The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen

You’re never too old to read about buried treasure. At least I’m not. (And J.M.G. Le Clézio wasn’t too good to write about it.)

Prompted by io9’s list of 25 Great Books by Legendary Scientists, I recently read The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen by Howard Carter and A.C. Mace. In this passage, they describe their first glimpse inside.

Slowly, desperately slowly it seemed to us as we watched, the remains of passage debris that encumbered the lower part of the door way were removed, until at lat we had the whole door clear before us. The decisive moment had arrived. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach in the upper left hand corner. Darkness and blank space, as far as an iron testing-rod could reach, showed that whatever lay beyond was empty, and not filled like the passage we had just cleared. Candle tests were applied as a precaution against possible foul gases, and then, widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in, Lord Carnarvon, Lady Evelyn and Callender standing anxiously beside me to hear the verdict. At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flame to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold—everywhere the glint of gold.

Along with Indiana Jones moments like these, Carter and Mace have a lot to say about the care they took in mapping and photographing each item in the tomb before removing it—and their techniques for preserving three-thousand-year-old fabric that would crumble into dust with a single touch. Previous archeologists (never mind the tomb robbers) had been considerably less careful, in some cases entering sealed doors with the help of a battering ram.