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During the winter of 1906 Theodore Davis, who was excavating in the Valley of the Kings, discovered in a hidden reserve near Howard Carters future working site a blue varnished pitcher with the name of Tutankhamen imprinted on it. The following year he entered an underground chamber, more than seven yards below the ground, also in the Valley of the Kings and location to the north of Horemhebs tomb. Torrential floods had filled the room that he found with mud which had dried up and from it the diggers discovered a broken wooden casket which contained several leaves of spread out gold upon which, among others, were the outline of Tutankhamen, his wife Ankhesensmun and Ay the Divine Father. Days later these two discoveries were complemented by later finding pieces of pottery in a well shaft some hundred yards to the south of the tomb. Among them was a very beautiful long-necked wine bottle, which can now be found in the Metropolitan Museum. Some of the pots were still sealed with lids with the seal of the necropolis (Anubis, the dog, watching over nine prisoners) and the name of Tutankhamen and other Egyptian gods were also imprinted on the lids.
One of the containers was wrapped in a piece of cloth, which was dated year 6 of Tutankhamen. Small bags containing contents, which had turned to dust, were found next to a heap of linen had probably been used for embalming and wrapping the mummy. The thing remarkable about these were three semicircular handkerchiefs or wig covers of different sorts, and fifty mummification bandages, which were not cut from a large piece of material, but instead they were woven with edging for the purpose. Davis and his partners were convinced that they had found all that remained of Tutankhamen's tomb.
To them it seemed that it was probably robbed like other tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Shortly after he abandoned the search, which had gone on since 1903 and lasted to 1909 and in that time he discovered seven tombs with inscriptions, and nine other tombs without inscriptions. Davis last words he said before he left were I fear the Valley of the Kings is now exhausted. Sir Gaston Master was less convinced; he thought Tutankhamen's tomb must originally have been in the western branch of the Valley of the Kings, not to far from the syrinx of Amenophis III.
Sacked by King Horemheb at the time of his first attacks upon the memory of his predecessors, its scattered elements must have been collected by the faithful and buried in the hiding places discovered by American archaeologist. In fact, the objects Davis found did resemble the type of equipment used for special rites of Tutankhamen's burial for the feast had been carefully hidden there. Davis even found three great floral necklaces of cornflowers and blue lotuses twisted together upon a ground of olive leaves and combined with blue varnished beads, which had been worn by the guests during the funeral meal. Theodore Davis explorations seemed to confirm that that area of the Valley of the Kings contained graves dating from the end of the XVIII th Dynasty and belonging to those who had taken part in the religious revolution at Tell el Amarna. In 1907, in the same region he had also found debris of a covering in the name of Queen The, mother of Amenophis IV and wife of Amenophis III as well as a canopy bowl, a sarcophagus containing the mummy thought to be the disbelieving king Amenophis VI Akhenaten all constructed without order in a hiding place rather than a tomb.
All these clues excited Carter to search the area between the tombs of Ramesses IX and Ramesses VI. When he arrived at the site on the morning of November 4 1922, the whole attitude of the dig was totally different from that of the past days. He was awaited in an impressive silence, and understood that his workmen had reached the goal of the search. A step carved in the rock below the tomb of Ramesses VI that was entirely covered by rubble had been cleared. After this occurred fifteen more were exposed, forming a stairway 5 ft. 3 in. Wide and 13 ft. 12 in.
Long, which lead to a door with a rectangular opening with a heavy timber linkage and completely blocked up with stones which had been plastered over. The side which that faced the archaeologists had marks of seals. The upper part of the wall had seals of the royal necropolis. The lower part of the wall had seals showing the ceremonial name of Tutankhamen. It was obvious that the tomb had been robbed because there were two re plastered parts on one of the walls. The archaeologist anxiety was confirmed when they were clearing rubble from the stairway.
To there amazement they noticed a tunnel large enough for a medium sized man had been dug and then later refilled with stone chips and rubble which was darker in color than the other surrounding material. On November 25 the door was pulled down. Behind it was the sixteenth step, which was a passage twenty-five feet long cut in the rock and was also filled with rubble. Here they also found debris of a blackish stone which meant that the passage had been penetrated. This passage led to a second door. This door led to the outer room of the tomb.
It was like the first door it had the markings as if it had been penetrated. The second door was opened on November 29 it revealed to the world the greatest treasure ever revealed to man. The room contained items such as golden thrones striped with glass paste, fake soldiers supposedly being there to protect the king in the afterlife, preserved food, stuffed animals, beds in the shape of animals etc. After writing this I hope Ive accomplished myself by making you interested in Egypt.
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Research essay sample on Wall Had Seals Valley Of The Kings Tomb
