Download - Howard Carter
Howard Carter
1874 - 1939
Those that recognize the name Howard Carter, usually associate it with the discovery of
King Tutankhamen’s tomb. The amount of preserved artifacts provided information to piece
together key pieces of an archaeological puzzle, whilst the richness of the treasures caused
the media to make King Tutankhamen a household name. As excavator and discoverer of the
famous tomb of King Tut, Howard Carter has won a place in the archaeologist hall of fame.
However, few people know anything more about Howard Carter than his exploits involving the
tomb.
Howard Carter was born on May 9th, 1874 in Kensington, London, the youngest son of eight
children. He grew up in Swaffham in the county of Norfolk, England. He received no formal
education, although his father Samuel Carter was an artist and trained him in the
fundamentals of drawing and painting. Even though Howard Carter developed an above
average artistic skill, he had no ambition to continue the family business of painting portraits
of pets and families for the local landowners. Instead, Howard Carter sought the opportunity
to go to Egypt and work for the Egyptian Exploration Fund as a tracer, a person who copies
drawings and inscriptions on paper for further studying. In October of 1891 at the age of 17,
Howard Carter set sail for Alexandria, Egypt, which was his first journey outside of Britain.
Howard Carter’s first project was at Bani Hassan, the gravesite of the Sovereign Princes of
Middle Egypt during 2000 B.C. His task was to record and copy the scenes from the walls of
the tomb. At this early age, Howard Carter was a diligent worker with much enthusiasm. He
would work the day through and then sleep with the bats in the tomb.
In 1892, Carter joined Flinders Petrie, at el-Amarna. Flinders was a strong field director and
one of the most credible archaeologists of his time. Petrie believed Carter would never
become a good excavator, but Carter proved him wrong when he unearthed several important
finds at the site of el-Amarna, the capital of Egypt during the sovereignty of Akhenaten. Under
Petrie’s demanding tutorage, Carter became an archaeologist, while keeping up with his
artistic skills. He sketched many of the unusual artifacts found at el Amarna.
Carter was appointed Principle Artist to the Egyptian Exploration Fund for the excavations
of Deir el-Babri, the burial place of Queen Hatshepsut. This experience allowed him to perfect
his drawing skills and strengthen his excavation and restoration technique. In 1899, at the age
of 25, his hard work paid off, when he was offered the job of First Chief Inspector General of
Monuments for Upper Egypt. His responsibilities included supervising and controlling
archaeology along the Nile Valley.
Carter’s employment at the Egyptian Antiquities Service came to an end in an unfortunate
incident between the Egyptian site guards and a number of drunken French tourists. When the
tourists became violently abusive to the guards, Carter allowed the guards to defend
themselves. The French tourists, enraged, went through some high officials including the
Egyptian Consul General Lord Cromer and called for Carter to make a formal apology. Carter
refused, standing by his belief that he made the right decision. The incident gave Carter a bad
name and caused him to be posted to the Nile Delta town of Tanta, a place with very little
archaeological involvement. This forced Carter to resign from the Antiquities Service in 1905.
From 1905-1907, Carter sustained a hard existence after resigning from the Antiquities
Service. He had to make a living by working as a commercial watercolorist or sometimes a
guide for tourists. In 1908 Carter was introduced to the fifth Earl of Carnarvon by Gaston
Maspero. The partnership proceeded happily, as each partner’s personality seemed to
compliment the others.
Carter became the Supervisor of the Excavations funded by Carnarvon in Thebes and by
1914 Carnarvon owned one of the most valuable collections of Egyptian artifacts held in
private hands. However, Howard Carter had still more ambitious aspirations. He had his eye
on finding the tomb of a fairly unknown pharaoh at the time, King Tutankhamun, after various
clues to its existence had been found, Carter tore up the Valley of the Kings looking for
Tutankhamun� s burial place, but season after season produced little more than a few
artifacts. He worked in the field with Lord Carnarvon in the west valley at the tomb of
Amenophis III in 1915 and in the main valley from 1917-1922. Carnarvon was becoming
dissatisfied with the lack of return from his investment and, in 1922, he gave Carter one more
season of funding to find the tomb.
Carter was confident and the challenge went on as work began on November 4, 1922. It took
only three days before the top of a staircase was unearthed. Almost three weeks later the
staircase was entirely excavated and the full side of the plaster block was visible. By
November 26, the first plaster block was removed, the chip filling the corridor was emptied,
and the second plaster was ready to be taken apart. At about 4 P.M. that day, Carter broke
through the second plaster block and made one of the discoveries of the century, the tomb of
King Tutankhamen.
The tomb’s artifacts took a decade to catalogue. During this time, Lord Carvarvon died in
Cairo of pneumonia. After the media got wind of the treasures of King Tutankhamun and the
death of Lord Carnarvon, the hype about a mummy’s curse set the media on fire. Much to
Carter� s displeasure, letters poured in from spiritualist from around the world, selling advice
and warnings from "beyond the grave."
Finally, the artifacts were sent to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the corpse of the young
king was studied and laid back to rest. After his work was done with King Tutankhamen,
Carter no longer worked in the field. He retired from the archaeology business. He took up the
pursuit of collecting Egyptian antiquities and, indeed, became a very successful collector.
Often, toward the end of his life, he could be found at the Winter Palace Hotel at Luxor, sitting
by himself in willful isolation. He died in Albert Court, Kensington, London on March 2, 1939.
References:
Ceram, C.W. Gods, Graves & Scholars. New York: Random House, 1986. 203.
Clayton, Peter, A. "A Chronicle of the Pharaohs." Thames and Hudson 1994.
Hobson, Christine. "Exploring the World of the Pharaohs." Thames and Hudson 1991.
Lancaster, Pat. "Howard Carter: 70 Years After Tutankhamen." The Middle East Feb. 30-32.
Reeves, Nicholas & Richard H. Wilkinson. "The Complete Valley of the Kings." Thames and Hudson 1996.
Written by: Rachel Frisk