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Excavating the archive of the discoverer of Tutankhamun's tomb: the other "wonderful things" of the greatest archaeological find in history

2022-08-11T10:40:59.992Z


The Oxford Bodleian Library exhibits a sample of Howard Carter's documentary collection on the discovery, which marks a century this year. The exhibition vindicates the role of Egyptian workers


Carter and an Egyptian worker remove a piece of a bed from Tutankhamun's tomb in February 1923 while being photographed by another member of the team, probably Lord Carnarvon. Griffith Institute

It becomes strange to travel north in search of Tutankhamun.

The pharaoh's tomb is actually far to the south, in Luxor, as is his mummy, while the vast majority of objects buried with him, the famous "wonderful things" that include icons such as the golden mask, have had their traditionally home to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (until the new Grand Egyptian Museum opens in Giza).

But there is an unexpected treasure of northern Tutankhamun, less glittery but also very fascinating: the archive of the discoverer of his tomb, Howard Carter.

The archaeological documentation of the find gathered by the researcher Carter (London, 1874-1939) includes maps and plans, detailed records of the thousands of objects (5,300 inventoried), photographs, slides and notes, drawings and personal and excavation diaries. , as well as other materials (private letters, telegrams, press clippings) that contextualize the discovery and constitute an exceptional source of information.

Donated to the Griffith Institute (Oxford University's center for Egyptology) by the Carter heiress (the discoverer neither married nor had children), his favorite niece, Phyllis Walker (1897-1977), the fund, enriched by other donations such as those from the Metropolitan Museum in New York,

Tutankhamun: excavating the archive

(until February 5, 2023, free entry), invites you to immerse yourself in the documentation to "see beyond" the golden treasures of the young pharaoh and explore first-hand, day by day, the complexity of the discovery in the year of its centenary, which is celebrated on November 4.

The exhibit showcases such exciting things as Carter's first written mention of the find.

First steps of tomb found

”, [first tomb steps found], he penciled crosswise, conveying irrepressible enthusiasm.

The inscription occupies the entire page for Saturday, November 4, of his diary for 1922 (one of the Lett's Indian and Colonial Rough Diary brand pocket notebooks he used to record his activities in the eight months of work he spent each year in Egypt).

It was the fourth day since the last digging season had begun, as Carter's patron, Lord Carnarvon, had decided not to continue paying the concession to work in the Valley of the Kings.

More information

The discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, turned into a crime novel a la Agatha Christie

The Egyptians (including many child workers) appear in numerous photos of the excavation and emptying of the tomb without it being possible to know who they were, reduced to the condition of anonymous and exotic troupes.

They were rarely mentioned and their role was underestimated in official reports.

Now, research in the archives "is allowing the Egyptians to return to their role in the excavations", and "repair the error".

Donkeys instead of taxis

The exhibition also especially remembers the forgotten role of the women who participated in the company, such as the wife of the photographer Harry Burton (author of the famous photos of the tomb investigation process), Minnie, who was in Luxor, helped her husband and kept a personal diary which is a valuable source of information and pages of which are on display.

In one passage she recalls the thrill of visiting the tomb while it was being emptied and how Carter sent a donkey to fetch her home like someone sending you a taxi.

Carter's drawing of chariot parts from Tutankhamun's tomb. Griffith Institute

Arriving in Oxford in search of Tutankhamun, even if it is by coach and not by donkey, gives the whole trip a strange Egyptian atmosphere.

The kites seen en route over the English countryside evoke the birds that fly over the pristine skies of the country of the Nile and that, dressed in divinity, are represented in Pharaonic temples and tombs.

They are also present in Carter's paintings (such as the 1895 watercolor, shown in the exhibition, of a falcon from the Anubis Shrine in Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahari).

The discoverer was an excellent draftsman who came to archeology precisely thanks to his artistic ability.

In the university city, the Ashmolean museum houses an extraordinary collection of Egyptian antiquities, with objects such as the great statues of the ithyphallic god Min - who seem to get excited at the sight of a sensual bust of Antinous, Hadrian's lover drowned in the Nile -, an impressive crocodile stone head, the precious coffins and the mummy of the Theban priest Djed-djehuty-iuef-ankh (“the god Toth says that he may live”) or the Amarna pieces, which are closely related to Tutankhamun as they represent his family (Akhenaten, Nefertiti and the princesses) and people and places he saw in life.

If after visiting the archive exhibition at the Bodleian Library one feels the need to rush to see Egyptian artifacts,

the Ashmolean is close by (the ostraca collection of Egyptologist Alan Gardiner, who collaborated with Carter, is also on display).

Traveling under the patronage of Tutankhamun and his tomb, Oxford is also full of evocative cemeteries.

From St. Giles Abbey to the abandoned (except for the goblins) north of Walton Street, passing through the one of the church of Mary Magdalene in the heart of the city with its crosses and crows and the inscription "

the tomb is empty

” which would have driven Howard Carter to despair.

Tutankhamun's sarcophagus. AMR NABIL (AFP)

The Bodleian exhibition occupies the library's Treasury room and is small, like Tutankhamun's tomb, but just as full of (documentary) riches.

It consists of about twenty showcases in a suitable atmosphere of darkness and mystery.

You have to immerse yourself in it and extract information with the will of an archaeologist.

In a preamble, information about the reign of the young pharaoh is offered and it is emphasized that his death was unexpected and his burial had to be improvised, which explains many of its unusual characteristics.

Also that the tomb, perhaps reused, remained substantially inviolate (it was visited by thieves shortly after its closure, but they did not gain access to the mummy and the tomb was rearranged and resealed so that Carter found a practically intact enclosure).

It must be clarified that in a ceiling it is said that the body of Tutankhamun is still in the sarcophagus in the tomb, when years ago it was removed from there and is exhibited in the same enclosure, but in a modern heated urn installed in the antechamber.

grave obsession

The tour begins with the culminating moment of the discovery noted in Carter's notebook to go back to the history of the discoverer himself, with a complex personality, before the discovery.

A photo shows him at the age of 19, the same age as Tutankhamun when he died.

An 1892 letter from the great Egyptologist Flinders Petrie, who took him with him to Egypt, contains a negative opinion about the young man: "His interest is in painting and natural history (...) He is no use to me as an excavator."

There follows a space dedicated to "the long search" since Theodore Davis proclaimed in 1913 that the Valley is exhausted and leaves the concession to excavate, which is acquired by Carnarvon, who hires Carter, obsessed with the idea that there is a grave for find: that of Tutankhamun.

It is very moving to contemplate a map of his own hand with the excavations between 1917 and 1922, with the tomb still not located, there, waiting in the sand under the remains of the old workers' huts of the neighboring tomb of Ramses VI that covered it.

And then, the moment of discovery and the first entry into the tomb, on November 26, Carter, Carnarvon, his daughter and some others, around four in the afternoon.

A page from Carter's excavation journal, on graph paper, with ring holes, contains the account of that Great Moment of archaeology, with all its suspense, in the discoverer's own handwriting.

The hole in the door, the candle inserted, and Carnarvon: "Can you see anything?"

The answer, Carter noted, was not the famous "yes, wonderful stuff" (which he later put into later posts), but the less dramatic "yes, it's wonderful."

An amazing scientific adventure began that would last 10 years, until December 1932, which was the time it took to empty the tomb.

Carnarvon died on April 5, 1923 without seeing the opening of the sarcophagus and the mummy of Tutankhamun, which was not examined until November 11, 1925. A letter from Carter to Gardiner describes some of the emblematic objects observed in the antechamber. : chariots, beds with strange shapes of animals, two life-size figures of guardians… “

So far, it is Tutankhamun

” [at the moment it is Tutankhamun].

Three Egyptian workers disassemble the wall between the antechamber and the burial chamber of Tutankhamun's tomb.HARRY BURTON

Photos (Burton's are "the most famous archaeological images ever taken", recalls the exhibition) and drawings of the different rooms of the tomb and the objects as they were when the researchers explored the enclosure allow one to feel transported to the fundamental moments of the discovery.

The conservation challenges faced by archaeologists and the solutions invented to preserve the objects are explained in the exhibition.

The complex system of rails to transport the contents of the tomb to the river in carts and ship it to the museum is also documented.

Especially moving is a large portrait of an anonymous Egyptian boy photographed in 1927 by Burton wearing one of Tutankhamun's necklaces to illustrate how the ornament is worn.

Years later, Hussein Abd el Rasul, from the famous family of Qurna (which includes the famous looters as ancestors), identified himself as the sitter.

The exhibition recalls that "many stories have been told about the image and who the boy was and what was his role in the excavation."

A group of Egyptian schoolboys passed the photo the other day listening attentively to the explanations of their teachers.

The exhibition deplores the historical lack of recognition of the Egyptians who worked on the tomb,

rais

(foreman) Ahmed Gerigar and his colleagues (all named in sample) Gad Hassan, Hussein Abu Awad, and Hussein Ahmed Said.

Carter's drawing of the artifacts located in the antechamber of Tutankhamun's tomb. Griffith Institute

The exhibition also criticizes British archeology by recalling the patrimonial attitude and the search for profit, especially of Lord Carnarvon.

It is suggested that the tabloid tale of the curse (on display is a delightful yellowish 1923 telegram sent to "Carter Tutankhamen Thebes" from Dublin warning him that if trouble continues he must reseal the tomb) was in part a revenge of the neglected media for the aristocrat Carnarvon's exclusive contract with

The Times

.

The sample includes some objects that reflect the popularity of Tutankhamun after his discovery, such as a board game from 1923 or a record of songs,

The archive, which continues to be enriched and has been digitized for open consultation (www.griffith.ox.ac.uk), constitutes an invaluable source of work to complete the study of the material from the tomb, a task that Carter left unfinished .

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Source: elparis

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