Howard Carter: Man who unearthed Tutankhamun’s tomb

This British archaeologist won fame for having excavated the intact tomb of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun - the best-preserved pharaonic tomb found in the Valley of the Kings. He had gone to Egypt to sketch artifacts and became the lead excavator of King Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Born in Kensington on May 9, 1874, Howard Carter was the youngest of 11 children of the artist and illustrator Samuel John Carter and Martha Joyce. His father helped train and develop his artistic talents.

Carter spent much of his childhood with relatives in the Norfolk market town of Swaffham, the birthplace of both his parents. Receiving only limited formal education at Swaffham, he showed talent as an artist.

Career
The nearby mansion of the Amherst family, Didlington Hall, contained a sizable collection of Egyptian antiques, which sparked Carter’s interest in that subject. Lady Amherst was impressed by his artistic skills, and in 1891 she prompted the Egypt Exploration Fund to send Carter to assist an Amherst family friend, Percy Newberry, in the excavation and recording of Middle Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan.

Although only 17, Carter was innovative in improving the methods of copying tomb decoration. In 1892, he worked under the tutelage of Flinders Petrie for one season at Amarna, the capital founded by the pharaoh Akhenaten. From 1894 to 1899, he worked as a draftsman as well, for the Swiss Egyptologist Edouard Naville, on the exquisite mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, female pharaoh, at Thebes. He was eventually employed by Lord Carnarvon, an aristocrat, to supervise the excavations of the tombs of the nobles in Deir el-Bahri near Thebes.

Discovery of King Tut’s tomb
In 1914, Lord Carnarvon received the requisite concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings, and Carter was asked to lead it. However, as World War I broke out, their work was interrupted. By the end of 1917, he was able to resume excavation.

By 1922, Lord Carnarvon had become dissatisfied as he had not been able to excavate any major findings. In November 1922, a water fetcher on the excavation site was digging in the sand with a stick when he found a stone step, about which he informed Carter. This led Carter to a flight of steps, which led to a sealed door, and then to a secret chamber. After some days, they eventually entered the tomb, where they found a huge collection of treasures. Eventually, Carter opened the innermost chamber, where they found the sarcophagus of King Tut.

Though it was the biggest archaeological find of his time, Carter didn’t receive any honour from the British government. However, he received the Order of the Nile in 1926 from King Fuad I of Egypt.

Recognition
Carter spent the later years of his life working as a collector for various museums in London. He also gave lectures on Egypt and King Tut on his tours of US. During this time, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the Yale University. He also received an honorary membership to the Real Academia de la Historia of Madrid, Spain. Carter had authored several books on Egyptology as well.

Personal life
He passed away in London in 1939 due to cancer of the lymph nodes aged 64.

Google commemorated his 138th birth annivesary with a special doodle on May 9, 2012.

Interesting facts
Howard Carter might have remained an archaeological artist and never found Tutankhamun’s tomb had he not met Flinders Petrie who mentored him and first introduced him to digging.

Carter worked under different archaeologists at dig sites. He earned praise for using innovative and modern new methods to draw wall reliefs and other findings. It was not only the archaeological features that Carter drew while out in Egypt. He also produced several beautiful paintings of birds and natural scenes. He had great regard for history and all archaeologically important sites.

Carter was a man of many skills, proof of which is that during World War I, he had also worked as a translator. He interpreted secret messages exchanged by French and British officials with Arab contacts.

He is portrayed or referred to in many films, television and radio productions. He is a key character in a 1992 book The Tutankhamun Affair. The 2010 book The Murder of King Tut focuses on his search for King Tut’s tomb.