CARTER, HOWARD

born May 9, 1873, Swaffham, Norfolk, Eng. died March 2, 1939, London Tutankhamen, gold funerary mask found in the King's tomb, 14th century BC; in the Egyptian British archaeologist who made one of the richest and most celebrated contributions to Egyptology: the discovery (1922) of the largely intact tomb of King Tutankhamen (see photograph). At the age of 17 Carter joined the British-sponsored archaeological survey of Egypt. He made (189399) drawings of the sculptures and inscriptions at the terraced temple of Queen Hatshepsut in ancient Thebes. He next served as inspector general of the Egyptian antiquities department. While supervising excavations in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings in 1902, he discovered the tombs of Hatshepsut and Thutmose IV. Around 1907 he began his association with the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, a collector of antiquities who had sought out Carter to supervise excavations in the valley. On Nov. 4, 1922, Carter found the first sign of what proved to be Tutankhamen's tomb, and three days later he reached its sealed entrance. For the next 10 years Carter supervised the removal of its contents, most of which are housed in the Cairo Museum. He published Thoutmsis IV (1904) and The Tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen (192333) with, respectively, P.E. Newberry and A.C. Mace. An account of the Tutankhamen excavation may be found in C.W. Ceram's Gods, Graves, and Scholars (2nd ed., 1967).