Howard Carter

Howard Carter (May 9, 1874 – March 2, 1939) was an English archaeologist and Egyptologist. He is most famous as the discoverer of KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt.

Related Topics:
May 9 - 1874 - March 2 - 1939 - English - Archaeologist - Egyptologist - KV62 - Tutankhamun - Valley of the Kings - Luxor - Egypt

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Howard Carter was born in 1874 in Kensington, London, the youngest son of eight children. His father, Samuel Carter, was an artist. Carter grew up in Swaffam, in northern Norfolk, and had no formal education. His father trained him in the fundamentals of drawing and painting.

Related Topics:
Kensington - London - Swaffam - Norfolk - Painting

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Carter did much work in Egypt, starting in 1891 at the age of 17 where he worked copying inscriptions and paintings. He worked on the excavation of Beni Hasan, the gravesite of the princes of Middle Egypt, c. 2000 BC. Later he came under the tutelage of William Flinders Petrie.

Related Topics:
Egypt - 1891 - Beni Hasan - Middle Egypt - 2000 BC - William Flinders Petrie

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In 1899, he was offered a position working for the Egyptian Antiquities Service, from which he resigned as a result of a dispute in 1905.

Related Topics:
1899 - Egyptian Antiquities Service - 1905

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After several hard years, Carter was introduced, in 1907, to Lord Carnarvon, an eager amateur who was prepared to supply the funds necessary for Carter's work to continue. Soon, Carter was supervising all of Lord Carnarvon's excavations.

Related Topics:
1907 - Lord Carnarvon - Excavation

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Lord Carnarvon financed Carter's search for the tomb of a previously unknown Pharaoh, Tutankhamun, whose existence Carter had discovered. On November 4, 1922 Carter found Tutankhamun's tomb (subsequently designated KV62), by far the best preserved and most intact pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings. He wired Lord Carnarvon to come, and on February 16, 1923, Carter opened the burial chamber and first saw the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun.

Related Topics:
Pharaoh - Tutankhamun - November 4 - 1922 - Designated - KV62 - Valley of the Kings - February 16 - 1923 - Sarcophagus

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After cataloguing the extensive finds, Carter retired from archaeology and became a collector. He died in England in 1939 at the age of 65. The archaeologist's death at this advanced age is the most common piece of evidence put forward by sceptics to refute the idea of a curse (the "Curse of the Pharaohs") plaguing the party that violated Tutankhamun's tomb.

Related Topics:
England - Curse of the Pharaohs

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Howard Carter is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery in West London.

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