expeditions,
Unfortunately the first world war interfered with their search for Tutankhamun, during the war years Carter worked for the British Government as a diplomatic courier and translator He enthusiastically resumed his excavation work to find the tomb of Tutankhamun towards the end of 1917.
By 1922, Lord Carnarvon had become dissatisfied with the lack of results after several years of finding little. After considering withdrawing his funding, Carter was so convinced that he would find the tomb that he suggested to Lord Carnarvon that he personally would pay for another seasons dig, so consequently Lord Carnavon agreed to fund one more season. Carter never gave up on his ambition to discover the tomb of Tutankhamun, he searched methodically with a blind determination to find the young Kings tomb. On 4 November 1922, his young water boy Hussien abd el Rassoul accidentally stumbled on a stone, so Carter told his workers to dig in this area and they uncovered a flight of 12 steps that led to a tomb entrance.
Carter had the steps partially dug out until the top of a mud-plastered doorway was found. The doorway was stamped with indistinct cartouches of Tutankhamun. On November 26,Carter reached the door to the tomb and wrote of his excitement, ''the day of days, the most wonderful that I have ever lived through, and certainly one whose like I can never hope to see again.' another note in his diary said ' it needed all my self-control to keep from breaking down the doorway and investigating then and there.' Instead, he refilled the stairway with rubble, he sailed across the River Nile and sent an important telegraph to Lord Carnarvon asking him to come to Egypt swiftly as they had found the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb Carter, waited an agonizing 20 days for Carnarvon and his daughter Evelyn to arrive from England Carter excavated the entire stairway of 16 steps, revealing the seal of Tutankhamun.
Carter wrote 'The decisive moment arrived. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach… . At first I could see nothing … but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold—everywhere the glint of gold… . I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, 'Can you see anything?' it was all I could do to get out the words, 'Yes, wonderful things.'
Tutankhamun’s mummy lay within a nest of three golden coffins, which fitted snugly one inside another like a set of Russian dolls. Two of Tutankhamun’s three coffins were made of wood, covered with gold sheet. But, to Howard Carter’s great surprise, the innermost coffin was made from thick sheets of beaten gold.
As Carter looked through the hole, the flashlight revealed gold covered couches in the shape of monstrous animals, he saw statues of the king, caskets, vases, black shrines, beds, chairs, a golden throne, boxes, chariots. In spite of evidence of break-ins in ancient times, the tomb was virtually intact, and would ultimately be found to contain over 5,000 items.
5 months after Howard Carter discovered the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamen, his benefactor, Carnarvon, aged 57, died, he had a mosquito bite that had become infected the Earl's death was reported as Pneumonia which was thought to be only one of various complications, arising from the progressively invasive infection, that eventually resulted in multi organ failure. His sudden death within weeks of the tomb's official opening inspired gossip that the tomb was cursed. Lord Carnarvon died in a hotel in Cairo on 5 April 1923. Lady Carnarvon retained her late husband's concession in the Valley of the Kings, allowing Carter to continue his work.
Finally, on October 28, 1925, almost three years after the discovery of the stairway, Carter gazed with awe and pity upon the mummy of Tutankhamun. Carter's meticulous assessing and cataloguing of the thousands of objects in the tomb took nearly ten years.
After his discovery and the tomb was closed, Howard Carter retired from active field work. He began collecting Egyptian antiquities himself, and became moderately successful. He lived between his home in Kensington Palace and winters in Luxor where he would often be found at the Old Winter Palace Hotel, mostly keeping to himself.
In 1932, following the closure of the tomb, Carter returned to London. He was unwell and Hodgkin’s disease was diagnosed. Carter died in March 1939 at the age of 65.
Carters funeral was held on 6 March, only nine people attended his funeral.
The epitaph on Carter's gravestone reads: 'May your spirit live, may you spend millions of years, you who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, your eyes beholding happiness', a quotation taken from the Wishing Cup of Tutankhamun, and 'O night, spread thy wings over me as the imperishable stars'
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