Saed News: Inside this untouched tomb, discovered on November 26, 1922, an amazing treasure of items related to Tutankhamun, the Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, was found. Tutankhamun, who passed away at the age of 18 or 19 after reigning for 9 years.
According to the history section of Saed News, on the afternoon of November 26, 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter and a team of Egyptian workers made the most significant archaeological discovery in history. As they dug deeper into a stone tomb in the Valley of the Kings, they reached a door adorned with the royal seals of Egypt and Pharaoh Tutankhamun. They were on the verge of uncovering one of the most prominent archaeological finds in history.
Carter later wrote in his diary, "We impatiently cleared the last remnants of rubble from the floor in front of the door, until only a clean, sealed door stood before us." He removed a few more loose stones from the upper corner of the door and inserted an iron rod and a lit candle into the gap to ensure the space was empty and the air was non-toxic.
Carter was the first to look inside the dark room. He wrote about the experience: "It took some time for my eyes to adjust, but as soon as my eyes accustomed to the glow of the light, the interior of the chamber gradually revealed itself... with a strange and amazing mix of extraordinary and beautiful objects stacked together."
George Herbert Carnarvon, Carter's wealthy sponsor who stood behind him, asked if anything was visible. Carter breathlessly replied, "Yes, wonderful things!"
Carter, Carnarvon, and others directed the light of their candles into the hole and stared into the room.
Joe Marchant, author of the book The Shadow King: The Strange Afterlife of King Tut’s Mummy, wrote for Smithsonian Magazine in 2022: "What they saw was undoubtedly still the most astonishing archaeological discovery of all time."
Inside the tomb was a treasure trove of wealth from Tutankhamun, a Pharaoh of the New Kingdom of Egypt (approximately 1550 to 1070 BC), who had been largely forgotten. As a result, his tomb had not been looted like those of other kings in the Valley of the Kings.
Two guardian statues, painted black in the style of the kingdom, stood at the sealed gate of Tutankhamun's tomb.
Marchant wrote, "From the darkness of the chamber, two ebony statues of the king, with a staff, men's skirts, and golden sandals, stood. Gold-plated benches with animal-shaped heads, beautifully decorated coffins, dried flowers, marble vases, strange black stands adorned with a gold-plated monster snake, white chests, finely carved chairs, a golden bed, countless egg-shaped white boxes, stools in every shape and design, and a heap of overturned chariot parts gleamed with gold."
Carter's team included head Egyptian workers named Hussein Abou Awad and Hussein Ahmed, whose names were later removed from the history of the discovery. Together, they worked for months on detailed and laborious archaeology, sending valuable daily finds on wooden sleighs to the laboratory for analysis and cataloging. Visitors and journalists flocked to Luxor, near the Nile River, to watch the excavation.
It took another 14 and a half months before the archaeologists first encountered Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus and his symbolic burial mask in February 1924. (Carnarvon, the financial backer of the excavation, had died a year earlier from blood poisoning, and his death sparked rumors of a mummy's curse).
Finally, the archaeologists confirmed that the Pharaoh was still inside the tomb, and his sarcophagus was untouched. Carter wrote about the moment: "The moment we had been waiting for... that the tomb of Tutankhamun was inside these chambers."
Describing the sanctity of the tomb, Carter continued: "Our feelings were many and overwhelming... most of them were unsaid. But in that silence, you could almost hear the footsteps of the mourners, ghostly and sorrowful."
