By Munir Taha
The Nile Valley in Egypt was called by the Greek historian Herodotus during the fifth century BC as the Gift of the Nile River — the river gets flooded annually and consequently creating fertile lands on both of its banks. Egypt was ruled through its long history by thirty consecutive dynasties.
Apparently the eighteenth dynasty, which ruled between the years 1543-1292, was known by its famous pharaohs. Chief among them was Pharaoh Tutankhamun, who according to the archaeological and historical records died at a very young age and was buried with the most fabulous treasures in the ancient world.
The discovery of the tomb of the tombs containing the most magnificent royal treasures happened in the month of November in 1917 when the British Archaeologist Howard Carter began to discover some scattered antiquities, which seemed to be associated with the Eighteenth Dynasty in certain parts of the Valley of the Kings.
When he studied them, they turned out to be numerous pieces of foils made of gold and some other tiny pieces of glazed ware. As the excavations continued, Carter suddenly found a cache of funerary pieces and all of them were inscribed with the name of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. After seeing those hints and clues Carter immediately realised that he is not very far away from an ancient royal tomb or tombs at the Valley of the Kings.
His inspirations and the clues, in addition to the severe threat received from his sponsor that this season is going to be his last in Egypt if he is not going to find something of archaeological values, led him to excavate this specific area down to the Virgin Soil.
After he intensified his excavations at the area located at the base of Pharaoh Ramses VI tomb at the Valley of the Kings. He intentionally found a cut into the rocks. Within few days of work, he managed to unearth in the same area twelve steps leading downwards. At the end of steps he observed the upper part (parts) of a (tomb..?) entrance.
As the work continued to clear those lower steps four more steps and the full side of the lower part of the sealed (entrance) began to appear.
On the lower part of the sealed entrance, Carter suddenly observed seals with name of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. After the sealed entrance finely opened, Carter notice that the Royal Tomb was twice disturbed in antiquity and then sealed. Fortunately, the tomb thieves managed to escape with only small items.
When Carter finely reached the actual location of the Royal Tombs, he realised that he must have stumbled upon the most amazing and astonishing treasures that have been found or realized in human history before. It was in fact the treasure of all the treasures in the whole world.
The most important and eminent antiquities unearth during the courses of excavations were in fact the tomb coffin of Tutankhamen made of solid gold and weighing over one tonne. In addition to the inlaid chariots, the inlaid thrown chairs and the two life size statues of Tutankhamen there were different sorts of wares and uncountable jewellery made of gold, silver and all sort of precious stones.
After documentation and conservation of all the objects they transferred the treasure to Cairo to exhibit at the Egypt Museum. Unfortunately, while Carter was busy documenting his gigantic discovery, he died on March 1939.
