The Paper's reporter Huang Song compiled
The mausoleum of Tutankhamun, an ancient Egyptian teenager in Luxor, is one of the most famous discoveries in the history of modern archaeology.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by British archaeologist Howard Carter and his team, and The Paper has learned that the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford has recently launched a new exhibition, "Tutankhamun: Excavating Archives".
Unlike previous exhibitions that have focused on Tutankhamun and Howard Carter, this exhibition focuses specifically on the contributions of other members of the team outside of Carter, especially the nameless Egyptian workers who helped discover Tutankhamun's mausoleum.
The British archaeologist Howard Carter and his assistants who discovered the mausoleum were cleaning up Tutankhamun's coffin. In 1922, Carter and 60 Egyptian men and children discovered Tutankhamun's tomb. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
In November 1922, the discovery of the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun shocked the world and made history.
British historian Patricia Clavin once wrote that the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb a hundred years ago set off a worldwide Egyptian fever, beyond the field of archaeology, and also had a deep impact on the art, culture, music and drama of modern society.
In this archaeological discovery, history remembers the British archaeologist Howard Carter. However, he did not act alone, and many unknown Egyptian men and children completed a lot of high-intensity labor at the site and shared their local knowledge and professional skills. To this day, however, historians have been unable to match the names of the few Egyptian workers they knew of with the faces of the locals who appear in photographs of archaeological finds.
The Oxford University's Bodleian Library's Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archives seeks to uncover Egyptian workers who have been forgotten beyond the historical record, and the exhibition is also a critique and questioning of the mainstream narrative.
Egyptian workers are demolishing the wall between the vestibule and the burial chamber. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
The exhibition consists of 16 sub-chapters, each focusing on a different phase of excavation, from the discovery of the tomb to the list of artifacts to the broader cultural impact behind the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. Carter's diary and a recording of a speech about the discovery of Tutankhamun's mausoleum are particularly valuable.
Carter's diary, however, fails to shed light on how the hidden path to the tomb was discovered. On November 4, 1922, the day the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered, he scribbled only one line in his diary: "The first steps of tomb found." ”
Richard Bruce Parkinson, an Egyptologist at the University of Oxford and co-curator of the exhibition, argues: "The excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb was not done by a British archaeologist, but by members of the modern Egyptian archaeological team, but they were written outside the story." ”
Many researchers agree with this claim, believing that the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb was a team effort— Carter's obsession with finding missing graves in Egypt's Valley of the Kings required the assistance of Egyptians with local knowledge and life experience.
Photographs of the removal of the outer nave. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
Discovery of Howard Carter and Tutankhamun's tomb
Howard Carter (1874-1939) is an archaeological legend. His father was a well-known painter who painted for Egyptologists, and because of his interest in archaeology, the 17-year-old Carter traveled to Egypt for the first time, working at several archaeological sites while perfecting his painting skills. His enthusiasm was echoed by the director of the Egyptian Archaeological Bureau, and in 1899, at the age of 26, he was appointed inspector of monuments in Nubia, ancient Egypt, south of Cairo, but his stubbornness forced him to resign as superintendent of monuments in 1904. For the next three years, he painted for tourists in Luxor for a living.
A record card of Carter with his painting of Anubis (the god of death in ancient Egyptian mythology, appearing in the pharaoh's tomb frescoes with the head of a jackal and a human body), with annotations and dimensions. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
In 1907, as he was destitute, the British nobleman, Lord George Carnarvon, offered financial assistance and invited him to lead an expedition to find the graves of the Egyptian royal family, including Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun was a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt (reigned around 1333 BC – 1323 BC) and died at the age of 19.
However, Carter's expedition took several years to find the tomb and still did not make progress, and their work was interrupted by the First World War, and in 1922, when Georges Carnavin issued an ultimatum to plan the end of the search, Carter came and went.
Floor plan of Tutankhamun's tomb, painted by Carter
On November 4, 1922, Carter's team discovered a stone staircase that empirically judged to be part of an underground staircase, and they slowly dug down to the 12th step to find an entrance. The seal on the outer door three thousand years ago confirms that it is a royal mausoleum, and also confirms that the contents of the mausoleum are intact. Three weeks later, they arrived at the inner gate and saw the seal of the royal palace representing King Tutankhamun printed on the stucco. On February 16, 1923, the archaeological team opened the sealed doorway entrance and found for the first time the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun and the burial tomb and funerary dolls, and found more than 5,000 items in four burial chambers to accompany the young king in his afterlife. The most important discovery was a sarcophagus with three nested coffins inside, the last of which was inside— 3,000 years ago, the mummy of King Tutankhamun in a golden mask appeared before his eyes.
Small garlands of cornflowers and olive leaves, worn on the royal insignia of cobras and vultures on the forehead of Tutankhamun's outer coffin. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
The mummy of Tutankhamun shocked the world, and Howard Carter became famous. However, the Egyptians employed to work on expeditionary archaeology remain unknown. As historian Christine Riggs says in Tutankhamun: Archaeology, Ancient Egypt, and archives, Carter thanked his four Egyptian foremen—Ahmed Gerigar, Gad Hassan, Hussein Abu Awad, and Hussein Ahmed Said—yet, He never mentioned other Egyptians (an estimated 60 to 100 Egyptians were involved in the search and excavation of Tutankhamun's mausoleum).
"They're all obscured." Daniela Rosenow, an archaeologist and co-curator of the exhibition, said, "Many of them may not be able to write at all, they may come home every night and tell their families what they saw, but the stories they dictated have disappeared." ”
Tutankhamun's tomb is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, and many of the artifacts excavated in it have yet to be studied. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
Bring egyptian members involved in excavations and archaeology back into the public eye
Harry Burton, the photographer who followed the archaeological team throughout the excavation, left many precious photographs, and the exhibition used vivid photos taken by him, as well as archival materials such as letters, diaries, drawings, and record cards, to fill these gaps as much as he could.
So far, however, researchers have not been able to match the names of the four foremen Carter mentioned with the Egyptians in the photo, nor is it known what the names of the Egyptians Burton captured with his camera. Thus, while Carter may have appreciated the Egyptian workers involved in the excavations, his appreciation for them was "in a colonial context," while the exhibition wanted to see "the humanity of modern and ancient people working for the mausoleum."
A picture of an Egyptian boy wearing a heavy necklace from a grave. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
A photograph of an Egyptian boy wearing a necklace found from the tomb is particularly rare in the exhibition. The camera didn't focus on the colonial adventurer, didn't focus on the necklace, just photographed a boy. "Our dossier was provided and created by the British excavation team. It tells only part of the story. "If you look at a boy's face, you can feel the complexity of human reactions and emotions." You could feel the weight—the physical weight of the necklace, and the weight on his shoulders. ”
Egyptian workers used rails to carry crates from the Valley of the Kings. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
From the photos at the time, carter employed about 50 local workers and dozens of children, which was also the standard for archaeological excavations at that time. All along, however, the Egyptians involved in the excavations have been shadowed by British archaeologists. But they not only provided local wisdom, but also performed the most difficult tasks, such as transporting packaged treasures from the Valley of the Kings to Cairo. A Photograph from May 1923 shows workers laying a short stretch of track and pushing carts laden with artifacts. They needed to move 34 crates to the nearest waterway pier in two days, in high temperatures.
Crates transporting artifacts reach the waterway. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
Meanwhile, at an archaeological luncheon invited by Carnafon, the seven people sitting around the table were all white and Western, the only two Egyptians present at the waitresses of a luxury hotel in Luxor.
Enjoy lunch in the tomb of Ramses XI. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
Despite the apparent inequality between the British and local workers during the excavations, Egypt, which had been a British "protectorate" since 1914, was at least able to keep the treasures on its land. Although there are also archives that indicate that Carnephon had planned to transport the artifacts to Britain. In the same month that Tutankhamun artifacts were discovered, he wrote to an Egyptologist in Britain, saying: "I think this is the greatest discovery ever made, with enough to fill the entire Egyptian section of the British Museum." ”
However, it was also the same year that Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered that Egypt gained political independence, and the unearthed gold mask became the face of the country of this ancient civilization.
Taken in February 1923, this photograph is one of only two showing Carter (left) and Lord Carnavin (right) in the tomb. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
Only a few weeks after the tomb was opened, Carnavon died, and his death was thought to be a curse for trespassing into the pharaoh's mausoleum.
Excavations were also shelved for nearly a year for various reasons, but in later photographs, the involvement of local Egyptian scholars and officials increased, including Dr Saleh Bey Hamdi, dean of the Cairo Medical College, who left his name.
Observe the coffin, more Egyptians involved. © Griffith Institute, Oxford
While most of the Egyptians who jointly discovered Tutankhamun's tomb are silent in history, the exhibition attempts to put the silent people back into the picture. See how they opened the doors of the shrine, how they dusted off the artifacts... Even if their names are unknown, people today can understand that they played a vital role in the discovery and excavation process.
The exhibition further explores the level of public interest in excavation at the time, commercializing archaeological excavations through board games, literature, music and even lemon brands named after Tutankhamun. The frenzy for Tutankhamun also became a global project of imagination in the 1920s, connecting people to an ancient place and dreaming of a new world by reminiscing about lost history.
The image of the goddess Isis is commensurate with the modern girl of the 1920s.
At present, the artifacts excavated from Tutankhamun's tomb are mainly preserved in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and are expected to arrive at the new Grand Egyptian Museum, which is scheduled to open later this year.
Note: This article is compiled from reports by the Smithsonian Institution Journal" "In Memory of the Nameless Egyptians Who Helped Discover Tutankhamun's Mausoleum" (Sarah Kuta/Wen) and "The National" Paul Peachey, and the exhibition will run until February 5, 2023.
Editor-in-Charge: Weihua Gu
Proofreader: Yan Zhang