The discoveries of Mr. Howard Carter at Thebes are likely to be of high importance to the student of comparative religion as well as to the Egyptologist.
The cache unearthed in the Valley of the Kings by Mr. Howard Carter, who for sixteen years has been assisting Lord Carnarvon in excavations on the site of ancient Thebes, contains the funeral furnishings of King Tutankhamen. He was one of the Heretic Kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and it was he who reverted to the traditional polytheistic worship of the Egyptians which his father-in-law, Akhenaton, had exchanged for a more enlightened monotheism.
Three sealed chambers have been discovered, and one of the three has not yet been opened. Its door is guarded by two life-sized bitumenised statues of Tutankhamen, with delicately carved features, hands, and feet, and head-dresses richly studded with gems. From their presence it appears possible that the unopened chamber may be the tomb of Tutankhamen.
The outer chamber in which these status stood was crammed with a medley of treasures. There were three magnificent state couches, exquisitely carved, supporting beds ornamented with carving, gilt, and inlaid ivory and semi-precious stones. Beneath one of the couches was the state throne of Tutankhamen.
A heavily gilt chair was adorned with portraits of the king and queen and encrusted with gems. Four chariots were in the chamber, their sides encrusted with semi-precious stones and richly decorated with gold, and a charioteer's apron of leopard-skin hung over the seat of each. Other objects in the same chamber were a stool of ebony inlaid with ivory, boxes or exquisite workmanship, one of them containing royal robes, handsomely embroidered, a throne-stool with asiatics carved upon it, bronze-gilt musical instruments, alabaster vases of intricate and unknown design, wreaths still looking evergreen, and large quantities of provisions for the dead, such as trussed ducks and haunches of venison, all packed in boxes. There was also a box containing roll of papyri, and these, it is expected, will add considerably to our knowledge of the period.
