Tutankhamun’s Money: Howard Carter

A nervous hello, a lime beer, and then a sand-choked staircase that changed history. We pull back the curtain on Howard Carter’s last-chance bet with Lord Carnarvon and the painstaking, high-stakes work that turned a flicker of candlelight into “wonderful things.” From Carter’s early days as a teen draftsman in the Valley of the Kings to the disciplined process of photographing, stabilizing, and cataloging more than 5,000 artifacts, this story is equal parts grit, science, and obsession.

We walk through the antechamber’s chaos of beds, chariots, shrines, and sealed chests; the gilded shrines around the stone sarcophagus; and the nested coffins culminating in Tutankhamun’s solid-gold inner coffin and iconic funerary mask. Then the sands shift: Tutmania explodes across headlines just as Egypt claims new independence, turning a tomb into a stage for nationalism, press rivalries, and a showdown over who controls the past. An exclusive Times deal, a closed-door tour, and a sudden death by mosquito feed talk of a “mummy’s curse” and a very modern question of heritage and ownership.

We follow the shutdown, lawsuit, and the hard-won agreement that let Carter finish the work while keeping Tut’s treasures in Cairo—setting a standard that still guides archaeology and museum policy today. And we don’t dodge the thorny parts: accusations that Carter pocketed small objects, the later evidence, and the path to repatriation. Along the way, we spotlight the unsung craft behind the legend: low-light photography, chemical conservation, and patient hands working layer by fragile layer so the artifacts could survive another 3,000 years.

If you love ancient Egypt, big finds with bigger consequences, and the messy, human story behind museum glass, you’ll be at home here. Subscribe, share this episode with a history-loving friend, and leave a review with your take: who should decide where world heritage lives?

“The Archaeologists That Found Tutankhamun” Best History Documentaries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ2pPNZy4pY

“Tour Of Tutankhamun's Tomb” Best History Documentaries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZYMwFXla1s

Tutankhamun: ancient and modern perspectives

https://www.britishmuseum.org/visit/object-trails/tutankhamun-ancient-and-modern-perspectives

Howard Carter By Biography.com Editors

https://www.biography.com/scientists/howard-carter

“Who Was Howard Carter?” By Lucy Davidson

https://www.historyhit.com/who-was-howard-carter/

Transcript

Cold Open And Banter

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Oh.

SPEAKER_06 0:16

Hey.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Hey there.

SPEAKER_06 0:21

Okay, Christopher Walken. Oh. Hey there. I I cannot do it. I am not an impressionist, but No. Did you have a seizure when you started?

SPEAKER_02 0:34

I don't know why.

SPEAKER_06 0:36

Got a nervous stick going on.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Oh, hey there.

SPEAKER_06 0:40

Oh, hi. Oh. Hi.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

How are you?

SPEAKER_06 0:44

Oh. I am well.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Good.

SPEAKER_06 0:47

How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:48

I'm also doing very well. My name is Kate.

SPEAKER_06 0:51

Fancy meeting you here, Kate. My name's Bradley.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

And this is the history buffoons.

SPEAKER_06 0:56

We got there. Holy shit.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

And this story you're gonna love.

SPEAKER_06 1:02

Are you sure? Yes. Is it about World War II?

SPEAKER_02 1:04

No.

SPEAKER_06 1:05

Thank God. I know. I like World War II, but goddamn, we're I know.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

I try really hard not to focus there, but just it's hard.

SPEAKER_06 1:12

Stories are just there's a ton of stories, so I get it. It's documented, you know, and oh it's highly documented, so it's very easy to find stuff, but and it's again, I like World War II, but I want to mix it up a bit.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

We're going back just over a hundred years.

SPEAKER_06 1:28

So 1925, six 1922. Oh, all right.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

This is about Howard Carter.

SPEAKER_06 1:36

Howard Carter.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

He started out as an artist, but with obsession and a keen eye for detail, yeah. He became a huge spotlight in archaeology. Oh in 1922, after years of digging in the dust, he finally struck gold. Literally.

SPEAKER_06 1:59

Literally.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

This is the story of Howard Carter and his discovery of King Tutan Commons tomb.

SPEAKER_06 2:07

Oh. Yeah, you're right. I'm gonna like this.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

I know, I know, I know. I know, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_06 2:14

I love like old Egyptian stuff.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

I know, me too.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Sorry. If you have not um listened to our origin of weird about Alm Seti.

SPEAKER_06 2:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Um, please go back and wat and listen to that.

SPEAKER_05 2:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Um, Alm Seti is um, she is a story about a woman who thought she was kind of reincarnated and she was an Egyptian princess.

SPEAKER_06 2:39

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

Um, so that that was really interesting. I I liked um Alm Seti's.

SPEAKER_06 2:44

Yeah, I enjoyed that story.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Yeah, that was a good one.

SPEAKER_06 2:46

That was weird, very weird. What was her real name?

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Dorothy Edy.

SPEAKER_06 2:53

So do you want to know something really weird? We did that episode a while ago already. Yeah, I'm trying to find it, and I I was scrolling through some weird shit.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Episode 20 of Original.

SPEAKER_06 3:08

Yeah, so I mean that's 11 ago.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 3:10

So that's and that's quite a while ago because we do them every other week. I was scrolling through something earlier today, and this like a guy started talking about Dorothy Edy. I'm like, I know that name.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Mm-hmm. It's Olm Setti.

SPEAKER_06 3:24

So I just want to say we did it first. I'm just kidding. Also, I'm sure someone did it before us.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

If you have not watched the 1999 movie The Mummy, well with Brendan Fraser Classic and Rachel Weiss, you are missing out on cinematic gold.

SPEAKER_06 3:42

I mean, we've talked about how Brendan Fraser is a national treasure.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

He is a national treasure.

SPEAKER_06 3:49

I mean that's what Nicolas Cage was trying to find in that movie.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

It was a great movie, but Brendan definitely took took Top Dog. Well, yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_06 4:00

I'm really excited.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

I saw that cookie.

Setting The Stage: Carter’s Early Life

SPEAKER_06 4:07

Little pizza cookie. My apologies. Um, I really hope the rumors are true that they're gonna get her uh him and her back for uh uh another one, which is sp which, if I understand, is supposed to be a sequel to they're gonna kind of like forget about the third one, which I actually I don't mind that one. Yeah, I actually don't mind that the son has grown up. I actually find the kid to be a little annoying in the mummy returns, but anyway, let's talk about King Tut after we show what beer we have.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Yes, this looked interesting. I haven't seen this around.

SPEAKER_06 4:40

You had said you'd never heard of garage beer. I have again, I used to be in the business, I've never had this though, but we found one that's a classic lime beer garage beer. It's only four percent. Um, nothing super fancy, but um, that's okay. Uh oh, only 95 calories. I want good fat. Er.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Where is it from?

SPEAKER_06 5:04

The garage.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Whose?

SPEAKER_06 5:10

But whose garage? Whose garage? I I honestly don't know who makes this.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

I don't even think it says. What?

SPEAKER_06 5:17

Light beer with lime flavor.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Doesn't matter. Let's open it. I want to get started. I want this, I want to talk about our car.

SPEAKER_06 5:24

I do like that there's an arrow saying open this end. And then the arrow pointing down is like crush to recycle.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

So that was cute.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

Super cute. All right, cheers.

SPEAKER_06 5:34

Cheers.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Oh, very limey.

SPEAKER_06 5:41

I don't think it's overly limey, but it's no, it's it's a great limey. It's a great limey. Did you know there's a movie called Limey? It's uh I think it's a um British term. I don't remember exactly what it means. I own the movie because it was part of like a 10-movie digital deal or whatever. Yeah, I have yet to watch it.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

I mean, I like it.

SPEAKER_06 6:03

No, this is good. Delicious. It's honestly a lot better than I anticipated.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Modello, watch out. Just kidding. I love Modello.

SPEAKER_06 6:10

I mean, price-wise though. Am I right?

SPEAKER_02 6:13

I don't know. What is it?

SPEAKER_06 6:15

This 12-pack was only$10. What you might have an alternative go-to and treat yourself to Mello. Kind of like what I did with Coors instead of Shandy.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Yeah, nice. Okay. So let's start with um Howard Carter.

SPEAKER_06 6:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

So he was an archaeologist. He was born in 1874 to a modest family of artists in England.

SPEAKER_05 6:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Carter had little formal education. Um, he was quiet, he was kind of sickly, but he had a true talent for drawing.

SPEAKER_05 6:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

By age 17, he found himself in Egypt as a junior draftsman. So he did technical drawings and and plans and stuff. And he was hired to color to excuse me, hired to copy the colorful seams, scenes on tomb walls. Sure. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 7:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

So in the 1890s, Egypt's will Egypt was already a magnet for adventurers and scholars and yeah, looking for old shit. Exactly. And young Carter was exactly as well. For sure. He learned excavation and recording techniques under other seasoned um archaeologists. Makes sense. Carter's artistic eye um and meticulous nature served him really well. And by 1900, barely into his mid-20s, he was employ appointed inspector of antiquities of upper Egypt, overseeing sites that included the Valley of the Kings.

SPEAKER_06 7:52

Who who was the inspector of Lower Egypt? Anyways.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Just got crickets.

SPEAKER_06 8:08

That's I mean the whole, and it's funny because like the whole Valley of the Kings, like the treasure trove of shit they found in that. I don't even know how big the area is, but man.

unknown 8:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:20

Lots of I mean, obviously King Tuts, which was huge.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

So the King Tuts was not huge.

The Saqqara Affair And Losing His Post

SPEAKER_06 8:25

No, I know. It was the discovery was huge. Thank you for realizing what the fuck I was saying. Anyways.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

So Carter earned a reputation as a capable archaeologist. Um, and he was a little bit of a radical. In 1904, there was a confrontation known as the Saqqara Affair.

SPEAKER_04 8:48

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

And it kind of changed the course of his career. Carter stood his ground with his Egyptian site guards when a group of aggressive French tourists tried to force their way into a closed site.

SPEAKER_05 9:02

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Ever even ordering the guards to eject other intruders. So the incident, Egyptians manhandling Europeans, caused a scandal. Oh dear. And rather than apologize to the tourists, Carter defended his Egyptian staff.

SPEAKER_06 9:19

Well, yeah, because those fucks were in the wrong. I mean, just because you're a tourist and snooty-ass French fucks.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Yeah. What the shit? But facing official criticism and unwilling to back down, Carter ended up resigning from the antiquity service in 1905.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

At age 31, he found himself without a job painting watercolor scenes for tourists in Luxer, which used to be Thebes.

SPEAKER_06 9:47

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Okay. Um, so enter George Herbert, the fifth Earl of Carnivon.

SPEAKER_06 9:56

Of where?

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Carnarvon. There we go. Carnarvon.

SPEAKER_06 10:00

Where is that?

SPEAKER_02 10:01

England.

SPEAKER_06 10:02

Okay. Are you sure? He's British. No, you're making the shit out of it.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

He's British. He's British, I tell you. I say. Oh, sorry, Bobby.

SPEAKER_06 10:11

Bonnie's like, get on with it.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Carnavon.

SPEAKER_06 10:17

Are you sure that's so that's supposed to be in England?

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Yeah. Well, that's his title. But he's of where he's an Earl. For the love of God. He's an Earl. Earl.

SPEAKER_06 10:32

My name is Earl. Did you ever watch the show?

Teaming With Lord Carnarvon

SPEAKER_02 10:35

Carnarvon was an English aristocrat. I capitalized R-A-T. Because I keep saying aristocratic. Okay. He found a passion for um Egyptian antiquities.

SPEAKER_06 10:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

And he just happened to be one of the tourists that wanted a watercolor?

SPEAKER_06 10:57

Filthy Rich. Well that too.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

In 1907, a mutual acquaintance recommended Carver to Lord Carnavon.

SPEAKER_06 11:05

Carter or Carver?

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Carter to Lord.

SPEAKER_06 11:08

Okay, because you said Carver.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Car Carnavon. Carnivon.

SPEAKER_06 11:14

Which is where?

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Mr. C. The Earl of C.

SPEAKER_06 11:23

Earl of C. Sounds like he's out on the fucking ocean.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

The Earl was looking for someone knowledgeable to supervise X excavations that he was wanting to fund. Okay. Okay. So that despite their differences in class and in temperament and even their education, um, the Earl was a dapper high society figure and Carter kind of a rough and tumble kind of a guy. They too the two formed a really great partnership. And the Earl saw saw in Carter the man of Luxor. Yeah. Um, he needed someone with local experience and modern methods. And Carter saw in the Earl the one thing that he desperately lacked was moolah.

SPEAKER_06 12:07

Well, yeah, I mean, you need to fun shit.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 12:10

Did you ever stay at the Luxor when you went to Vegas? No. I think I did once. Because that's the pyramid.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 12:15

Do you know where Jonathan and the mummy found the key for Yeah, in Thebes.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 12:22

All right. Just making sure. Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

For the next several years, Carter excavated sites across Egypt under the Earl's sponsorship.

SPEAKER_04 12:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

They dug noble tombs at Thebes and elsewhere, finding inter interesting artifacts, but nothing earth-shattering.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Um, the Earl was an Egyptophile. Like he loved everything Egypt. Sure. And for a while he was pleased at what the returns were.

SPEAKER_04 12:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Um, but they were both both men were like desperately wanting like this big discovery.

SPEAKER_06 12:55

So how did how did uh what was what are we calling him? Baroncy? Earl C the Earl. Yeah. Um the Baron C. Um how did he make it like his fortunes?

SPEAKER_02 13:09

I didn't look into it.

SPEAKER_06 13:10

Is it just because he was an aristocrat that he had you know lands that were paying him kind of thing?

SPEAKER_02 13:16

I didn't look into it because he's such a minor part of the story, but I know.

SPEAKER_06 13:20

Like, what's your what's your opinion?

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Probably just him being an aristocrat, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 13:25

Because like I was going somewhere with this, and now I don't remember where that was going. Fuck. All right, cool. Let's go.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

So by 1914, yeah, their attention moved to Valley of the Kings, sure, where the um American financier Theodore Davis had been excavating for years.

SPEAKER_06 13:47

Oh. Okay. So then these other guys come in, he's like, dude, what the fuck, man?

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Yeah, kind of sort of. So Davis had found a few traces of King Tut.

SPEAKER_06 13:56

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Mm-hmm. He found a small cache of funerary items. Oh. An embalming cache, which is a collection of material that was used by the ancient Egyptians in the mummification process and then buried either with or separately from the body. Right. In this case, it was separate. Right, obviously. So it is believed that because the materials had come in contact with the body, they had possibly um absorbed part of it and needed to be buried in order for the body to be complete in the afterlife.

SPEAKER_06 14:29

Okay. I mean, that makes total sense.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

There was also a fragment, a fragment, fragmentary tomb called KV58. That is a Valley of the King. So King Valley, we'll say King Valley, KV. KV58.

SPEAKER_06 14:50

King Valley, but it should be Valley of the Kings.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

With the young King's name, King Tut's name, but declared the Valley exhausted and gave up the concession in 1914. Theodore Davis was like, here's a King Tut something rather, and here's a King's Tut something rather, but that's all there is. So I'm gonna leave.

SPEAKER_06 15:07

Yeah, so you know what? You can have it.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Yeah, it was really strange.

SPEAKER_06 15:11

That's wild because like clearly you did not find enough.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Like you were so close, dude.

The Valley Of The Kings Focus

SPEAKER_06 15:18

Oh, do you think he's like oh he was probably like damn. But hey, he didn't get the curse.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

I did talk a little bit about the curse, and I took it out of my story.

SPEAKER_06 15:31

Why?

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Because it was really long story.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Okay. It got to be a really long story.

SPEAKER_06 15:37

Also, back to the mummy movie. Do you know who without them actually saying it, who Evie's parents were?

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Um, they talked about oh.

SPEAKER_06 15:48

Like they referenced Carter being her her dad.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Was it?

SPEAKER_06 15:52

Yeah, that's basically who they're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

But they never said it.

SPEAKER_06 15:56

But they never actually said it, but that's what they're hinting at.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

So we'll have to rewatch that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:02

I mean, I'm down to watch that with you because I love that movie. Yeah. So but anyways, okay. It's never it's never like actually sad. Yeah, or whatever. So anyway.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

I mean, it was like she her mother was an Egyptian and he was an Englishman. Yeah, something anyway. And he loved Egypt so much he married my mother, yeah, who was an Egyptian. Yeah. Anyway, the Earls secured their digging rights for the valley.

SPEAKER_05 16:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Just as World War I was breaking out. So their plans had to be delayed. All right. Carter spent the warriors in Egypt doing intelligence work as a translator and courier, and it wasn't until 1917 that he finally got back to digging. When he did, he pursued the task with like pinpoint precision focus.

SPEAKER_06 16:49

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Systematically excavating the Valley of the Kings as no one had before.

SPEAKER_06 16:54

So, like, plot it off, do that.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:58

Next plot, yeah, move out. Exactly. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

So Carter was convinced that somewhere beneath the sand and rubble lay the tomb of Tutankhamun. He was at the time relatively obscure of the 14th century BC who had died young.

SPEAKER_06 17:12

You've died very young, yeah. And was probably like, what did they say? Inbred and had some maladies, if you will.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

He died at 19 years old.

SPEAKER_06 17:23

Yep. He was he was the they call him like the boy king.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

The boy king.

SPEAKER_06 17:27

King, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Um, so the most of my story is about Howard Carter and the discovery, not about King Tut.

SPEAKER_06 17:32

Saying shit I remember.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

I know, but I did do research on King Tut.

SPEAKER_06 17:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

And they think that he died of either malaria or dysentery. An infection from a broken femur bone.

SPEAKER_06 17:49

I've heard that one before, yeah.

unknown 17:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Um, like he bled out and had an infection from um his femur bone from like osteoporosis or some like bone degeneration. He was using canes and stuff.

SPEAKER_06 18:00

A lot, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 18:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

So they think that he died in that way.

SPEAKER_06 18:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Um, but let me continue.

SPEAKER_06 18:05

No, I'm sorry. That's okay. It's just saying stats.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Um so he thought that Tutankhamun was nearby. Others were skeptical. Um, nearly every pharaoh's tomb in the valley had already been found or plundered.

SPEAKER_06 18:20

Yeah, that's the problem.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

There was a lot of looting.

SPEAKER_06 18:23

That's really sad. Could you I mean, just think of everything that we missed out on in history because people in the early 1900s or even late 1800s, who the fuck knows? Hey man, we found this. Let's ooh, gold. And they melted it down, they sold pieces of it here and there and whatever just to make a couple bucks. Who knows what they fucking got paid for it? Yeah, but I mean, significant things went missing because of these looters, and that's why this was such a huge find because they found it 100% intact. They still had that little rope thing on the door that they had to like cut open and stuff and whatever. So, yeah, it's just wild.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

So Carter had those clues from earlier digs, um, ceramics with Tutankama's name on them, a few articul artifacts that might have been used in his funerary cache, um, and a hunch that the young king's final resting place had yet to be discovered. Yeah. From 1917 through 1921, season after season, which ranged from November to March.

SPEAKER_06 19:29

Okay. Did they just not do it in the summer because it was just so fucking hot? No, that means makes sense.

One Last Season Or Bust

SPEAKER_02 19:35

Yep. Carter directed teams of local workers to clear the valley floor down to bedrock. So hundreds of tons of rock and sand were sifted and hauled away. The work was hot and tedious and expensive. Um, the Earl watching from the sidelines grew increasingly impatient as each year passed without a big prize.

SPEAKER_04 19:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

By 1922, the Earl Had spent a fortune on this venture and informed Carter that he was ready to call it quits if nothing turned up in one last season.

SPEAKER_05 20:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

So Carter even ever determined pleaded for one more chance.

SPEAKER_05 20:10

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

He even offered to pay for the final season himself, which is a sign of his true conviction and loyalty to this. Sure. So touched by Carter's passion, uh, and per perhaps like wanting to like stick around anyway, um, the Earl agreed to fund one last campaign in the autumn of 1922.

SPEAKER_06 20:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

So it was now or never.

SPEAKER_06 20:32

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Carter had saved one section of the valley for his final effort. It was a rough triangle kind of space near the entrance of the tomb of Ramses the Sixth.

SPEAKER_05 20:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

Where earlier excavations had found the ancient workmen's huts and sheds.

SPEAKER_06 20:53

That's crazy, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 20:55

So digging out Ramses the Sixth tomb, these workers would build like a nearby community.

SPEAKER_06 21:01

Yeah, so they could go to work and do their thing.

Steps In The Sand: First Discovery

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Yeah, so they built this area, and that's where he wanted to dig, was underneath that little community. Sure. So as November began, Carter's crew, dozens of skilled Egyptian diggers who had worked with him for years, got to work early, hoping to beat the winter crowds of Luxer. They dismantled the old mud brick huts from a later period and began clearing the rubble underneath.

SPEAKER_05 21:28

All right.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Three days in.

SPEAKER_05 21:30

They found it.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

That's it. Three days on November 4th, the first step was uncovered.

SPEAKER_06 21:36

That's could you imagine like uh holy shit. Because you know that step, even like, well, what is this? It that you could significantly tell it was a step leading to something. Because the steps went down, correct? If I remember right. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

So by the time, so excuse me, so over the next few weeks, excitement had built as the staircase an open um door door upper doorway was reached. Yes. So by the time the Earl arrived, because he was in England at the time, Carter's team had found a flight of 16 steps leading to a sealed door.

SPEAKER_05 22:14

Yeah. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

Yeah. So the seal bore bore the jackal and nine captives insignia of the royal necropolis, proof that it was indeed a Pharaoh's tomb. Yeah. So even more thrilling, some seals included Tutankhamens cartouche, which is a carved tablet or drawing of a scroll with an inscription, and it identified the owner of the tomb.

SPEAKER_04 22:39

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

The Earl who was in England at the time was called to come. They actually re-buried the steps.

SPEAKER_06 22:50

So they could dig it out for him.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

So they could so yeah, so they could one, they had to wait for him to arrive. Egypt to England. We're talking about um trains and carrier or c carriages and donkeys to get from Egypt, so or sorry, from London to Egypt.

SPEAKER_06 23:07

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

So we're talking like three weeks of travel time.

SPEAKER_06 23:10

Well, yeah, it's not like they had the flights we had today.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

So so Howard Carter re-buried the steps so no one else could get in without this financial backer there.

SPEAKER_05 23:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

So Carter did not own this situation. The Earl did because he was funding it. Um, and the Egypt Antiquity Service required the patron to be present for all major discoveries.

SPEAKER_06 23:35

Oh, I didn't realize that was a thing. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

So they dug up the steps again. Carter um stood before that door on November 26th.

SPEAKER_06 23:46

Oh, so oh, three weeks.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Yeah, they literally waited for him to come.

SPEAKER_06 23:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

He was ready to open a door that was sealed over 3,000 years ago.

SPEAKER_06 23:54

So crazy. That would have been so fucking cool.

“Wonderful Things” And The Antechamber

SPEAKER_02 23:57

They knew Egyptian authorities would need to be present for any official opening of the tomb, but they took a little private peek. Oh. With a few of their chisels, they carved out a little piece in the corner of the door and they inserted a candle.

SPEAKER_06 24:19

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Hot air would rush out, and the flame would flicker like a Hollywood movie.

SPEAKER_05 24:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

And before his eyes, he said, quote, strange animals, statues, and gold everywhere, the glint of gold.

SPEAKER_06 24:32

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Carter had found treasure beyond his wildest dreams, all piled haphazardly in a chamber not much large larger than a modest living room.

SPEAKER_06 24:43

Which is crazy that it was so haphazardly done. But and again, I'm just my my memory on it isn't always the best, but I I thought it would I read something once, heard something once, doesn't matter. That it was kind of like that just because of the process of his death was so quick.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

It was quick. And they're just like, well, yeah, so the second a Pharaoh takes um ill. No. Oh takes office.

SPEAKER_06 25:13

Yeah. Office. They start building the tomb.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

They start building the tomb.

SPEAKER_06 25:17

Yeah, correct.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

So Ramses the Six, who had lived quite a few long years, had this massive, massive, massive tomb.

SPEAKER_05 25:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

And um the king, the boy king, Mr. King Tut, um, he I think was he died within nine years, ten years, something like that.

SPEAKER_06 25:40

He was like then when he when he took over. So it would have been a good thing. Obviously, those tombs took a long fucking time because they're digging into bedrock and granite and whatever other whatever, blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 25:53

So yeah, so they probably were like, well, as far as we got, throw this shit in, seal that door.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

And when he had his injury to his femur, like it was broken. Yeah, um, he died within a week.

SPEAKER_06 26:04

Which is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

So they haphazardly threw everything in there for his afterlife.

SPEAKER_06 26:09

Yeah, it's like, um, good luck.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 26:12

See you on the other side.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

So the Earl, unable to contain himself, asked Carter, What do you see? And there's a famous line that many of like the scholars know.

SPEAKER_05 26:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Carter replied, Wonderful things.

SPEAKER_05 26:29

I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Word spread quickly through the dig team and the small British community in Luxor. Tutankhamens tomb had been found. And that evening, Carter, the Earl, and his daughter, the Earl's daughter, because she came with, yeah, slipped back into the antechamber for a closer look. They squeezed through the hole in the door, become the first people in over 3,000 years to enter King Tut's domain.

SPEAKER_06 26:53

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

The room was so full of artifacts, it was hard to navigate without potentially stepping on something.

SPEAKER_06 26:59

Um I can imagine, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

There were gilded ceremonial beads, um, nope, beds that were shaped like divine cows and lions, and they stood propped up against the wall. There was dismantled chariots, and they had golden facades broken down into pieces. Um, there were ornate caskets and uh storage chests crowded every inch, uh, many still cords shut and sealed with ancient clay.

SPEAKER_05 27:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

There were shrines, statutes of gods, jewelry, weapons, textiles, and a whole royal treasury buried into a single tomb.

SPEAKER_05 27:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

Carter's first impression noted, quote, a strange and wonderful medley of extraordinary and beautiful objects heaped upon one another.

Doing It Right: Photography And Conservation

SPEAKER_06 27:50

Could you imagine if the Earl decided to let Carter pay for this last season of digging?

SPEAKER_01 28:00

He wouldn't have been a part of this.

SPEAKER_06 28:02

No, he would have been like, Are you fucking kidding me?

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Yeah, he wouldn't have been a part of it.

SPEAKER_06 28:06

He would have been so pissed. Yeah. But holy shit, what good luck for him that he decided, yeah, I'll do one more.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

Yeah. So despite a layer of dust, well, yeah, the colors in there were still so incredibly vivid.

SPEAKER_06 28:22

Like vibrant. Yeah. I'm sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

So one door from this anti antechamber had been forced open, leading to a smaller room.

SPEAKER_05 28:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:32

Carter would dub the annex, which proved to be a cluttered storage space for more linens, oils, and provisions, likely ransacked by ancient thieves and left in disarray. Um, but another door at the back of the antechamber was still plastered shut and sealed. Carter knew it had to have led to something more sacred, the inner burial chamber of the king, because there were two statutes on either side, kind of like creating cards, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:02

Yeah, exactly. Watchmen.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

So Carter was tempted to open it immediately, but he did pause. The world was now pounding on the tomb's door, literally, spe uh, and other archaeologists, Egyptian officials, and the press are all wanting to be a part of this.

SPEAKER_06 29:19

Well, yeah, because it's a monumental thing. Because I I don't know if you came across this at all. And that's fine if you didn't, but when was the last time prior to this that a tomb was found?

SPEAKER_02 29:31

I did not I did not look into that.

SPEAKER_06 29:33

No, I know. No, I figured as much, but just curious because like whether it was a year, five years, ten years, twenty, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:40

I know it's I thought if I remember right, and again, I don't remember right a lot. Um, it was probably a while. I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

So Carter decided they must do this by the book. Sure. The tomb was resealed again, and guards were posted. Jeez. There would be a formal opening of the burial chamber with official witnesses.

SPEAKER_05 30:06

Right.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Carter could wait a little longer to see King Tut's coffin.

SPEAKER_05 30:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Um because now he had a mountain of work to tackle with the antechamber alone. So over the next few days, Howard Carter began the slow, careful process of recording and clearing the antechamber, which alone contained more treasures than most archaeologists see in their lifetime.

SPEAKER_06 30:29

Oh, yeah, for sure. There's so much shit they found in there. It's it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

And because Carter was so methodical anyway, he did the perfect job of this.

SPEAKER_05 30:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

Having witnessed sloppy ex um excavations by others in the past, some which had destroyed valuable context, Carter was determined to do it right. So every object was to be photographed in situ exactly as it was found before being moved.

SPEAKER_05 31:01

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

So he enlisted the help the help of Perry Burton, a photographer from the Metropolitan Museum's team in England, Egypt, renowned for his skill in low light conditions.

SPEAKER_06 31:14

England, Egypt.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Egypt. Burton's camera captured beautiful black and white images of each stage of the excavation. Nice. Gilded tables and thrones emerging from darkness under the beam of flash lamps.

SPEAKER_04 31:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

Artifacts tagged with little numbered labels as they were cataloged. Yep. These images would soon be around the world, but they also served an important scientific purpose.

SPEAKER_05 31:40

Right.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Creating a permanent visual record of the tomb's contents. Exactly. Yep. So Carter knew that these artifacts were extremely fragile. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 31:50

I mean, they've been sitting there for 3,000 fucking years.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

So the tomb had been prone to moisture and heat over the millennia. Wood had warped and textiles had disintegrated.

SPEAKER_05 32:03

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

And metals had corroded beneath their golden veneers. So without immediate conservation, many objects could have c crumbled to dust upon touch.

SPEAKER_06 32:13

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

The textiles specifically have only survived in Burton's photos.

SPEAKER_06 32:21

Oh, do they all disintegrate it? They all just disintegrated? Yeah. Yeah, that's too bad.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Yeah. So some of the textiles that you can see in his photos no longer exist just because of Right.

SPEAKER_06 32:33

No, and that's why it was great that he did what he did with the photographing of everything in its place. Yeah. Prior to moving it, because he knew there's a good chance we're going to lose some of this shit. So how how would have looters gotten to that one room?

SPEAKER_02 32:49

They probably like, I mean, the workers built on top of it, so maybe they knew that it was there before they did that.

SPEAKER_06 32:57

Because they also like they found that the first door was sealed. Obviously, his coffin room was sealed. Do they get into it from a different way or something?

SPEAKER_02 33:07

I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 33:07

I don't know. That's just strange.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

Or they sealed it after they looted.

SPEAKER_06 33:12

But they didn't do a good job of looting.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

They didn't.

SPEAKER_06 33:15

Because they they left a lot of shit.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 33:18

Anyways.

Opening The Burial Chamber

SPEAKER_02 33:19

But so Carter assembled an all-star team of specialist. He called in Arthur Mace, a conservator from the Met, chemist Alfred Lucas from the Egyptian Antiquity Service to stabilize artifacts with chemical treatments. Architects and draftsmen like Walter Hauser and Lindsay Hall were brought to make detailed maps and drawings of the tomb's layout. Renowned scholars James Henry Brested and Al Gardnier came to help decipher inspections, inscriptions, and texts on the objects.

SPEAKER_05 33:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

So it was like a multidisciplinary effort because they also have the photographer and they have the um Egyptian um diggers and Carter himself.

SPEAKER_05 34:08

Right.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

So this was perhaps the first time an archaeological discovery gathered such a comprehensive team of experts in real time.

SPEAKER_06 34:17

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

So like he really did a great job of this.

SPEAKER_06 34:21

Well, and it's great that he had the mindset to fucking do it this way so he could do it properly, for lack of any explanation beyond that. He did it properly, which is fucking awesome. So no, it's great.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

So working in this the stifling confines of the tomb, often laying on their sides or bellies to examine objects in tight corners. Yep. Carter's team inched forward. They assigned numbers to each item. Eventually, over 5,000 artifacts would be registered. That's crazy. Small wonders emerged daily. Um, little figurines that were like uh servant statues to accompany the king, um, beautifully carved alabaster vessels, game boards, royal garments, even baskets of food and seeds.

SPEAKER_06 35:09

Well, he needed it for the afterlife.

SPEAKER_02 35:11

I know.

SPEAKER_06 35:12

I mean, that's the shit they believed in, which is.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

There's literally uh a bowl of uh coriander seeds and blueberries.

SPEAKER_06 35:22

Yeah, isn't that fucking amazing? Yeah, it's just wild. So I I I'm pretty sure my mom still has it. We've had this book in my family for years, like decades. But it's a really cool, like obviously not from these pictures, it's from like when they were on display, because they're all color, um, book of King Tut's stuff. That's cool. And because they there's I don't know, I think they still do it. But they would tour those around. I think I think it was actually just not that long ago they did it again. I think it was in Chicago, maybe. Because that's obviously a huge museum. But I would love to actually see that shit, like the real shit, but yeah, I unfortunately never have yet.

SPEAKER_02 36:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:07

Anyways.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

So every object told a story about the life and the death of Tutan Commons time.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

Right.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

Carter often remarked that the tomb was like a time capsule from Egypt's golden age, obviously. Like of course that is.

SPEAKER_05 36:22

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

Carter preceded with caution and love. When they opened one large chest, they found delicate, excuse me, delicate ceremonial garments and jewelry layered within.

SPEAKER_05 36:35

Right.

SPEAKER_02 36:35

And to remove them without damage, Burton would photograph the exposed top layer. Then Lucas would apply a thin solution of melted paraffin wax to hold that layer together. Sure. Once it stiffened, they lifted it out, revealing the next layer, which was then photographed and treated again.

SPEAKER_06 36:56

And then just repeat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

In one case, it reportedly took a week to empty a single chest safely, layer by layer.

SPEAKER_06 37:04

I mean, do it right.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

These were careful method methods and created a brand new standard for archaeologists.

SPEAKER_06 37:13

Which is great.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

By mid-February 1923, nearly three months after the initial find, Carter's team had cleared most of the antechamber.

Tutmania And A Country In Flux

SPEAKER_06 37:22

And just the antechamber. So at this point, have they still not opened his coffin? They have not. Jesus Christ. I mean, I suppose, like you said, they were trying to they could barely walk through it without stepping on shit. So, like, let's clear this out and then we'll go there. So, I mean, it makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

And that's what they did.

SPEAKER_06 37:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

Um, they were finally ready to open the sealed barrier chamber officially. On February 16th, 1923, with the world watching, Carter, accompanied by Egyptian officials, the Earl, and a few honored guests, broke the seal on that inner door. Jeez. Inside, occupying almost the entire space, loomed a stack of massive gilded wooden shrines enclosing the king's stone sarcophagus.

SPEAKER_06 38:10

Sarcophagus? Sarcophagus. Sarcaphagus.

SPEAKER_02 38:15

It took immense effort over subsequent weeks to carefully remove these shrines one by one. I bet. When they finally lifted the lid of the stone sarcophagus, they found not one, but three coffins each inside the other, like some Egyptian Russian doll.

SPEAKER_06 38:35

Yeah, the nesting doll. The nesting dolls. Yeah. They're Russian.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

That's where they came from, but yeah. The final one made of solid gold contained Tutankhamun's money. Mummy. Not mummy. Mummy. Mummy was the mummy.

SPEAKER_06 38:52

I think I think our title is Tutankhamun's Money. Why am I so laughing at that?

SPEAKER_02 39:01

I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 39:02

I I just absolutely love his what what do you call that? The head and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

That was what I was gonna say next, covering the head and shoulders of the mummy was Tutankhamun's golden funerary mask.

SPEAKER_06 39:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 39:15

And it's probably one of the most iconic objects. Oh, hands down.

SPEAKER_06 39:20

Like I can literally picture it in my head right now.

SPEAKER_02 39:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 39:23

With the weird little what snake thing and whatever coming off the top, and just like the the blue and the gold. It's just so fucking beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

Ooh, cramping my leg. So even Carter, so he he actually had a diary and he was meticulous at filling it out, and that has survived to this day.

SPEAKER_06 39:45

I'm assuming it's in the museum with the King Tut stuff, right?

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Yeah, if it's not in the museum, it's in like a museum. A museum as a cataloged type thing. Sure. Um in his notes, he described the masks. Sad but tranquil expression and mused how his likeness of the long-dead boy king until now known only by name suddenly made the past real. With the burial chamber opened, the team's work was far from over. Of course. Another chamber, the so-called treasury, was discovered packed with yet more riches. The king's canopic chest with alabaster jars containing his internal organs, guarded by gilded statues of goddesses, dozens of servant servant figurines and stunning life-sized gold figures of a jackal, which is the god Anubis, perched atop a shrine, and countless other ritual and funerary objects.

SPEAKER_06 40:47

I so as you know, I like Egyptian stuff and whatever, as we talked about prior. One of my barn cats I named Anubis.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:57

Yeah, because he he was one with the more like pointy nose, not your traditional cat, if you will. Yeah. Because you don't see those as much, but they're there. But he had a little more pointy kind of, so I named him Anubis. That's cute. And it's funny because I could even tell because he was um as a baby or kitten, whatever. But uh he was all black, so it was great.

SPEAKER_02 41:16

Yeah. So the treasury room wouldn't be fully cleared until 1927.

Press Fights, Politics, And A Death

SPEAKER_06 41:24

Wow, so four years. And then they didn't get into his room until you said that was February of 23, right? Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 41:41

And yet it took a full decade for Carter's team to conserve, document, and remove the contents of Commons tomb for studying and safekeeping.

SPEAKER_06 41:53

That's crazy. Sorry, I have a cramp in my leg.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

So do we need to take a break?

SPEAKER_06 41:59

Uh yeah, let's take a break. We'll be right back. And we're back. Thanks for letting me walk that cramp off. That was weird.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

So each season um they would labor labor from the mild winter months into spring and then carefully pack up the conserved artifacts to be shipped north to Cairo.

SPEAKER_05 42:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

And then temporarily re-bury the tomb entrance.

SPEAKER_06 42:27

So they re-buried it every time. Every season. Just so other people wouldn't pilfer and pillage and rape and plunder. Wait. Um But I mean, it makes sense. God, that would suck to have to fucking redig it out every season. But I mean, I totally get it because people back then, this law lawless fucking state, they're gonna be like, no one's watching.

SPEAKER_02 42:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 42:53

Let's go see what we can grab.

SPEAKER_02 42:55

The last crate left the valley in 1932, making the end of marking the end of one of the most exhaustive and fruitful archaeological undertakings in history.

SPEAKER_06 43:05

10 fucking years. Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

So the sheer scale of the find and the effort required to process it was unprecedented. Over 5,000 items were cataloged, including furniture, clothing, weapons, chariots, musical instruments, food, wine, uh, jars of cosmetic oils and linen badges, badges, bandages, to wrap the king.

SPEAKER_06 43:30

We don't need no stinking badges.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

To wrap the king's body.

SPEAKER_06 43:34

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_06 43:37

So I don't remember if this is one of did they actually take out the sarcophagus that he was buried in. Were they able to remove that? Because I know there was like the nesting doll type situation.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

I want to say that they did that in tomb, like in the tomb. Like they didn't take it all out, but I I can't be sure on that.

SPEAKER_06 43:59

Okay, I was just curious because it'd be kind of cool to see like the progression of what they got to basically.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

But I mean, you can see the photos. No, I know that. But I don't know if they took the whole all three of them out and did it in Cairo, or if they kept it all in the tomb as is and took it out.

SPEAKER_06 44:17

So as I'm thinking of this, um I need to remember after this episode since we're talking about it. I need to text my mom when we're done and say, Do you still have that book? Yeah, that'd be cool though. Almost positive she does. Oh, geez. You you would love it, but I also think they bought it when they went to go see it. And I don't remember when they saw it initially like that. Because it was on again, they packed everything up and they they went on tour more or less. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:45

So news of this discovery um of a near intact pharaoh tomb spread like wildfire.

SPEAKER_06 44:52

Oh, sure. I mean, that's big news.

SPEAKER_02 44:54

By the time the tomb was officially opened, journalists from all over the globe had descended on Luxer, desperate for a peek at the wonderful things being brought to light.

SPEAKER_04 45:02

Yep.

Shutdown, Standoff, And The Return Deal

SPEAKER_02 45:02

The world the world was in the grip of Tutmania. In London, New York, Paris, and beyond newspaper headlines wrote about each new finding from the tomb: a golden throne, a jeweled dagger, a chariot, the king's mummy. It was like a media sensation.

SPEAKER_05 45:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:21

And ancient Egypt had always been intrigue um throughout the public. Sure. But Tutan Commons trove kicked it into overdrive, and it inspired Egypt theme fashion, songs, dances, and decor across the world.

SPEAKER_06 45:36

I mean, who who doesn't know walk like an Egyptian by the Bengals?

SPEAKER_02 45:41

So amidst the enthusiasm, there were tension.

SPEAKER_06 45:46

Of course.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

The discovery occurred at a politically charged moment in Egypt.

SPEAKER_05 45:51

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 45:52

The country had only just earned nominal independence from Britain in February of 1922.

SPEAKER_06 45:59

Oh shit. So less than uh what, nine months prior? Nine months prior. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

So in reality, a British-backed government still wielded power.

SPEAKER_05 46:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:13

But Egyptian nationalism was surging. Okay. So many Egyptians viewed their ancient heritage as a source of national pride. Why wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_05 46:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

And resented the fact that foreign archaeologists controlled access to it. I don't blame them.

SPEAKER_06 46:28

I don't blame them, but at the same time, they funded it. They're the ones who found it. The other guy gave up on it, whatever, blah, blah, blah. I don't know where he was from. I don't remember if you said.

SPEAKER_02 46:37

He was American. He was?

SPEAKER_06 46:38

Okay. But like, so I I I don't blame him, but at the same time, you y'all didn't find it.

SPEAKER_02 46:47

The Egyptian diggers did.

SPEAKER_06 46:49

Well. Employed by the British people.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

Yeah. So um Tutankhamens tomb arriving on the scene like a gift from the ancient gods became a symbol of Egypt's glory just when the modern nation was finding its own voice. Sure. Egyptians were thrilled by the discovery, but they wanted ownership of it. Well. The tomb's riches some feared might be carted off abroad like so many previous finds. So who has the right to it in common? The foreigners or Egypt? Unfortunately, early missteps by the Earl and Carter fanned the flames.

SPEAKER_05 47:25

Of course.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

In January 1923, eager to cash in on the tomb's popularity, the Earl struck an exclusive deal with the Times of London, giving that newspaper sole rights to report on the excavation. Sure. Competing news outlets were furious at being cut out, including American and French reporters who had rushed to Luxor.

SPEAKER_06 47:48

Well, but but it's okay, so you're pissed. But he made a deal with a particular newspaper.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

But more significantly, Egyptian journalists were outraged that their country's greatest archaeological find was being treated like private property and funneled to the British press.

SPEAKER_06 48:09

But in a way it was private property because he's the one who funded it. And I see both sides of it.

SPEAKER_00 48:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 48:16

I mean, I get it. It's in their country, it's their heritage, it's their history, everything about that. But at the same time, this British dude is the one that found it. I mean, I get it.

Accusations, Missing Objects, And Legacy

SPEAKER_02 48:31

Egyptian newspaper Al-Haram ran an editorial accusing the Earl in exploiting the mortal remains of our ancient fathers before our eyes. The Times monopoly became a rallying point for Egyptian nationalists who saw it as yet another example of foreigners profiting off Egypt's heritage. Under pressure, the Egyptian government even briefly shut down access to the tomb to assert control, though the Earl's clout kind of reopened it. Like, yeah, he I mean he had he was rich. Carter and the Earl focused on the tomb itself were blindsided by this backlash.

SPEAKER_04 49:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:09

And another faux pas followed. Carter hosted a special private viewing inside the tomb for VIP visitors and the British team's wives. Oh, hand-pointedly invited no Egyptian officials or their families. To Egyptians, this felt like an insult and a confirmation of imperial ignorance uh arrogance. So the local press pounced on it, fueling a wave of nationalist uh resentment.

SPEAKER_04 49:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:39

Uh soon the conversation in Egypt wasn't just about who could write newspaper articles or visit the tomb. It evolved into a bigger debate about who would control Egypt's antiquities and by extension Egypt's destiny. So Tutankhamens boyish face began appearing on nationalist pamphlets and posters, and the Pharaoh had become a political symbol.

SPEAKER_06 50:02

So do you know where all of his stuff normally resides today? Do you did you come across that at all?

SPEAKER_02 50:10

Is it isn't it in the I think it might be in the Cairo Museum.

SPEAKER_06 50:16

So sounds like they won. Just saying. But like what you're saying, and again, I see it from their side. I really do. But devil's advocate kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 50:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 50:31

This fucking Earl with his boatloads of money from wherever he got it from is the one who funded all of it and everything. So it it just sounds like well, we didn't find it. Let's figure it out. It just seems kind of fucking petty at the same time. Yeah. If you're looking at it from the Earl's side or the British side, whatever you want to call it. So it's like, okay, I get it. Yes, it's in your country.

SPEAKER_02 50:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 50:57

But you didn't find it.

SPEAKER_02 50:59

Yeah. So alarmed by the growing uproar and facing criticism even back in Britain for mishandling press relations, the Earl tried to smooth things over. He promised to respect Egyptian laws and was negotiating terms for the division of the fines. So foreign excavators were entitled to a share, um, f of about half, often half at least, of the fines as a condition of their permit. However, given Tutankhamun's tomb was essentially intact, the antiquities' service position per an earlier concession agreement that I didn't research, was that nothing could leave Egypt if the tomb was intact.

SPEAKER_06 51:42

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 51:42

So the Earl initially hoped to argue the tomb wasn't technically intact since ancient Robert had entered it at one point and then resealed, and thus claimed a portion of him for himself. But he would never get the chance to press that claim. Because he died. He died. In April 1923. Oh the Earl died just five months after the discovery. He had been bitten on the cheek by a mosquito, and the bite became infected. Blood poisoning set in, and complicated by pneumonia, he died at 57 years old.

SPEAKER_06 52:20

So they did the majority of all of this after his death. He was the first one to be taken by the curse.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

The potential mummy curse. Yeah. Like he died, and a couple other workers died, but it was like throughout the years.

SPEAKER_06 52:37

Do you know what's funny? People die all the fucking time. So people, superstitious people. Oh my god, it must have been the curse of the mummy and so on. It's like, no, pure fucking happenstance. This dude got fucking bit by a mosquito or whatever, and he fucking died.

SPEAKER_03 53:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 53:02

It had nothing to do with the curse of the mummy or whatever bullshit you want to come up with. But it's funny because that was a big thing about it. It's like weird shit started to happen after they found this, but it's all just like look at it rationally.

SPEAKER_02 53:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 53:18

That's just what happened.

Wrap-Up And Call To Action

SPEAKER_02 53:19

So after his death, the responsibility fell squ uh squarely on Howard Carter.

SPEAKER_06 53:24

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 53:24

And while he had never sought fame, Carter now found himself as the central figure in this high-profile saga. Oh, right. So he was about to face the Egyptian authorities.

SPEAKER_05 53:34

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_02 53:35

Um, the Earl's widow and daughter inherited his estate, including the excavation rights. And Carter, fiercely lawyer to his patron's memory, wanted to honor their interest. Right. So he had assumed that when all was done, he might grant the um the Earl's estate a portion of the fines as a reward. The Earl had invested about 36,000 pounds in the search, which is which is approximately 3.58 million dollars today.

SPEAKER_06 54:03

Okay. Wow, that's a lot of money.

SPEAKER_02 54:05

But in the climate of rising Egyptian nationalism, the idea of splitting Tutankhamun's treasure was becoming politically weak. The new Egyptian government, led by nationalist figures, had no intention of letting such national treasures leave the country. Matters came to a head in early 1924. Egypt's new minister minister of public works, Marcos Behana, under whose jurisdiction the Antiquities Department fell, was a fiery nationalist with very little love for the British. And he viewed Carter and his team with some sp suspicion.

SPEAKER_06 54:42

How's that word go? Special. So okay, so that just sounds like a personal fucking grudge. And I think that's kind of shitty.

SPEAKER_02 54:50

But that but they were under British rule for the longest time.

SPEAKER_06 54:54

I understand that. But now and now that they're not, don't have to be a dick about it. I understand there's probably some tension because of it. I totally understand why there would be. But it's like, all right, well, I don't like the British. Well, yeah, because you were under their fucking rule and you didn't care for it. And now you're not. I'm sorry. Sounds like you're just kind of pissed off.

SPEAKER_02 55:19

So that winter, as Carter prepared to continue the work, Hannah insisted that Egyptian officials be given oversight and access to the tomb at all times. Okay. But Carter was a solitary digger and said, nope, nope, nope. Nope. So tensions boiled over when Carter refused a delegation of Egyptian inspectors' entry to the tomb, supposedly because he was planning to pr a private visit for his own friends. To Egyptian officials, this was the last straw.

SPEAKER_06 55:46

What was the first one?

SPEAKER_02 55:49

Minister Hannah took dramatic action and he shut down the excavation, stationing police at the tomb, and took away Carter's permission to continue in January of 1924. Carter refused, padlocking some areas himself, and posted a public notice at Luxer's Winter Palace Hotel, protesting the government's heavy-handed interference. This bold and potentially rude a move only rallied Egyptian public opinion further against it.

SPEAKER_06 56:17

Of course, because they didn't like it. So they're gonna like, well, fuck that guy.

SPEAKER_02 56:22

So crowds in Cairo and Luxer reportedly cheered Hannah's stance, calling him the minister of Tut and celebrating that an Egyptian was standing up to the foreigner on behalf of their ancestors.

SPEAKER_06 56:33

Minister of Tut, who didn't do fucking anything. He did literally fuck all to find this. But yeah, he's the minister of Tut. I'm sorry, this is starting to irritate me.

SPEAKER_02 56:43

I'm just giving you facts.

SPEAKER_06 56:44

I know you are. I'm not getting mad at you.

SPEAKER_02 56:46

So Carter felt betrayed and frustrated, packed up and left Egypt, and even launched a lawsuit to press um the Earl's estate claim to part of the tomb's contents. Yeah. For most of 1924, work on the tomb halted as the dispute played out. It was a diplomatic impasse. Carter in London and New York giving lectures and garnering sympathy among some of the archaeological community, the Egyptian authority standing firm at Tuton Commons Treasures, um standing firm that Tutankhamens Treasure belonged wholly in Egypt. Behind the scenes, coolerheads did try to find a compromise. So later that year, the situation evolved unexpectedly due to unrelated events. The assassination of a high British official in Cairo led to the fall of the Egyptian government in late 1924. Government? Government and a more British-aligned administration took over. So suddenly Hannah and his stance were out, and the new government wanted to resolve the very public Tutankhamun conflict.

SPEAKER_05 57:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 57:50

So by 1925, a deal was struck. Carter would be allowed to return and finish the work, but with clear condition. The Earl's estate and Carter would relinquish any claim to the fines, and in return, the estate would receive the 36,000 pounds, essentially reimbursing the Earl's costs. So all of Tutankhamun's treasures would remain in Egypt to be property of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which was a landmark decision. And no longer would the spoils of a major Egyptian fine be split up or leave the country.

SPEAKER_06 58:27

So they could have also done it where it didn't have to leave, but these people owned it and would have profited off of because clearly it's in the museum. I mean, that's why people go to museums, they pay money and such and whatever. It didn't have to leave. Yeah. But just all right, fine. We're just gonna pay you back for finding our treasure that we couldn't fucking find. Dumb. You are heated on such a cold day.

SPEAKER_02 58:57

Many credit the discovery of Tutan Common and the controversies around it with ending the practice of foreign digs, taking a share of antiquities.

SPEAKER_04 59:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:04

And ever since foreign teams excavating in G in Egypt know that everything stays in Egypt museums.

SPEAKER_04 59:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:10

Cartier having little choice accepted the terms. Sure. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_05 59:16

You're excused.

SPEAKER_02 59:17

Returning to the tomb. Excuse me. Frankie, he was so relieved that um his great discovery was unfinished, and he desperately wanted to complete the catalog.

SPEAKER_06 59:26

Sure. Oh my dear.

SPEAKER_02 59:29

You could tell I'm talking too much tonight.

SPEAKER_06 59:31

Yeah, well, you know, it happens. Plus, your teaching doesn't help.

SPEAKER_02 59:38

Excuse me. You're good. So returning to the tomb in late 1925, he resumed work now nominally under the employee of the Antiquities Service, but still directing his royal team of excavator and specialists. And the atmosphere at this time was more subdued.

SPEAKER_05 59:55

Right.

SPEAKER_02 59:56

The global global press had large largely moved on to other news. News, though they returned for big moments like the public unwrapping of the mummy in 1925.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:06

Under the watchful eyes of the Egyptian authorities, Carter finished the job diligently by 1932, packing up the last items for the Cairo Museum. However, accusation that Carter might have helped himself to some of Tutankhamun's treasures on the side.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:24

So they just made shit up, or is this there's is this substantial like evidence to prove this? They're just made they made shit up.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:33

Let me continue.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:34

All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:34

During the period of conflict, the Egyptian press and some officials openly questioned Carter's integrity. Oh, for fuck's sake.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:43

Go on, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:45

They suspected, not without reason, that during the tenuous days after this discovery, Carter and the Earl may have entered the tomb privately and perhaps removed small items before the authorities were fully involved. In particular, it was rumored that Carter had made a serit surreptitious night entry into the sealed barrier chamber days before the official opening, which as we know now, he actually did. Yes. If so, had he perhaps pocketed a few choice items?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:15

Okay. How would they even know that?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

I'm gonna continue. Because I actually say. So Carter denied any wrongdoing, and there was no hard proof at the time, but the suspicions led the Egyptian Antiquity Service to take precautions, and they assigned um minders and conducted thorough inventories of all items. An Egyptian inspector checked um the catalog in 1927 and found a small, beautifully carved wooden head of Tukan Commons emerging from a lotus that was not listed in Carter's records. It had been tucked in a little box, apparently ready for shipment. When confronted, Carter claimed that he that it had been out found outside the tomb in the fill of like the interest corridor and not part of the official tomb. The Egyptians were skeptical. Was it why wasn't it recorded then? Was Carter attempting to keep the peace? The Lotus Head incident remained a point of contention. Decades later, evidence would suggest um Carter did indeed spirit away some small artifacts. A letter from Alan Garnier, the uh one of the his team members, one of the uh multidisciplinary team members, came to light in which Gardner accused Carter of giving him an inscribed amulet that in fact must have come from the tomb, putting Garnier in a stick it sticky ethical spot as well. It seems Carter has sworn it wasn't from the tomb, but museum experts identified it as unique to Tutankhamun's burial assemblage, exposing Carter's lie. Additionally, a stash of some 19 tiny objects from beads to bracelet pieces related to Tutankhamun ended up in Carter's niece's possession after his death. They were quickly turned over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1940 and eventually were returned to Egypt in 2011 once their true origin was recognized. It's a long time. It's a long time. And he did take some.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:25

Apparently, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:27

When the last artifacts were cataloged cataloged and sent off to Cairo in 1932, Howard Carter's main work was done. He had taken two in common from obscurity to immortality. Carter spent the remaining years of his life somewhat adrift, for nothing could stop the discovery that he had already made. Yeah, it makes sense. He received no great honors from the British government. In fact, many of the establishments were still annoyed by the diplomatic tussles in Egypt and perhaps by Carter's personality as well. In Britain, he was never fully knighted or lauded as one might expect. As one biographer put it, Carter became world famous yet curiously uncelebrated in his homeland.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:09

That's too bad.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:10

Nevertheless, he certainly remained famous in the public eye. He embarked on lecture tours in America and Europe, recounting the tale of Tutankhamun's tomb to audiences. He authored a multi-volume book called The Tomb of Tutankhamun, detailing the discovery and the artifacts. When not lecturing, Carter acted as a sort of art consultant and agent for collectors. Ironically, dealing in antiquities was a way he made a living, though Tutankhamun's treasures were off limits.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:42

Carter never married. In his later years, Carter divided his time between London and Luxor. But as the 1930s progressed and political winds shifts further, his time in Egypt grew less and less. Right. The Egyptian government had taken full ownership of his antiquities, and Carter's era was over. That's too bad. On March 2nd, 1939, um, Howard Carter passed away in London at the age of 64, likely from um non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Oh, okay. In a quiet cemetery far from the sunbaked sands of Thebes, he was laid to rest, and the epitaph on his gravestone said, Um, and this was on a wishing cup in Tutankhamun's tomb, it said, quote, May your spirit live, may you spend millions of years who you who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, your eyes beholding happiness. Carter's discovery changed the field of Egyptology forever, and Tutankhamun became arguably the most famous pharaoh in the world precisely because his tomb had was survived mostly intact.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:48

Yeah, not ransacked.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:50

So the once obscure pharaoh who ruled for only nine or ten years and died around the age of 19, achieved in death a fame far greater than his peers. Ramses the Great built soaring temples and had six a 67-year reign, but it is the boy king who adorns posters, books, and imaginations elsewhere, um, all because the tomb escaped looting and was found by the right man at the right time. In a sense, Howard Carter gave Tutankama the immortality that ancient Egyptians so desired for their rulers.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:24

And by finding his resting place, Carter ensured that Tutankhamun's name would be remembered from millennia to come, fulfilling the pharaoh's hope to spend millions of years alive in memory.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:33

Well, yeah, he did it because again, the reason why you you know him so well over like Ramses or anything, it's like, could you tell me what Ramses looks like with his his funeral mask and all that? No, because it wasn't there. Yeah. Where you got to see all the shit for for Tootin' Common. So yeah, it makes sense. So yeah. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:54

So, what did you think of the garage beer?

SPEAKER_06 1:06:58

I like it. I'm actually pleasantly surprised with it. And it's the lime flavor is pretty pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:04

Yeah, so I like it too.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:06

It's uh it's a basic lager, but yeah. It's delish. It is delicious. I I've never, like I said, never had it. Um never thought of buying it, but we saw it and we're like, yeah, let's give it a try. So yeah, no, I like it. Well, I suppose. Alright, buffoons, that's it for today's episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:27

Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time. Feeling hungry for more buffoonery? Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

SPEAKER_06 1:07:39

Hit us up on social media. We're History Buffoons Podcast on YouTube, X, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also email us at historybuffoonspodcast at gmail.com. We are Bradley and Kate, music by Corey Akers.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:53

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SPEAKER_06 1:07:58

Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:01

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