New evidence emerges of looting of King Tut's tomb in Egypt
While Egypt celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb, new evidence emerged that the discoverer, Howard Carter, stole objects from it.
This November, Egypt will mark the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of the intact, well-preserved tomb of King Tutankhamun — who ruled from 1333 BC until his death in 1323 BC — by British Egyptologist Howard Carter in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, upon finance from Lord Carnarvon.
The Guardian astonished its Egyptomania readers when it published an article on Aug. 13 about a new accusation that Carter handled property “undoubtedly stolen from the tomb” in an unprinted letter sent to him in 1934 by a member of his own excavation team, Alan Gardiner.
The article stated: “It was written by Sir Alan Gardiner, a leading philologist. Carter had enlisted Gardiner to translate hieroglyphs found in the 3,300-year-old tomb, and later gave him a 'whm amulet' used for offerings to the dead, assuring him that it had not come from the tomb. Gardiner showed the amulet to Rex Engelbach, the then British director of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and was dismayed to be told that it had indeed come from the tomb as it matched other examples — all made from the same mould.”
It continued: “Firing off a letter to Carter, he enclosed Engelbach’s damning verdict, which reads: 'The whm amulet you showed me has been undoubtedly stolen from the tomb of Tutankhamun.' Gardiner told Carter: 'I deeply regret having been placed in such an awkward position.'”
