Carter, Howard (1873-1939)

Coffin of Tutankhamen, Cairo, Egypt. This is the third and innermost coffin of the pharaoh, made of solid gold. Tutankhamen is depicted as the Egyptian god Osiris holding a flail and crook.

English Egyptologist. He discovered the virtually intact tomb of Tutankhamen, an Egyptian king of the 18th dynasty. This important archaeological find was made in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings at Luxor with the British archaeologist Lord Carnarvon, although the sealed door was not opened until February 1923.

Carter worked on numerous Egyptian sites, including the ancient city of Tell el Amarna in Upper Egypt with the archaeological survey led by Flinders Petrie (1891-99), and conducted excavations as an inspector in the antiquities department of the Egyptian government.

He described his discoveries in a number of publications, including The Tomb of Thoutmosis IV with P E Newberry (1904), Description and Excavation of the Tomb of Hatshopsitu (1906), and The Tomb of Tutankhamen with A C Mace (1923-33) .