Tag: Kv62

New lighting system at Valley of the Kings means longer visitor hours for ancient Egyptian tombs

Dr Hawass said the new lighting system will aslo provide a beautiful and a dramatic scene at night for the pedestrians walking along the Nile cornice on the east bank in Luxor Egyptian Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, announced that with a total of 922 units the installation of the new lighting system on Luxors west bank has been completed, allowing for people to visit the tombs in the evening.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said that the aim of this project is to preserve the tombs and temples located on Luxors west bank.

The thousands of tourists that daily visit the heritage site will now be distributed throughout the day, from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm.

This, he continued, will reduce the level of humidity inside the tombs, which negatively affect its paintings.

The humidity and fungus generated through breath and sweat is gradually eroding the soft stone chambers, and slowly destroying the ancient paintings and carvings.

Hawass added that the new lighting system will also provide a beautiful and a dramatic scene at night for the pedestrians walking along the Nile cornice on the east bank in Luxor.

The new lighting system is one of various measures taken in a bid to preserve the tombs, which include tomb closures, and maybe even the reconstruction of a 'Replica Valley of the Kings'.

Dr. Sabri Abdel Aziz, Head of the Pharaonic Antiquities at the SCA, said that that the project included the lighting of the mountains located on the west bank, the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, the noblemens tombs, the northern side of Al-Qurna, and Hatshepsuts temple.

The project, carried out by the SCA in collaboration with Egypts Sound and Light organization and the French lighting company Architecture Lumire, had a budget of 56 millions LE about 6.2 million, or almost ten million USD.

The installation of the ‘cool lighting’ system is just one of many steps taken to preserve the royal tombs.

Dr Hawass earlier announced that, in a bid to encourage tourists to visit the less popular tombs, some of the most famous tombs in the Valley of the Kings would be closed to those on a moderate budget.

“Whoever wants to visit the original tombs of Tutankhamun, Seti I and Nefertari must pay a huge amount of money,” he commented then.

Eventually, Dr Hawass hopes to create a ‘Replica Valley’, containing identical replicas of the three tombs for tourists to visit, as with Lascaux II has been successfully done for the caves of Lascaux.

These replica tombs will be based on laser scans and high-resolution photographs of the burial chambers and sarcophagi. These would incorporate missing fragments of the tombs that are now held at foreign museums. With King Tut’s replica mummy already looking scaringly real, and Sandro Vannini’s fabulous images of the tomb paintings as examples of what can be achieved with the right combination of equipment and knowledge, I have high hopes for the reconstruction results.

Until the physical replica of KV62 is finished, you can still have a look at a 3D replica of the tomb based on Sandro Vanninis photographs using Heritage Key Virtual, or visit a ‘real life’ – and truly astonishing – replica of how Howard Carter found King Tut’s tomb, at the travelling exhibition ‘Tutankhamun: His Tomb and His Treasures’ currently visiting Manchester. Watch a preview and learn how the replicas were made in this video.

Tutankhamun visits Manchester, brings Tomb and Treasures

'Tutankhamun - His Tomb and His Treasures' will be at the Mancherster Museum of Museums until February 27th, 2011. King Tut’s treasures are returning to the UK, as ‘Tutankhamun His Tomb and His Treasures’ opened this weekend at Manchester’s Museum of Museums.

Over 1,000 faithful replicas offer visitors the opportunity to look through Howard Carter’s eyes and experience the greatest discovery of all time for themselves.

The entire world is familiar with ancient Egypt’s ‘piece de resistance’, the symbol of Egyptology King Tut’s golden death mask (slideshow).

Yet, fewer people know that when Carter and Carnarvon discovered the pharaoh’s final resting place in 1922, it contained so many treasures that it was almost impossible to enter. It would take Carter ten years to catalogue the 5,398 artefacts stacked in the tomb.

The items recovered over those ten years include jewellery, cult objects, amulets, coffers, chests, chairs, weapons, musical instruments, a stunning golden chariot, the golden shrines and the legendary death mask.

‘Tutankhamun His Tomb and His Treasures’ promises just that; to complete the experience by not just showing you truly wonderful things, but the bigger picture.

For the touring exhibition ‘Tutankhamun His Tomb and His Treasures’, a thousand of these precious artefacts have been reproduced. The almost exact (no solid gold, though) copies are shown ‘returned’ to their rightful place in the three burial chambers, recreated based on the sketches and diary notes by Howard Carter and Harry Burton’s original photographs.

The Manchester stop of the tour includes a brand new display, entitled ‘Howard Carter The Discoverer of Tutankhamun’. It is curated by leading Egyptologist Dr. Jaromir Malek, Keeper of the Tutankhamun Archives at the Griffith Institute at Oxford University.

The attention which is paid to detail is outstanding, he said about the travelling showcase. This exhibition can do things which no other is able to. Its educational and information value surpasses that of the usual Tutankhamun shows. The intention to inform and to approach the topic seriously is unmistakably felt from the beginning to the end.

Click To Watch Video

Discovering King Tut – Carnarvon and the Artefacts

The 8th Earl of Carnarvon, George Herbert and his wife, 8th Countess of Carnarvon, Fiona Herbert, discuss some of the artefacts found inside the tomb of King Tutankhamun by Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter.

CLICK TO WATCH

Replicas; better than the real thing?

Today, most of King Tut‘s grave goods are on display at the Cairo Museum (soon they’ll be moved to the forthcoming Grand Egyptian Museum). Some of the artefacts are touring (largely, the artefacts of which they have multiple, almost similar versions) and Tutankhamun’s mummy is housed at his tomb in the Valley of the Kings (a very neat replica of the remainsis touring as well). Dr Zahi Hawass states (and I tend to believe him on this) that neither the Golden Death Mask, nor the mummy will ever be permitted to leave Egypt again. It is inevitable that KV62 (Tut’s Tomb) is closed or access to it severely limited to protect it from the damages tourists, unwillingly, inflict unwillingly, inflict on the ancient murals. To accomodate the 21st century explorers, a replica Valley of the Kings will be constructed.

So, where does that leave us mere mortals, trying to experience a bit of the magic Carter felt when he was the first person in over 2,000 years to behold such wonderful things?

I’ve been to the Cairo Museum, where Tut’s multitude of treasures is kept in glass cabinets, to together with the many other holidaymakers shuffle from wonderful thing to wonderful thing. When after five hours we left the museum, I was proud of my newly gained knowledge of All Things Ancient Egyptian; they built large statues, and had many gods, good craftsmen as well as lots of gold. But I confess, after five hours of shuffling and reading little info cards,I stilldid not have the slightest clue who Howard Carter was. There was no real narrative to catalogue what I saw, and definitely no realisation of just how major the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb was.

So maybe and in my opinion, most definitely a accurate replica put in context (or a thousand replicas, put together in Tut’s tomb) can have more value than the original. ‘Tutankhamun His Tomb and His Treasures’ promises just that; to complete the experience by not just showing you truly wonderful things, but the bigger picture.

Tutankhamun His Tomb and His Treasures is on at Manchesters new Museum of Museums (situated at The Trafford Centre, Barton Square). The exhibition runs until February 27th, 2011. Tickets and more info at www.tutankhamunmanchester.com.

Sandro Vannini’s Photography – King Tut’s Canopic Shrine

Several alabaster artefacts were discovered inside the Tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62) by Howard Carter when he began excavating the tomb in 1922. The Canopic Shrine was one of the intruiging discoveries for how packed together it was, with a box containing several artefacts in a manner comparable to a Russian doll!

The Canopic Shrine is a large gilded wooden box flanked by a Canopy and supported on a sledge. Inside the shrine was the Canopic Chest, which has four hollowed spaces inside which are sealed by Human-Headed Stoppers. Inside the hollows were four small Canopic Coffinettes.

‘Canopic Shrine’ Slideshow

Heritage Key is working with Sandro Vannini and bringing his extensive catalogue of beautiful photography of Egyptian antiquities onto the world wide web, which we’re sure will fascinate even the most hardcore Egyptologist! To watch a slideshow of the Canopic Shrine, simply click any of the thumbnails below.

See it for yourself in King Tut Virtual

But it doesn’t stop there, as you can also visit King Tut Virtual and see digital recreations of many of the famous artefacts from KV62, walk through the Valley of the Kings, explore the banks of the River Nile in Ancient Egyptian times and even see more of Sandro Vannini’s photography in the virtual gallery.

Sandro Vannini’s Photography

Over a decade of experience in photographing the magnificent artefacts and tombs of Egypt has honed the skills of Sandro, and given him the experience required to capture the beautiful details of the Canopic Shrine. The equipment used to take the amazing photographs is obviously important too, and Sandro used a Hasselblad ELD Ixpress 528C camera to take these images. You can also see more of Sandro’s fantastic photography in his new book with the Director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr Zahi Hawass, “The Lost Tombs of Thebes: Life in Paradise” as well as reading about Sandro’s experiences of shooting the photographs in Thebes on Heritage Key, and watching the video about the Lost Tombs of Thebes featuring Dr Zahi Hawass and Dr Janice Kamrin (Watch the Video).

But for those of you who cant make the trip to the Cairo Museum to see the Canopic Shrine, Heritage Key offers these stunning photographs by Sandro Vannini. But there’s more: you can visit virtual replicas of Tutankhamun treasures in the Heritage Key’s King Tut exhibition, which features a virtual replica of many other breath-taking artefacts such as the Golden Mask of King Tutankhamun.

Don’t miss out on new treasures!

This post is part of a series focussing on amazing photographs from ancient Egypt. Keep checking back as well keep adding new images by Sandro Vannini. To make sure you don’t miss out on any of the updates, simply subscribe by email to receive notifications when new images are uploaded. For the more digitally advanced, there’s also an RSS feed with updates available.

See More Amazing Photography by Sandro

Have a look at some of the other stunning photographs by Sandro Vannini here at Heritage Key:

Ask Sandro

We’ll be sitting down with our favourite photographer for an extended chat soon, so if you have any questions for Sandro we’ll send the answers straight to you!

The Canopic Shrine of Tutankhamun

The gilded wooden canopic shrine was set against the eastern wall of the Treasury positioned facing the west, the land of the dead. On top is a frieze of Solar Uraei (cobras with sun disks on their heads) which takes the form of the per wer. The walls are gessoed, gilded and decorated with paired images of goddesses and gods charged with protecting viscera of the king: Isis and Imsety (the liver), Nephtys and Hapy (lungs), Neith and Duamutef (stomach) and Selket and Qebehsenuef (intestines).

The Canopic Chest has no bottom and inside it atop a smaller sledge with silver coated runners stood a chest carved from a single block of calcite, the lid of the chest echoes the sloping roof of the outer shrine and canopy, while its sides are inclined and are decorated at their corners with carved images of the same four protective goddesses who stood on each side of the canopic shrine.

Each Canopic Jar is topped with a separately carved human/headed stopper in the form of the King in a nemes headdress made of calcite with details such as eyes, lips and ornaments on the protective uraeus and vulture picked out in red and black paint. The four stoppers are marked underneath with a symbol indicating their correct position with the four Canopic Coffinettes inside the hollows.

The miniature version of the royal coffins containing the embalmed and wrapped viscera of the king takes the form of mummiform figure of the king in the nemes headcloth fronted by cobra of the north and vulture of the south. On the chin the curled beard of divinity and the hands grasp a crook and a flail symbols of royal authority. On the sides are figures of Wadjet and Nekhbet as birds, in the talons the goddesses hold shen rings. The coffinettes are adorned to look as if they are covered with feathers (rishi style).

On the interior of the coffinette’s lid is engraved an image of the goddess Nut standing on the hieroglyph for the sky, her winged arms outstretched to protect the king on his journey to the next world. On the inside of the lower half of the coffin are inscriptions also designed to guard the king on his trip to the afterlife.

HDVideo:Tutankhamun’s Burial Treasures: The Canopic Shrine, Chest and Jars

(Read the transcript on the video page)

You can watch more fantastic videos on Heritage Key’s Video Page including Zahi Hawasss insights into the death of King Tut, as well as Kathleen Martinezs hunt for the tomb of Cleopatra. Additionally, you can find out more about Ancient Egypt on Heritage Key, as well as being able to explore the Valley of the Kings and the fascinating KV62 – King Tutankhamun’s tomb – in 3D in our exciting virtual experience! Also be sure to keep up to date on all new postings about Sandro’s photography from Egypt by subscribing to our feed, simply by entering your email address above.

The King Tut Timeline – World Events at the Time of Tutankhamun

I was asked to gather a heap of data for our timeline-testing, and figured King Tut would make the most interesting case. Why?His history is one that contains a combination of ‘estimates’, undecided parentage and debated dates – and causes of death, as a matter of fact – with very few exact facts and dates for the era in which Carter and Carnarvon dug him out. The ‘split’ makes it a good test-case as well. There’s a huge gap between (circa) 1350BCand 1922 during which Pharaoh Tutankhamun was more or less left in peace. Tut’s tomb did not get robbed because the tombs on top of KV62 collapsed (Ramesses VI, as explained in this video by Dr Hawass), saveguarding the Boy King’s burial site until Carter and Carnarvon arrived in Egypt.

Actually, if it were left to Theodore Davis – who discovered KV54, which later would be recorded as Tut’s funerary cache – Tut would still be deep in the sand. On discovering KV54 in 1912, he declared that he had found Tutankhamun’s tomb and that nothing else was to be found in the Valley of the Kings. With his discovery of KV62 in 1922, Howard Carter proved Davis wrong. In 2005, tomb KV63 was located, proving that the Valley still held some secrets.

I’ve supplied all of the above data (and more), but still, it wasn’t enough – I needed some contemporaneous data, for testing purposes. After further digging, these were my favourite ‘discoveries’ of data (more or less) concurrent with the era of King Tut:

The burial of the Egtved Girl in Denmark in 1370BC. She was a Nordic Bronze Age girl whose well-preserved remains were found in a barrow. The oak log that she was buried in is dated to the summer of 1370 BC. She must have been 16 to 18 years old when she died, and was a slim, 160cm tall girl with long blond hair and well-trimmed nails. At her feet were the cremated remains of a 5 year-old child. Meet her in this video.
The end of Minoan culture. The 15th century BC saw the end of the Minoan culture, with most of the Minoan palaces abandoned. The Palace of Knossos, however, remained in use until it was destroyed by fire in 1375 (Minoan works of Art can be found at the Hyksos capital Avaris, Egypt).
Linear B, a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, was in use around Tut’s time. The fire which destroyed Knossos baked the Linear Bclay tablets hard and this disaster preserved many of the tablets. It would take the Phoenicians another (more or less) 300 years to develop their alphabet, which eventually evolved into the Greek alphabet and the one I’m using for this blogpost. 😉
The birth of cremation. While the Egyptians were entombing their pharaohs in elaborate rituals, here in Europe, we gave up on burying the dead, and, apart from the odd accidental bog-mummy, cremation became the norm. Then, as now, the Brits were reluctant to give up the practice of burying their dead, and never fully converted to cremation.
The man with the golden mask (no, not that one). About a hundred years after King Tut’s death, Agamemnon ruled Mycenae as King. But ‘his’ mask was made 400 years before that.
The female Cladh Hallan mummy in Scotland. She died circa 1300BC, and about two days later her body was placed in a bog, and left there for about 6 to 18 months, et voila… a mummy (and one of the only examples of deliberate mummification carried out in ancient times ever found in Britain). Three centuries later, she was re-buried with a 600-year-old male mummy for company.

VIDEO: The Egtved Girl

Curator Flemming Kaul of the National Museum of Denmark introduces us to the Egved Girl.

Meanwhile, there wasn’t much going on at Stonehenge. Although it was probably still in (some kind of) use, the latest construction at the stone circle dates about 250 years before King Tut’s death.

At least, by that time, in Europe, we had started mastering horse-drawn chariots, got the hang of constructing hill forts and developed the first ploughs. But we would have to wait another 100 years for serious action and the start of the Trojan War.

I’m pretty sure I’ll get a request for even more data, so for (non-spoof) events worth mentioning that took place between 1500 and 1200 BCare more than welcome! (I’ll trade you Ancient World in London points for those – I trust splendid – suggestions. You’ll get 10 out of my stash of 429 for each correct answer!)

Deadline: Monday morning.

Sandro Vannini’s Photography: King Tut’s Ritual Figure of Sekhmet

Housed inside Cairo’s Egyptian Museum are many of the artefacts from King Tutankhamun’s tomb (KV62) including the Ritual Figure of Sekhmet, which was discovered in 1922 by the great explorer Howard Carter and his financier Lord Carnarvon. The two men who had a trusting and close bond, as well as a love for Egyptology as explained by his modern day ancestors in a Heritage Key interview (Watch the video about Carter and Carnarvon). Included in the discovery were 34 ritual figures, believed to be of significant importance in the burial ceremony.

Egyptology photographer Sandro Vannini has been capturing many of the famed treasures of King Tut on camera, with the stunning results brought online by Heritage Key each week. In the second part of the Ritual Figures images by Sandro, the exquisite photographs of the goddess Sekhmet are featured.

‘Ritual Figure of Sekhmet’ Slideshow

Heritage Key is working with Sandro and bringing his extensive catalogue of beautiful photography of Egyptian antiquities onto the internet, which make for stunning viewing for both the casual observer and the keenest budding archaeologist alike! To watch a slideshow of the Ritual Figure of Sekhmet simply click any of the thumbnails below.

Explore KV62 for yourself in King Tut Virtual

But it doesn’t stop there, as you can also visit King Tut Virtual and see digital recreations of many of the famous artefacts from KV62, dig in the Valley of the Kings, and explore the tomb of the boy king and even see more of Sandro Vannini’s photography in the virtual gallery.

Don’t miss out on new treasures!

See More Amazing Photography by Sandro

Have a look at some of the other stunning photographs by Sandro Vannini here at Heritage Key:

Ask Sandro

We’ll be sitting down with our favourite photographer for an extended chat soon, so if you have any questions for Sandro we’ll send the answers straight to you!

Sandro Vannini’s Photography

Sandro has spent over a decade in Egypt, photographing some of the most stunning archaeological finds in history, as well as hundreds of amazing tombs across Egypt. The experience gained and skills enhanced have given Sandro a natural flair for making these artefacts come to life in his photography. Obviously the equipment he uses is a key factor too, and for capturing the Ritual Figures of King Tut on film, Sandro uses a Hasselblad ELD Ixpress 528C camera to take these images.

You can also see more of Sandro’s fantastic photography in his new book with the Director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr Zahi Hawass, “The Lost Tombs of Thebes:Life in Paradise” as well as reading about Sandro’s experiences of shooting the photographs in Thebes on Heritage Key, and watching the video about the Lost Tombs of Thebes featuring Dr Zahi Hawass and Dr Janice Kamrin.

Of course, not everyone would be able to make that trip to Cairo to see the beautiful artefacts that the Egyptian Museum holds, so Heritage Key brings Sandro’s stunning photography of the ritual figures from the Tomb of King Tut. But it doesn’t stop there: you can visit virtual replicas of Tutankhamun treasures in the Heritage Key VX King Tut exhibition, which features a virtual replica of many other breath-taking artefacts such as the Golden Mask of King Tutankhamun.

The Ritual Figure of Sekhmet

Inside the black resin-covered wooden boxes inside the Tomb of King Tut and wrapped in shawls were 34 ritual figures. Only one of the boxes had been breached by ancient tomb robbers, and inside one of the crates was discovered the Ritual Figure of Sekhmet, the daughter of Re, wife of Ptah and mother of Nefertem as well as the goddess of war and destruction.

When the ritual figure was found, a floral wreath was wrapped around its neck and she was wrapped in two linen cloths. One of the cloths bore an inscription which mentions the Aten. Sekhmet was the warrior god of Upper Egypt, and is shown with the head of a lioness and the body of a female.

Sekhmet was believed to be a protectorate of the Pharaoh, and would take down their enemies with arrows of fire during battle. The wrath of Sekhmet would become infamous, as her priestesses sought to make her a dominating goddess. Numerous statues were made in her likeness, which would then be laced in anthrax to prevent them being stolen or defaced.

Sekhmet’s notoriety was based around her rage, which almost wiped out mankind. Re created Sekhmet in vengeance as a punishment for man’s sin and disobedience. However, her ruthlessness grew and eventually led to Re losing control over Sekhmet as she wiped out vast numbers of people. Re’s attempts to stop Sekhmet’s war-path led to her turning on him, and admitted that she gained pleasure from destroying those who opposed him.

The myth has it that Re ordered for a vast amount of alcohol to be bought to the Nile, and dumped in the river with pomegranate to make it appear red. Tempting in Sekhmet, she drank the river which eventually stopped her rampage. In order to appease Sekhmet, the Egyptian people would worship her through a complex ritual.

HD Video: King Tut’s Treasures: The Ritual Figures

(Read the transcript on the video page)

If you liked this video, you can look at the Heritage Keys video page for all our videos to date and see more of archaeologists working in Ancient Egypt. Additionally, you can find out more about Ancient Egypt here at Heritage Key, and if you want to do some discovery of your own, you can explore KV62 – King Tutankhamun’s tomb – in 3D in our exciting virtual experience! Also be sure to keep up to date on all new postings about Sandro’s photography from Egypt by subscribing to our feed, simply by entering your email address above.

The Mysterious Adventures of MacMummy – Birth, Burton Style

Should you start panicking when your colleague donates you the mummies that their kids are too grown-up for to play with? Of course not! (or so I kid myself.) Thanks to Meral I now am the proud owner of my first ever mummy, which we named ‘MacMummy’ because of his provenance (and utter failure to decipher the hieroglyphs on his coffin).

I managed to capture him in this shot early this morning, when MacMummy was just waking up to the smell of freshly made coffee in a setting that strangely resembles KV62, albeit it a little out of scale (The Royal Tombs of Egypt, Chaper 7, fold-out). He told us that when he grows* up (it is a he, we’ve found some bits we first thought lost lying around in his little plastic coffin) he wants to be just as famous as King Tut, so it made sense to capture his first proud moments of fame Harry Burton-style. For those of you who wish to make a more thorough acquaintance with our new office mummy, find his complete (almost, could use some help with some of the categories) object identification below.

Artefact number:HK00002**
Type:human remains
Provenance:McDonalds***, London, 2010 (The sarcophagus has an inscription referencing Vietnam.)
Discovered by:Meral Crifasi
On display at:Ann’s desk (serious loan requests ~~can be sent using the contact form~~ go in the )
Dynasty: … (any suggestions?)
Materials:Plastic. The coffin mechanism might be iron, but we can not confirm this without a CTscan.
Condition:Mint (does that description work for mummies too?)
Notes:comes with dog (strangely, non-mummified) and interactive sarcophagus

*Ididn’t find the courage yet to break the news that there’s only hope for shrinkage, not growth.
**HK00001 is the mammoth-skeleton I still need to assemble. Remind me, please!
***See, it’s not that difficult to find the ancient world in London! 😉

Want to make your own Burton-inspired photographs, but don’t own a mummy or pretty painted tomb walls? Try taking some snapshots of your adventures in King Tut Virtual, and submit them to our Flickr Pool to win 100$. Captured some Griffins? Those magical creatures might just win you a book from Thames and Hudson. Just check this photography contest out.

Tutankhamun’s Funeral – A New King Tut Exhibition at New York’s Met

Harry Burton photograph of the King Tut's death mask with floral collars In 1908, more than a decade before the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, American retired lawyer and archaeologist Theodore Davis made a remarkable discovery. While excavating in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, he unearthed about a dozen large storage jars. Their contents included broken pottery, bags of natron, bags of sawdust, floral collars, and pieces of linen with markings from years 6 and 8 during the reign of a then little-known pharaoh named Tutankhamun. The significance of the find was not immediately understood, and the objects entered the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a mystery. It was only several years later, after further excavations and study, that the Museums Herbert E. Winlock was able to identify them: the small cache contained the remains from the embalming and funeral of King Tut. These objects now get their own exhibition – Tutankhamun’s Funeral – which runs at New York’s Met until November 6th.

Often called ‘the Boy King’, Tutankhamun was about nine years old when he ascended the throne of ancient Egypt. He died approximately nine years later, possibly owing to causes that include a weakened immune system and malaria. His death may have been unexpected, so his own tomb was still unfinished. The rather small tomb in which he was actually buried – and which you can visit in King Tut Virtual – had been started for another person, not for a king. Eventually, workmen’s huts completely hid the entrance to the tomb, and its location was forgotten.

The discovery of the storage vessels by Theodore Davis and the accurate identification of their contents helped lead Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon to the discovery of King Tut’s tomb (watch the video series).

The large, sealed storage jars containing carefully packed equipment and objects were found in KV54 – not so much a tomb, but rather a small pit near to the tomb of Seti I discovered in 1907. Theodore Davis who funded the excavations got permission to take six of the storage jars out of Egypt and in 1909 donated them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He then in 1912 – published his findings in a book (The Tombs of Harmhabi and Touatankhamanou) and told the press he had discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. In 1914 Davis’ concession to excavate in the Valley of the Kings was passed on to Lord Carnarvon.

Star Objects from Tutankhamun’s Embalming Cache

Linen containing hieratic writing which reads “The good god, Lord of the Two Lands, Nebkheperure, beloved of Min. Linen of year 6.” (Nebkheperure is Tutankhamun’s Prenomen)
The Florar collar found in KV54 that holds clues to when King Tut died.

In time, Herbert Winlock, curator and field director of the Metropolitan’s Egyptian excavations and in the 1930s Director of the Museum, came to realize that the natron (a mixture of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium sulphate, and sodium chloride that occurs naturally in Egypt, as Salima Ikram tells us in this video) and linen were the embalming refuse from the mummification of Tutankhamun. He also suggested that the animal bones, pottery, and collars might have come from a funeral meal.

Winlock’s analysis KV54 was an embalming cache rather than King Tut’s tomb – was an important clue that led to Howard Carter’s 1922 discovery of KV62 some 110 metres away from where the storage jars were unearthed.

When did King Tut die?

The funeral materials unearthed by Theodore Davis (who discovered the tomb of Yuya and Thuya, Tut’s great-grandparents as well) might even bear clues to solve another riddle in the King Tut puzzle: when did Tutankhamun die? Scholars studying the funerary cache have been able to reconstruct details of his death and burial. We already knew that the Boy King died young – at age 19 – but now scientists might have nailed down the exact season of his death. Botanical analysis of the well-preserved, more than 3,000-year-old floral collars indicates that the plants they contain flower in Egypt between late February and midMarch. Since the complex process of mummification (here explained by DrZahi Hawass) took about 70 days, it is now believed that King Tut probably died in December or January.

Tutankhamun’s Funeral Exhibition at the Met

The exhibition, Tutankhamun’s Funeral, will feature jars, lids, bowls, floral collars, linen sheets, and bandages that were used at the pharaoh’s mummification and the rites associated with his burial and related objects. These include a sculpted head of Tutankhamun as a youth, and several facsimile paintings depicting funerary rituals. Archival photographs from the early 20th century by Harry Burton, the Museum’s expedition photographer, will provide an evocative background.

The exhibition Tutankhamun’s Funeral at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City – which runs until November 6th – will explore the materials and rituals associated with the burial of the pharaoh. The presentation will include some 60 objects, primarily from the Met’s own collection. The objects on display at the Met complement a major exhibition of treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun ‘~~King Tut NYC- Return of the King~~ Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs‘ on view April 23th 2010 to January 2th 2011, at the Discovery Times Square Exposition.

Discovering Tut – Carnarvon Never Got to See the Golden Death Mask

When you think of King Tut, do you see a young boy, struggling with the enormity of his power; a slender adolescent in control of the world’s greatest empire? Of course not, because you’re like me: you see the magnificent death mask, the coffins, shrines, shabtis, daggers, beds, decrepit mummy(with or without penis) et al. We ancient world-lovers are just magpies with laptops really.

But do you ever wonder why, when Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon burst into the tomb in 1922, they could see so many ‘wonderful things’? Why wasn’t Tutankhamun’s funerary procession made ancient swag, like those of nearly all of ancient Egypt’s kings?

In fact even this isn’t strictly true, as Lady Carnarvon points out to us from the cellar-cum-Egyptian exhibition at Highclere Castle: “Howard Carter estimated that around 60 per cent of the jewellery which (sic) would have been in the tomb…was possibly stolen by grave diggers of ancient times.” Not a motto modern grave diggers will be thrilled about, but it does explain why the legs of the otherwise dazzling golden throne of King Tut are so bare.

“Tutankhamun wasn’t a great general, just a boy who’d married a girl.”

Yet the swathes of stunning objects in the Cairo Museum today are largely thanks to Tutankhamun’s anonymity as a leader. His grandfather Amenhotep III is widely seen as having led Egypt into her cultural and international peak. Yet Amenhotep III’s successes in life would prove his downfall in death: “Because he was a more successful, more renowned pharaoh, people knew to look for his tomb,” says Lady Carnarvon, “whereas Tutankhamun was the minor pharaoh.” Does this mean King Tut, for all his obscurity, is the most powerful pharaoh in the afterlife?

“Just a boy”

One of the tomb’s most famous treasures, the Golden Throne was mercifully one of a few artefacts Lord Carnarvon saw before his tragic death in 1923 aged just 56. And while most pieces stress the king’s authority, power and dominance, the throne (shot beautfully by Sandro Vannini) sheds light on Tut as a tender young man, gripped by the love of his wife Ankhesenamun. “He wasn’t a great general,” says Lady Carnarvon, “just a boy who’d married a girl.” The touching scene serves to highlight the throne’s ‘indescribable beauty’, points out Lady Carnarvon.

Lady Carnarvon is showing us a replica of the throne, and other items, at Highclere. Another replica on show is that of the king’s chest, a multicoloured homage to Tut’s kingship, and Egypt’s prowess over her neighbours. Tutankhamun is seen on a hunt astride a magnificent chariot drawn by plumed horses. “He’s wrapping the reins round his waist,” says Lady Carnarvon, “which looks blooming dangerous to me! Health and safety would say no.”

A Crusher of Nations

Yet there’s a grander purpose to the hunting scene than a few juicy racks of meat: both sides of the chest are decorated with Egypt’s two greatest enemies. Protected by the Sahara to the east and west, Egypt was only at risk at its northern and southern borders. However, despite the southern Nubians and the northern Hittites’ presence on the chest, Lady Carnarvon suspects Tutankhamun would not have attacked them – Egypt’s relative stability under his rule is testament to this.

Sadly the chest was to be one of the last things Lord Carnarvon saw before his untimely end. Yet Lady Carnarvon has no doubt he and Carter witnessed the glory of the boy-king together that fateful day in November 1922: “As Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter looked through the little hole they’d made, they’d have seen a glint of gold.” It was, as history confirms, so much more.

HD Video: Discovering King Tut – Carnarvon and the Artefacts

(Click here to read a transcript of this video)

Look our for our Ancient World in London series, where we’ll be exploring the great names of the Age of Discovery in Britain. You can even see us exploring the great archives of the Egypt Exploration Society in London, which feature the most famous archaeologists in history, here.

Fiona Carnarvon has written two books on the King Tut tomb raid: Carnarvon & Carter(buy here) and Egypt at Highclere: The Discovery of Tutankhamun(buy here). You can watch every instalment of our special Discovering Tut video series right here at Heritage Key:

Sandro Vannini’s Photography – The Entrance to the Tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62)

When the entrance to the Tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62) was discovered by the great explorer Howard Carter and his financier Lord Carnarvon, they could never have dreamed of the treasures which awaited them inside. These two men worked together to track down King Tut’s burial place, as explained in a Heritage Key video with Lord Carnarvon’s modern day ancestors the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon (Watch the Video).

Egyptology photographer Sandro Vannini has spent much of the past decade photographing the fascinating artefacts discovered inside KV62, as well as capturing the tomb itself on film. But an angle that isn’t seen very often is that of the tomb’s entrance – the path walked down numerous times by Carter and his team as they excavated arguably the greatest find in archaeology.

Sandro Vannini’s Photography

As one of the leading archaeology photographers, Sandro Vannini has honed his skills for photographing the ancient wonders of Egypt in their best light. Armed with his Canon EOS 5D, Sandro trekked the desert sands and took these images of the walk up to the Tomb of King Tutankhamun. Follow in the footsteps of Howard Carter and his team of archaeologists, not just through Sandro’s photographs, but by registering for your free Heritage Key account and exploring the Virtual Valley of the Kings in King Tut Virtual!

Sandro Vannini is of course no stranger to photographing the beauty of such tombs and treasures of Egypt, as his recent book The Lost Tombs of Thebes:Life in Paradise, authored by Dr Hawass is evidence of. You can read Sandro’s account on how he took the photographs right here on Heritage Key, as well as watching him in action in a video featuring Dr Hawass and Dr Janice Kamrin (Watch the video here), and check out his latest book – A Secret Voyage.

Don’t miss out on new treasures!

See More Amazing Photography by Sandro

Have a look at some of the other stunning photographs by Sandro Vannini here at Heritage Key:

Ask Sandro

We’ll be sitting down with our favourite photographer for an extended chat soon, so if you have any questions for Sandro we’ll send the answers straight to you!

The Entrance to the Tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62)

Howard Carter went searching for the Tomb of King Tutankhamun and unearthed the entrance in 1922. Upon entering the tomb, birth was given to the most famous dialogue in archaeological exploration. As Carter entered the tomb, Lord Carnarvon called “What do you see?”, Carter looked around him awestruck, and said “I see wonderful things”. The ensuing artefacts captured the public’s imagination as the world’s press scrambled to report the stunning finds.

The entrance of the tomb was saved from being raided by tomb robbers due to a collapse whilst construction of another tomb – that of Ramesses VI – was being carried out above it. The partial caving in made the entrance tunnel impassible for robbers, and meant that much of the treasures inside KV62 remained intact. Although the tomb was broken into by ancient thieves, they concentrated mainly on stealing unguents and perfumes which were easily transportable and harder to trace.

Talks of the Tomb of King Tutankhamun being closed off to the public persist, as worries about the damage being done to ancient tombs by tourism raises concerns that the ancient heritage may be lost. The tombs could disappear in between 150 and 500 years, warns Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. However, such moves as closing off the famous KV62 tomb would undoubtedly harm Egypt’s tourism, which accounts for a larger slice of their economy.

The Getty Conservation Institute also moved in on the Tomb of King Tut to look at brown spots formed on the walls of KV62. The spots have been present on the wall since discovered by Howard Carter, although they have never been analysed yet. Some people think the brown spots may be getting bigger, and suggest they may be bacteria or fungus.

Then there’s talk of a replica tomb replacing the actual tomb in order to preserve it. Although this would allow the preservation of the ancient burial site, tourists would complain about not being to experience “the real thing”. So begins something of a cache-22 situation as Egypt weighs up the cost of damage to the tombs against the potential damage to their economy if they lose tourism to the Valley of the Kings.

HDVideo: Discovering King Tut – Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter

The 8th Earl of Carnarvon, George Herbert and his wife, 8th Countess of Carnarvon, Fiona Herbert, talk to Heritage Key about their ancestor Lord Carnarvon and the archaeologist he funded, Howard Carter. They discuss the relationship between the two men and how they set about the amazing discovery of the legendary tomb of King Tutankhamun, in the Valley of the Kings.

(Click here for a transcript)

You can watch more great Heritage Key videos by going to our Video Page, as well as finding out more about Ancient Egypt on Heritage Key, as well as being able to explore the Valley of the Kings and the fascinating KV62 – King Tutankhamun’s tomb – in 3D in our exciting virtual experience! Also be sure to keep up to date on all new postings about Sandro’s photography from Egypt by subscribing to our feed, simply by entering your email address above.

Sandro Vannini’s Photography – The Ritual Figures of King Tutankhamun

Discovered inside the Tomb of King Tutankhamun, inside black resin-covered wooden shrines which were accessible via double doors, were 34 ritual figures. Of significant importance during the ritual ceremony, these statuettes are believed to assist the King Tut’s passage to the afterlife. Upon discovering the shrines in KV62, the great explorer Howard Carter found only one of the boxes had been raided by tomb robbers, with the rest laying undisturbed since antiquity. The ritual figures are now housed inside Cairo’s Egyptian Museum and have been captured on film by Sandro Vannini, who has photographed Egypt’s greatest treasures including the famous Golden Mask of King Tutankhamun.

The greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century, the inspiring tale of how Carter and his financier Lord Carnarvon uncovered the treasures of King Tutankhamun by working together is told by their modern day descendants the Earl and Countess in a video interview with Heritage Key (Watch this video).

‘Ritual Figures’ Slideshow

Heritage Key is working with Sandro and bringing his extensive catalogue of beautiful photography of Egyptian antiquities onto the internet, which make for stunning viewing for both the casual observer and the keenest budding archaeologist alike! To watch a slideshow of the Ceremonial Chariot, simply click any of the thumbnails below.

Explore KV62 for yourself in King Tut Virtual

But it doesn’t stop there, as you can also visit King Tut Virtual and see digital recreations of many of the famous artefacts from KV62, walk through the Valley of the Kings, explore the banks of the River Nile in Ancient Egyptian times and even see more of Sandro Vannini’s photography in the virtual gallery.

Sandro Vannini’s Photography

Sandro has spent over a decade in Egypt, photographing some of the most stunning archaeological finds in history, as well as hundreds of amazing tombs across Egypt. The experience gained and skills enhanced have given Sandro a natural flair for making these artefacts come to life in his photography. Obviously the equipment he uses is a key factor too, and for capturing the Ritual Figures of King Tut on film, Sandro employed the use of a Hasselblad ELD Ixpress 528C camera to take these images.

Of course, not everyone would be able to make that trip to Cairo to see the beautiful artefacts that the Egyptian Museum holds, so Heritage Key brings Sandro’s stunning photography of the Ceremonial Chariot of the Tomb of King Tut. But it doesn’t stop there: you can visit virtual replicas of Tutankhamun treasures in the Heritage Key VX King Tut exhibition, which features a virtual replica of many other breath-taking artefacts such as the Golden Mask of King Tutankhamun.

Don’t miss out on new treasures!

See More Amazing Photography by Sandro

Have a look at some of the other stunning photographs by Sandro Vannini here at Heritage Key:

Ask Sandro

We’ll be sitting down with our favourite photographer for an extended chat soon, so if you have any questions for Sandro we’ll send the answers straight to you!

The Ritual Figures

The small statues of King Tutankhamun showed him in a variety of positions and acts. The first of which, photographed by Sandro, show the boy king riding a papyrus raft, hunting an invisible hippopotamus with a spear or harpoon. The hippopotamus was considered by the ancient Egyptians to symbolise evil and disorder, because the evil deity Seth – according to Egyptian mythology – transformed himself into a hippo before being defeated in battle by the god Horus. The statue is representative of King Tut restoring order to the Egyptian universe like a golden god, by hunting down the hippo.

Carved from hard wood, and covered with gold leaf, he is shown in highly realistic detail taking a long stride forward, as he prepares to launch his spear. In his other hand is a coiled bronze rope, for capturing the defeated animal. The style of the statuettes reflects trends of the Amarna period – particularly the exaggeration of certain physical features. It has been speculated that they may have originally been created as an image of Tut’s father, the “heretic pharaoh” Akhenaten, who founded Amarna.

The second statue shows King Tut astride a panther and wearing a tall crown, bearing a flail in his left hand and a staff in his right. The black panther represents the netherworld and the night sky, and by riding on its back, the boy king is able to navigate safely through the dangers posed by these, allowing him to be reborn in the coming morning. It has been suggested this figure was originally made for a Queen, due to the ample bust – possibly for Nefertiti.

In a video for Heritage Key(Click to skip to the Video), Dr Janice Kamrin shows artefacts in the Egyptian Museum including the Ritual Figures, stating Another very interesting thing about these statues and a lot of the other pieces in the tomb is that they were not originally made for Tutankhamun. Some artefacts discovered in KV62 would originally have been created for another Kings’ funerary assemblage, suggesting King Tut’s unexpected demise.

In some of the discovered Ritual Figures, the faces are evidently not those of King Tutankhamun himself, although reconstructions show that he had some effeminate features. Some details, such as the shape of the belly button and size of the bust are indicative of gender, but in many ways it can be difficult to determine male statues from females.

HD Video: King Tut’s Treasures: The Ritual Figures

(Read the transcript on the video page)