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Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation

© Griffith Institute

None of this material may be reproduced in any form without permission from
Griffith Institute, Oxford OX1 2LG

Concept & Direction: Jaromir Malek
Design: Jonathan Moffett
Scanning, transcription and editing:
Sue Hutchison, Elizabeth Miles, Diana Magee, Kent Rawlinson, Lindsay Allen, Alison Hobby, Jaromir Malek

Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation is ambitious in its scope but simple in its aims: to make the complete records of Howard Carter's excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun available on these web pages. It is astonishing, but no longer acceptable, that some eighty years and thousands of articles, hundreds of books, and dozens of exhibitions after the discovery of the tomb, this most famous event in the history of Egyptian archaeology has not yet been fully published. The documentation is presented in its original form and all, scholars, interested members of the public and school students, can consult it. We hope that this will help bring the knowledge and love of ancient Egypt to everybody.

You can

Carter assigned numbers 1 to 620(123) to the 5,398 objects found in the tomb (many of these numbers are groups of items):
Nos. 1 to 3 were from outside the tomb and the Staircase,
No. 4 was the first doorway,
Nos. 5 to 12 were from the Descending Passage,
No. 13 was the second doorway to the Antechamber,
Nos. 14 to 170 were from the Antechamber (No. 28 was the third doorway to the Burial Chamber),
No. 171 was the fourth doorway to the Annexe,
Nos. 172 to 260 were from the Burial Chamber (No. 256 was the King's mummy),
Nos. 261 to 336 were from the Treasury,
and Nos. 337 to 620(123) were from the Annexe.

If you wish to concentrate on Harry Burton's photographs,

Read Howard Carter's excavation and pocket diaries:

Read through Howard Carter's notes on various topics made in preparation of the complete publication of Tutankhamun's tomb (these are currently being edited so only some are available):

  • Bow-case
  • Calcite
  • Canopic equipment
  • Caskets
  • Chair 351
  • Chariots
  • Chemistry
  • Cofin: third (innermost), of gold
  • Collars
  • Gesso
  • Gold
  • Headdress
  • Magical figures
  • Materials
  • Mummy
  • Objects found between sarcophagus and shrines
  • Pall and its support
  • Seal impressions
  • Sepulchral shrines. General
  • Shrines: first (outermost)
  • Shrines: second
  • Shrines: third
  • Shrines: fourth (innermost)
  • Shawabti figures
  • Statuettes of gods
  • Textiles
  • Tomb and tomb plan
  • Trumpets
  • Weapons
Or you can In the future, you will also be able to

  • examine maps and plans
  • look at Howard Carter's drawings of Tutankhamun's mummy with objects in situ
  • read Alfred Lucas's Register of Samples
  • read Alfred Lucas's notebook on Examination of Materials
  • examine Alfred Lucas's notes on conservation
  • see photographs taken by other photographers during the excavation of the tomb.

Read more about

Griffith Institute's publications concerning the tomb of Tutankhamun.

(May 15, 2006)

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