The doorway blocking â limestone masonry covered in gypsum plaster â was dismantled on 25 November, revealing a descending passageway packed to the ceiling with light-coloured rubble and limestone chips. Here, again, were the unmistakable signs of robbery: a tunnel cut through the upper left corner of the fill, directly aligned with the breach in the outer door, had itself been filled with dark rubble. Two days were spent clearing the passageway, and checking its fill. Again, this revealed a curious assortment of finds, including pottery fragments, jar seals, broken and intact alabaster vessels and the water skins abandoned by the ancient workmen who plastered the inner tomb door. Meanwhile the practical Callender was busy constructing a wooden grille to protect the now-exposed tomb.
By 26 November Carter and Carnarvon â plus Lady Evelyn, Callender and a small group of workmen â again found themselves standing in front of a blocked and plastered doorway bearing the seal of the necropolis and the seal of Tutankhamen. Again, there was unmistakable evidence of tampering and re-sealing in the upper left corner of the door. Carter â who was to class this as âthe day of days, the most wonderful that I have ever lived, and certainly one whose like I can never hope to see again' â was about to discover just how much damage the ancient robbers had wrought. It seems only right to leave the exact moment of discovery to him:
The decisive moment had arrived. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach in the upper left hand corner. Darkness and blank space, as far as an iron testing-rod could reach, showed that whatever lay beyond was empty, and not filled like the passage we had just cleared. Candle tests were applied as a precaution against possible foul gasses, and then, widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in, Lord Carnarvon, Lady Evelyn and Callender standing anxiously beside me to hear the verdict. At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flame to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues and gold â everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment â an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by â I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, âCan you see anything?' it was all I could do to get out the words âYes, wonderful things.' Then, widening the hole a little further, so that we both could see, we inserted an electric torch.
1
The following day the doorway was officially opened and a power line was connected to the Valley supply. The harsh electric light confirmed what Carter's flickering candle had suggested. The Antechamber was crammed with a vast assortment of goods: dismantled chariots, three golden beds carved to resemble exotic animals, and numerous chests, boxes, vessels and packages all, presumably, filled with treasures. All of the larger objects, and many of the smaller ones, bore the name of Tutankhamen. There was, however, no sign of a sarcophagus or coffin. The southern wall was living rock, but a small, once-sealed doorway in the western wall, which had been breached by robbers and not repaired, offered the possibility of more treasures beyond. The northern wall, guarded by two imposing statues of the king himself, was even more promising: an obvious partition wall, it housed the blocked and plastered entrance to a chamber, or multiple chambers.
However, a very obvious hole, just large enough to admit a boy or a slightly built man, had been restored and resealed by the necropolis officials. It was therefore by no means certain that Tutankhamen still rested within what was now clearly his tomb.
All doubt was removed when, shortly after the official opening of the Antechamber, Carter, Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn re-opened the robber's hole and crawled into what proved to be the Burial Chamber beyond. Curiosity satisfied, they then retreated, reblocking the hole and concealing the modern plaster behind a carefully placed basket lid, which is clearly visible in contemporary photographs. Although it has been suggested that they did this on 26 November, immediately after the âwonderful things' moment, it seems far more likely that they waited until the evening of the 27th, when the inner doorway had been unblocked. By waiting, they would have made less mess at the doorway and would have had less trouble progressing through the artefact-packed Antechamber; their actions would therefore have been less obvious.
2
There is no official record of this nocturnal adventure but Lady Evelyn told her half-uncle, Mervyn Herbert, about it immediately prior to the official opening of the Burial Chamber. Herbert, sworn to secrecy, recorded their conversation in his journal and concluded, rather optimistically: âThe only others who know anything about it are the workmen, none of whom would ever breathe a word to a soul about it.'
3
In fact, the unofficial inspection was a widely known âsecret'. The chemist and conservator Alfred Lucas certainly knew all about it: he spotted the modern plasterwork as soon as he saw it:
Of the door leading into the burial chamber, it is stated that âclose examination revealed the fact that a small breach had been made near the bottom ⦠and that the hole made had subsequently been filled up and re-sealed'. A considerable amount of mystery was made about this robber's hole. When I first saw the tomb about December
20th the hole was hidden by the basketwork tray, or lid, and some rushes taken from the floor that Mr Carter had placed before it ⦠Lord Carnarvon, his daughter and Mr Carter certainly entered the burial chamber and also entered the store chamber, which latter had no door, before the formal opening. Whether Mr Callender, who was present at the time, also entered the burial chamber, I am not sure, but he was a very big man and I once heard a remark that made me think that the hole was too small to admit him.
The question of the hole and its condition when found, whether open or closed, is a matter of no archaeological importance, and, by itself, is hardly worth mentioningâ¦
4
Opening the sealed chamber privately, without inviting the Antiquities Service to attend, was both discourteous and a breach of Carnarvon's permission to excavate. It would certainly not be considered acceptable behaviour on any excavation today. However, given that Carnarvon was paying for the excavation, that he was responsible for guarding the tomb and its contents, and that he fully expected to retain a portion of its artefacts, his curiosity is perhaps understandable. Carter had a more personal reason for wanting to know exactly what lay behind the partition wall. In 1898 he had discovered the âTomb of the Horse', so called because his horse had quite literally stumbled over it. Excavating in 1900, and uncovering what appeared to be a large and unviolated tomb, he planned a grand opening of the sealed âburial chamber', inviting, amongst other illustrious guests, the British Consul General, Lord Cromer. Unfortunately, when the chamber was opened it held just three wooden boats and some pots. Archaeologically the Tomb of the Horse is very interesting â it also yielded a wooden statue which suggests that it may have been part of the mortuary provision of the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Nebhepetre Montuhotep II â but the visitors did not trouble to hide their disappointment. Carter never forgot this humiliation.
However much we may sympathise with Carter and Carnarvon's motives, the furtive inspection was bad archaeology for which there can be no real excuse. The opening of the sealed Chamber should have been fully documented, and nothing in the Antechamber should have been disturbed before it had been fully recorded. Now, not only was the position of the basket in front of the robber's hole falsified in the official photographs, some of the Chamber contents had been displaced. Lucas was confident that he could identify an artefact that had been taken from the Burial Chamber on that first clandestine visit, and then restored in a slightly different place:
This perfume box was not found in the sarcophagus, as stated by Mr Carter, but either outside, or inside, the outermost shrine, and I think inside. I saw it at Mr Carter's house before the official opening of the burial chamber, and evidently it was found when Lord Carnarvon and Mr Carter first penetrated into the burial chamber.
5
There is no reason to doubt the veracity of Lucas's statement: he is writing as Carter's friend and colleague, and he is clearly not overconcerned about the incursion into the chamber. His account leaves two lingering questions. Just how accurate is the official record of the Burial Chamber contents? And, perhaps more importantly, was anything else taken from the chamber?
The official opening was followed by a series of open days for the great and the good. Already, the excavation was taking on the air of an elite jamboree, as the report in the
Illustrated London News
of 16 December shows:
The official opening of the tomb, or funeral chambers, of king Tutankhamen, found by the Earl of Carnarvon and Mr Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, took place on November 29. Before the opening, Lord Carnarvon's daughter, Lady Evelyn Herbert,
entertained a large party for luncheon in the valley, among the guests being Lady Allenby and the governor of Kena Province, Abdel Aziz Bey Yehia, who had given invaluable assistance on guarding the treasures.
The accompanying photograph shows a formal dining table improbably set out in the Valley. As enterprising locals started to hawk Tutankhamen-themed Christmas cards,
The Times
prepared to break the news to the world. The article, written with Carter's help in the Valley of the Kings and sent to Luxor by runner, was published in London on 30 November 1922:
From the manner in which its contents were disposed it is evident that this cache had not remained untouched since it was buried. There seems no doubt that this wonderful collection of objects formed part of the funeral paraphernalia of King Tutankhamen, whose cartouche is seen everywhere, in both its forms, and that they were moved from the tombs where they were originally placed, and in order to preserve them from thieves were transferred for safety to these chambers.
The sealing and blocking of the doors and passages which have so far been opened suggest that metal robbers had attacked these chambers and that inspectors of Rameses [sic] IX had reason to enter to reclose them. From the famous Abbot and other papyri it is known that these Royal tombs suffered at the hands of robbers. But, whatever the chambers may have contained originally, their contents today are sufficient cause for sensation in the Egyptological world. They considerably increase our knowledge of Ancient Egyptian history and art, and experts who were present at today's opening consider that the discovery will probably rank as the most important of modern timesâ¦
What adds interest to this discovery is that there is still yet a third sealed chamber, which, significantly, the two figures of the king discovered are guarding, and which may possibly turn out to be the
actual tomb of King Tutankhamen, with members of the heretic's family buried with him. Until the vast amount of material in the other chambers has been completely removed it will be impossible to ascertain the contents of this third chamber.
The Times
was quite right. The packed Antechamber would have to be cleared before the Burial Chamber could be officially opened. Fortunately Carter had a proper understanding of archaeology's greatest paradox â that the excavator who clears a site necessarily destroys it â and he knew that he had to work slowly and methodically in order to preserve the original layout of the chambers in his records. Every single object would have to be recorded
in situ
â numbered, photographed, marked on the tomb plan, described and drawn â before being removed to a conservation lab for immediate treatment and further photography. Then, everything would have to be packed securely for the long journey to Cairo. Further conservation may even be required in Cairo, before the artefacts could be put on display. This was clearly not a task that any excavator, no matter how determined, could tackle alone. He would have to seek professional assistance, and supplies, and for that he would have to go to Cairo.
Security had to be Carter's top priority. A metal gate would have to be fitted to protect the tomb, as the wooden gate constructed by Callender was simply not strong enough to deter robbers. Meanwhile Carter's absence from the Valley meant that the electricity supply would have to be disconnected, the entrance to the tomb blocked with heavy timber baulks, the stairway re-buried under an estimated 1,700 tons of sand, rock and rubble, and the whole site put under guard. This time-consuming procedure would have to be followed every time the tomb was closed down, and reversed every time it was re-opened, as an essential protection not just against thieves, but against the floods that had the potential to sweep into the tomb and destroy everything.
As Carter boarded the train for Cairo, Carnarvon set sail for
England. Interviewed by
The Times
special correspondent in Marseilles on 16 December
,
he was persuaded to reveal his plans:
âWe are resigned to the necessity of waiting,' Lord Carnarvon said. âThe wall barring the way to the inner chamber cannot be touched without serious risk to the valuable antiquities scattered in indescribable confusion in the outer chamber. The work of packing and removing them will require the greatest care and delicacy in handling. The majority of them are wonderfully well preserved, but after being buried for three thousand years everything is very dry and fragile. We have not dared to touch anything. There is danger that the inlaying of the boxes may be displaced and that the fabrics may crumble under the touch. They must all be treated with a preservative preparation before they are touched. That will be a question for expert chemists.' Lord Carnarvon added that he intends to return to Luxor at the end of January in order that he may personally supervise the clearing of the outer chamber.