Free Tutankhamen by Joyce Tyldesley Page B

Touatânkhamanou’s’. Contributing to Davis’s publication, Sir Gaston Maspero suggested that the Chariot Tomb was not the original tomb of Tutankhamen, but a re-burial:
    Such are the few facts that we know about Touatânkhamanou’s life and reign. If he had children by his queen Ankhounamanou or by another wife, they have left no trace of their existence on the
monuments; when he died, Aiya replaced him on the throne, and buried him. I suppose that his tomb was in the Western Valley, somewhere between or near Amenothes III [Amenhotep III] and Aiya [Ay]: when the reaction against Atonou [the Aten] and his followers was complete, his mummy and its furniture was taken to a hiding place… and there Davis found what remained of it after so many transfers and plunders. But this also is mere hypothesis, the truth of which we have no means of proving or disproving as yet. 35
    Few were convinced by Davis’s argument. Howard Carter, a former excavation partner of Davis, realised that the ‘Chariot Tomb’ was not a tomb, royal or otherwise, but a storage chamber. He believed that Tutankhamen still lay in the Valley, waiting to be found. But, while Davis still held the sole concession to excavate, he could only stand by and watch.
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    4. Scrap of gold foil from a chariot harness, recovered from KV 58. Tutankhamen is shown smiting a stereotypical enemy, while his consort Ankhesenamen stands behind him and his successor, Ay, stands before him.

    Carter’s career had seen a meteoric rise and a sudden, catastrophic fall. In 1891, aged just seventeen and with no formal education, he had travelled from Norfolk, England, to work as a draughtsman with Percy Newberry. He learned his craft recording the decorated walls of the rapidly deteriorating Middle Kingdom rock-cut tombs at Beni Hasan and el-Bersha. A valuable five-month secondment with Flinders Petrie at Amarna had allowed him to learn the art of scientific excavation from its master. Petrie, who was to become known as the ‘father of Egyptian archaeology’, was one of the first to recognise that artefacts could not simply be snatched greedily from the ground, and his methods were to have a profound effect on Carter’s own working practices. Carter completed his training by working as a draughtsman for Édouard Naville at the Deir el-Bahri memorial temple of Hatshepsut. Here he took full responsibility for copying the scenes on the temple walls, and the magnificent publication of the temple includes work by both Howard Carter and his elder brother Vernet, who spent a season working at Deir el-Bahri.
    In 1899 Carter was appointed Chief Inspector of Antiquities for southern (Upper) Egypt. Based at Luxor, he assumed responsibility for the 500-mile stretch of southern sites including the Theban monuments and the Valley of the Kings. During his tenure Carter fitted iron doors to protect the more important Valley tombs, and installed electric light in six of them. He also built a large donkey park to accommodate the ever-increasing numbers of tourists visiting the Valley. Then, after five very successful years, Carter swapped positions with the northern Inspector, Quibell, and moved to Cairo. Initially, things went well. Then, on the afternoon of 8 January 1905, came the ‘Sakkara Affair’: a group of drunken Frenchmen forced their way into the Sakkara Serapeum (the burial place of the divine Apis bulls),
manhandling the native inspectors and guards. Carter, summoned to the fracas, gave his men permission to defend themselves against the French. Weigall, who was taking tea with Carter that afternoon, explained events in a letter to his wife, Hortense:
    Fifteen French tourists had tried to get into one of the tombs with only 11 tickets, and had finally beaten the guards and burst the door open … Carter arrived on the scene, and after some words ordered the guards – now reinforced – to eject them. Result: a serious