AP CORRESPONDENT DESCRIBES THE 'DAZZLING COFFIN' OF KING TUT
Luxor, Egypt (JFK+50) On the morning of December 17, 1923, an Associated Press correspondent visited the tomb of Egyptian King Tutankhamun* and reported...
"The first impression of this gigantic receptacle for the dead...was almost overwhelming. The feeling was of something incredibly bizarre--something that seemed...to banish the presence of death."
Allyson Shaw says that archaeologist Howard Carter** was the first person to peer inside the tomb of the "Boy King" in 3000 years. The date was November 26, 1922. It would be "the most famous ancient Egyptian discovery of all time."
Upon his first sight inside the tomb, Howard Carter described "everywhere...the glint of gold."
*Pharaoh Tutankhamun ruled over Ancient Egypt 1333-1323 BC becoming king at age 9 & ruling to his death at age 19. His mummified body was placed in a small tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
**Howard Carter (1874-1939) was born in Kensington, England & began his search for the Valley of Kings in 1902. His acclaimed discovery of the tomb of King Tut in 1922 garnished no honors from the British government. HC spent ten years afterward removing 5000 objects from the tomb.
SOURCES
"The discovery of King Tut's tomb," by Allyson Shaw, National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.com/
"Tutankhamun's Dazzling Coffin Dwarfs Dreams of Excavators," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., December 17, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
