Why the World Went Wild for King Tut

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The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 sparked a global frenzy for ancient Egypt – and not just for archaeological reasons, says Alastair Sooke.

It must be the most celebrated exchange in the history of archaeology. "Can you see anything?" asked George Herbert, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, standing in a gloomy passageway cut into the bedrock of the Valley of the Kings, on the west bank of the Nile.

"Yes," replied Howard Carter, the British Egyptologist whose excavations Carnarvon had been bankrolling for the preceding six seasons. "Wonderful things."

Moments before, with trembling hands, Carter had dug a small hole through a sealed doorway blocking their path. After lighting a candle to test for noxious gases, Carter lifted the flame to the hole and peered through. There followed a suspenseful silence, as the archaeologist was struck dumb by the astounding sight. Finally, in answer to Lord Carnarvon's terse question, he stammered his simple, awestruck words.

Wonderful things? Not half. Carter was looking at the antechamber to the royal tomb of the 18th-dynasty pharaoh Tutankhamun, who had died in 1322BC. The room was crammed with splendid, shiny objects – "strange animals, statues and gold; everywhere the glint of gold," as Carter put it later.

More: Why the world went wild for King Tut - Telegraph

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