The Excavation of King Tut’s Tomb By Ruby Farrier

The Discovery Howard Carter was an archaeologist and Egyptologist He was excavating in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt In November 1922, he discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun

Gold The tomb was hidden for 3,000 years The seal on the tomb was unbroken Inside the tomb the first glimpse by candle light was of glints of gold

Wonderful Things Here are some of the 5,000 things that were found in the tomb:

Inside the Tomb The tomb had four main rooms: Antechamber Burial chamber Treasury Annex

Map of the Tomb

Antechamber Included beds, baskets, stools and the pieces of four chariots These were objects used by the pharaoh in every day and would follow him into the afterlife

Burial Chamber Inside was the sarcophagus and King Tut's mummy The walls were painted yellow with large murals of the king

Treasury Had many items such as shrines, chests and boats In one carved wooden shrine covered in gold there were four jars The jars contained the king's organs

Annex Is the smallest room in the tomb The tiny room was filled with oils, wine jars, food, dishes, board games and baskets There were 2000 objects found in there

The Mummy The king’s body was wrapped in many layers of cloth In between the layers they found fine gold jewellery and daggers The mummy was contained in three nested coffins The final coffin was made of solid gold

King Tutankhamun He was known as the boy king, as he became pharaoh of Egypt at nine years old Tutankhamun means living image of Amun, the king of the gods Here is his name in hieroglyphics:

The Death of Tutankhamun He died at the age of nineteen His tomb was small for a Pharaoh Archaeologists believed it was built for an Egyptian noble, but was used for Tutankhamun when he died at a young age

Curse of the Pharaoh When the tomb was opened rumours began to spread about the belief and fear of a curse Newspapers reported a curse inscribed on the door of the tomb A story was told that Howard Carter's pet canary was eaten by a cobra on the day he entered the tomb Legend has it that who dares to open the tomb will suffer the mummy’s curse!

Fun Facts about King Tut's Tomb It is so hot in Egypt, archaeologists only worked during the winter season The tomb is called KV62. The KV stands for Valley of the Kings and 62 because it was the 62nd tomb found there King Tut's gold mask was made with 22 pounds of gold.