The Antechamber

"Wonderful things": the west wall of the antechamber as first seen by Howard Carter

"With trembling hands I made a tiny breach in the upper left-hand corner. Darkness and blank space, as far as an iron testing-rod could reach, showed that whatever lay beyond was empty, and not filled like the passage we had just cleared. Candle tests were applied as a precaution against possible foul gases, and then, widening the hold a little, I inserted the candle and peered in, Lord Carnarvon, Lady Evelyn and Callender standing anxiously beside me to hear the verdict.

Tangle of chariot parts

The northeast corner of the antechamber, with Carter and Canarvon's access-hole to the burial chamber concealed behind a basket lid and handful of reeds; the painted box has been repositioned with its fastening knobs facing south rather than north, as found

' Gradually the scene grew clearer, and we could pick out individual objects. First, right opposite us-we had been conscious of them all the while, but refused to believe in them-were these great gilt couches, their sides carved in the form of monstrous animals, curiously attenuated in body, as they had to be to serve their purpose, but with heads of startling realism. Uncanny beasts enough to look upon at any time: seen as we saw them, brilliant gilded surfaces picked out of the darkness by our electric torch, as though by limelight, their heads throwing grotesque distorted shadows on the wall behind them, they were almost terrifying.

Two of Tut's three ritual couches which dominated the southern end of the burial chamber

' These were the dominant objects that caught the eye at first. Between them , around them, piled on top of them, there were countless others-exquisitely painted and inlaid caskets; alabaster vases, some beautifully carved in openwork designs;strange black shrines, from the open door of one a great gilt snake peering out;bouquets of flowers or leaves; beds; chairs beautifully carved; a golden inlaid throne; a heap of curious white oviform boxes; staves of all shapes and designs; beneath our eyes, on the very threshold of the chamber, a beautiful lotiform cup of translucent alabaster; on the left a confused pile of overturned chariots, glistening with gold and inlay; and peeping from behind them another portrait of a king'

'Such were some of the objects that lay before us.....'

-Howard Carter

"The impression is overwhelming. It is a sight I have never dreamed of seeing;the antechamber of a pharaoh's tomb still filled with magnificent equipment...still standing as it was placed there when the tomb was last closed in antiquity."

James Henry Breasted

The Burial Chamber

A look at the burial chamber from the antechamber. Just beyond the items stacked in the doorway can be seen the burial shrine

'...when, after about ten minutes' work, I had made a hole large enough to enable me to do so, I inserted an electric torch. An astonishing sight its light revealed, for there, within a yard of the doorway , stretching as far as one could see and blocking the entrance to the chamber, stood what to all appearances was a solid wall of gold...

It was, beyond any question, the sepulchral chamber in which we stood, for there, towering above us, was one of the great gilt shrines beneath which kings were laid. So enormous was this structure...that it filled within a little the entire area of the chamber, a space of some two feet only separating it from the walls on all four sides, while its roof, with cornice top and torus moulding, reached almost to the ceiling...'-Howard Carter

The west or head end of the beautiful modeled sarcophagus towards which the faces of the four titulary goddesses- here Isis and Nephthys are turned.

I think the discovery of this second chamber, with its crowded contents, had a somewhat sobering effect on us. Excitement had gripped us hitherto, and given us no pause for thought, but now for the first time we began to realize what a prodigious task we had in front of us, and what a responsibility it entailed. This was no ordinary find, to be disposed of in a normal season's work; nor was there any precedent to show us how to handle it. The thing was outside all experience, bewildering, and for the moment it seemed as though there were more to be done than any human agency could accomplish.

Opening the Coffin

Before us, occupying the whole of the interior of the golden coffin, was an imressive, neat and carefully made muumy, over which had been poured anointing unguents as in the case of the outside of its coffin- consolidated and blackened by age. In contradistinction to the general dark and somber effect, due to these unguents, was a brilliant, one might say magnificent, burnished gold mask or simultitude of the king, covering its head and shoulders, which, like the feet, had been intentionally avoided when using the unguents."

The Treasury

The king's canopic shrine, with inlaid uraeus frieze and gilded wooden figure of Isis

The entrace to the Treasury was dominated by a majestic image of Anubis, lord of The West, mounted upon a shrine equipped with carrying poles.

The Tomb Paintings