He walked far out of town to the "scale" where the water flowed slowly and deeply among the high bushes. There he undressed, tested the water first with his hand and then his foot, shuddered a moment and then plunged head first into the cool river. Swimming slowly against the weak current, he sensed himself shedding the fear and sweat of the last few days. He swam more quickly, rested, then swam on and felt enveloped by a pleasant fatigue and coolness. Floating on his back he let himself drift down river again, listened to the delicate humming of the evening flies swarming about in golden circles, watched the swallows slice through the sky tinted pink by the sun which had set behind the mountains. After he had dressed and ambled dreamily home the valley was filled with shadows.
Carter was convinced the finds represented debris from a pharonic burial, and that an undiscovered royal tomb lay nearby.
Carter decided to return to an area of ancient workmen’s huts that he had curiously examined at the very beginning of his quest. On the second morning of the dig excited workers reported finding a stone step. For three days Carter worked feverishly to clear the stairway. At the bottom he found a blocked doorway bearing a royal seal. It seemed that he might be on the verge of making a great discovery. Carter sent a telegram to his patron in England: “At last have made a wonderful discovery in valley; a magnificent tomb with seal intact; recovered same for your arrival; congratulations. On November 24 Caernarvon and his daughter, Lady Evelyn Herbert, arrived at the site and the unsealing began. Yet when the staircase was again cleared, the first signs were not good. Close inspection revealed that the seal on the door had apparently been tampered with at some point in antiquity, not once but twice. Carter immediately feared the worst, although in the event he was to find although the ancient tomb robbers had indeed penetrated the tomb, they had only removed small items of jewelry. When the threshold was finally breached, it turned out to open out into a corridor full of ruble. It took several more days of digging to reach a second sealed entrance. This, too, bore the insignia of Tutankhamen. At last the moment of truth had come. Carter made a hole in the upper left hand corner of the door and past a lighted candle through it. His eyes took a second or two to adjust to the flickering light. Finally objects started to come into focus out of the darkness. Impatiently Caernarvon demanded, “Can you see anything?” Carter replied shakily “Yes, wonderful things. What Carter and his companions saw in the first moments of revelation was in fact only the contents of an antechamber, where grave goods and furnishings were stacked up in an disorderly jumble Prominent among the confusion were three couches shaped in the form of animals, one lion-headed, another in the form of a cow, the third ac cross between a crocodile and a hippopotamus. More treasures were found in a small annex, the discoveries continued to pile up. A throne backed by a magnificent gilded plaque of the king, in the company of his bride Ankhesnamen, illuminated by the sun’s rays no more than 35 model boats, many full-rigged; upward of 50 chests containing linen, cosmetics, and jewelry. Most significantly, Carter found a third sealed door, this one located between two life sizes, gilded wooden statues of the dead king. He quickly realized that Tutankhamen’s body must lie in an inner sanctum behind this portal. He forced an entrance into this room also, and found himself in a space filled almost entirely by a gilded shrine. |
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November 2017
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