Biography: Howard Carter
Howard Carter was the son of a successful artist, Samuel Carter. He was born in London but was a sickly child. Due to his ill health he was sent to live with two unmarried aunts in Norfolk. He had a private, home education and displayed an artistic streak and his father taught him in the fundamentals of drawing and painting. His father worked on a painting for William Amherst of Didlington Hall near Swaffham and Howard accompanied him. William Amherst was an Egyptologist who collected Ancient Egyptian artefacts and Howard became interested in this subject. William Amherst arranged an interview for Howard with Mr Percy Newberry, who had been working on a site at Beni Hasan in Egypt and needed an artist to help with some drawings. The interview was successful and Howard Carter was appointed as a trainee tracer. He travelled to to Egypt with Percy Newberry working with the Egypt Exploration Fund on the excavation of Beni Hasan and and El-Bersheh. He was just 17 years old when he went to Egypt.After a year in Egypt Howard Carter was appointed Principle Artist to the Egyptian Exploration Fund for the excavations of Deir el Babri, the burial place of Queen Hatshepsut and during this time he worked with the famous Egyptologist Flinders Petrie. A year later he joined Professor Naville at Deir el-Bahri where he spent six years drawing the famous temple. Six years later he was hired by Gaston Maspero, Director-General of the Department of Antiquities at Egypt's Antiquities Service, as the Inspector General of Monuments for Upper Egypt working at Thebes and Edfu and even installing electric light at Abu Simbel. He then worked for Theodore Davis in the Valley of the Kings using a systematic grid block searching system for new tombs. Their discoveries included the tombs of the pharaohs Thutmose I and Thutmose III. In 1907 Howard Carter was introduced to George Herbert (Lord Carnarvon) an amateur archaeologist, by Gaston Maspero thus starting their successful partnership excavating at Thebes. The had some minor successes but their luck changed in 1914 when Carter and Carnarvon obtained a licence to dig in the Valley of the Kings from the Egyptian Antiquities Service. The outbreak of World War I halted their plans but in 1917 Howard Carter started his excavations. He was convinced that the Tomb of Tutankhamun was hidden in the Valley of the Kings. He was not just working on a hunch as he knew that a box, a cup and some jars had been discovered with Tutankhamun's name on them. He embarked on his systematic grid block searching system for the hidden tomb of King Tut. He searched for 5 years to no avail. In 1922 Lord Carnarvon requested him to go to Highclere Castle. Carter was given just one more season of funding by Lord Carnarvon to find the tomb of the boy-king. He hurriedly returned to Egypt and on his first day of digging decided to clear some old huts. Three days later on 4 November 1922 Carter and the workers find the steps leading to Tutankhamun's tomb. The next day on 5 November 1922 he cabled Lord Carnarvon saying "At last have made a wonderful discovery in Valley; a magnificent tomb with seals intact; re-covered same for your arrival; congratulations." and asks Lord Carnarvon to come to Egypt. Lord Carnarvon, accompanied by his daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert, travel to Egypt.On 26 November 1922 Howard Carter makes the famous "tiny breach in the top left hand corner" of the tomb doorway accompanied by Lord Carnarvon and his daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert. Carnarvon asks him if he can see anything, Carter replies: "Yes, wonderful things" and goes on to say: "as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold - everywhere the glint of gold." They saw unbelievable treasures including furniture, chariots, vases and caskets all covered with gold. The next day Carter, Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn Herbert explore the Antechamber and Annexe and find a sealed door to another chamber.During February & March things start to go wrong. Howard Carter, argues with key members of the excavation team and some are sacked. He then argues with Lord Carnarvon regarding his attitude and his 'friendship' with Lady Evelyn but excavation work continues. Not long after the first room was cleared Lord Carnarvon was bitten by a mosquito on his cheek. A few days later he nicked mosquito bite with his cut-throat razor whilst shaving. The bite became infected. Lord Carnarvon returned to the tomb but felt worse. Within three weeks on 5 April 1923 Lord Carnarvon died. On the day he died all the lights went out in Cairo. His pet canary was killed by a cobra. And home in England his dog howled and then also died at the time of his master's death. The cobra was synonymous in Egypt with the protection of the pharaohs and before long the newspapers were talking about the Curse of the Pharaohs. The legend of the Curse of King Tut was born. The press frenzy escalates with tales of the Curse of King Tut. The Curse of the Pharaohs idea was fuelled by a novelist named Marie Corelli. Then Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, announces that Lord Carnarvon's death had been the result of a "Pharaoh's curse". Speculation about the Curse of Tutankhamun continued for years (and still does today). Within 6 years after the discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun, twelve of those present when the tomb was opened were dead. Within a further 7 years only two of the original team of excavators were still alive, including Howard Carter. The half-brother of Lord Carnarvon half-brother apparently took his own life while temporarily insane, and a further 21 people connected with the excavation of the tomb were also dead. After the death of Lord Carnarvon Howard Carter continued exploration of the tomb which lead to the discovery of the solid gold coffin and death mask of Tutankhamun. The tomb contained 4 gilded shrines nested one inside the other. These contained the red quartzite sarcophagus which protected three anthropoid coffins (man-shaped) which were all painted with the likeness of Tutankhamun. The first two coffins were made of gilded wood but the final coffin was made of solid gold. The solid gold coffin housed the mummy of King Tut and his fabulous golden death mask. Howard Carter took years to catalogue the contents of the tomb of Tutankhamun. The treasures of the tomb were sent to the Cairo museum. Howard Carter returned home to England in 1932. On 2 March 1939 Howard Carter died of natural causes at the age of 65. He is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery in London.
Biography: Lord Carnarvon
26 June, 1866 George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert was born to an aristocratic family at the family seat of Highclere Castle, Hampshire, England. He was the son of Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, the 4th Earl of Carnarvon and a descendant of King Edward III and King Henry VII. His mother was Lady Evelyn Stanhope. George Herbert was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.He succeeded to the Carnarvon title when his father died.On June 26, 1895 Carnarvon married Almina Victoria Maria Alexandra Wombwell.He married Almina Victoria Maria Alexandra Wombwell in 1895. He was a sponser of horse races and an early advocate of automobile racing. An motor accident in 1901 severly damaged his health and it was recommended he winter abroad. He visited Egypt for the first time in 1903. He deveoloped an interest in Egyptology during his stay. His initial foray into excavation convinced him to rely on more experienced diggers, and he threw his patronage behind the Egytologist, Howard Carter. In their first season together, Carter discovered the decorated tomb of Tetiky, an early 18th Dynasty mayor of Thebes, and another tomb containing wooden tablets inscribed with the precepts of Ptahhotep, a series of instructions for moral guidance, and the text on the expulsion of the Hyksos by a 17th Dynasty pharaoh. Their success led to an expanded concession, and subsequent seasons led to the discovery a series of important private tombs dating from the end of the Middle Kingdom to the beginning of the New Kingdom and temples built by Hatshepsut and Ramses IV as well as the tomb believed to have been prepared for the pharaoh Amenhotep I and his mother, Ahmose-Nofretiri, Their goal, however, was to obtain a concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings. In 1915, the owner of the Valley of the Kings concession abandoned it, believing the Valley exhausted. Carnarvon snapped it up and set Carter to work in Amenhotep III's tomb. Between 1917 and 1921 Carter focused his energies and Carnarvon's finances on finding the elusive tomb of Tutankhamen. After fruitless seasons, however, Carnarvon's enthusiasm waned. After an impassioned plea from Carter, Carnarvon gave the concession only one more season to pay off. On November 4,1922, three days after starting the season, Carter discovered the top of a sunken staircase. Carnarvon was summoned from England and was present two weeks later when the shaft was fully excavated and proved to be the entry to Tutankhamen's tomb. The treasure trove of Tuntankhamen's tomb was astonishing, as yet unsurpassed in the history of archaeology. Following the official opening of the tomb, Lord Carnarvon departed for Aswan in February for a few days rest. An insect bite on his face became infected, probably erysipelas, at about that time and was debilitating enough to confine him to bed rest. Arrangements were made for him to be moved to the Continental-Savoy Hotel in Cairo. He developed pneumonia, and on the morning of April 5, Carnarvon died. He body was removed to Britain and laid to rest in a tomb in an ancient hill fort overlooking his family seat.