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of the sun-disc, the Aten. Court life was centered on a newly constructed royal city, Akhetaten (modern el amarna in Middle Egypt). Tutankhamun, originally named Tutankhaten, was responsible for the restoration of the traditional state religion and the abandonment of the short-lived royal capital at El Amarna. At the time of the discovery, it was hoped that Tutankhamun’s tomb would shed light on the history of the Amarna period. The tomb, however, is devoid of written documents. The vast majority of material represents either funerary objects specifically produced for the royal burial or personal possessions of the king. Archaeologically, the tomb represents an unparalleled example of an intact royal burial from the height of Egypt’s New Kingdom, but provides little historical information relevant to understanding Tutankhamun’s reign.
Gold sarcophagus of Tutankhamun
(Image Select)
Despite the meticulous recording by Carter and the Metropolitan Museum team, as well as a series of popular books (Carter and Mace, 1923–1933), the full scholarly publication of the tomb of Tutankhamun was never completed. The records of the excavation, mostly unpublished, are at the ashmolean museum, Oxford. Today the body of Tutankhamun remains in his innermost coffin in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The artifacts are housed in the Cairo Museum.
See also
Egypt, Dynastic; Karnak and Luxor
References
Carter, Howard, and A. C. Mace. 1923–1933. The Tomb of Tutankhamun I-III. London: Cassell.
Desroches-Noblecourt, C. 1963. Tutankhamun: Life and Death of a Pharaoh. New York: New York Graphic Society.
Hoving, Thomas. 1978. Tutankhamun, The Untold Story. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Reeves, Nicholas. 1990. The Complete Tutankhamun. New York: Thames and Hudson.
Reeves, Nicholas, and Richard Wilkinson. 1996. The Complete Valley of the Kings. New York: Thames and Hudson.
(1832–1917)
Born in London, England, the son of a prominent Quaker manufacturer, Edward Burnett Tylor
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