Christine’s fascination with Egypt started at an early age. By the age of nine she had taught herself to read hieroglyphs. She liked communicating and saw teaching as a way to express this. She studied education at Manchester and Liverpool, obtaining a degree and diploma in Egyptology. She has worked in the Egyptian departments of Bolton Museum and Liverpool University Museum. In 1988 she founded the Egyptian Society based in Taunton.

Christine often brought her students to the Tutankhamun Exhibition in Dorchester and is remembered with affection by all she came in contact with.

The Discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb - November - 1922

At the beginning of November 1922, Howard Carter was on the threshold of the world’s most spectacular archaeological find – the Tomb of Tutankhamun. On the morning of November 4th there it was, a step cut in the rock beneath the first of the huts built over 3,000 years earlier by the workmen of Rameses VI, during the cutting of his tomb. There, just 13 feet below the entrance to the tomb of Rameses VI, was the realisation of all Carter had dreamed of in his many years of systematic searching. During the daylight of November 4th and most of November 5th the workmen dug feverishly, almost as excited as Carter himself, to reveal what looked more and more like a sunken stairway entrance, typical of tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

They dug, as step followed step. Soon they found themselves entering the side of a small hillock, which as they excavated became a roofed-in passage 10 feet high by 6 feet wide. Step followed step. By the twelfth step they came across the top of a sealed doorway. Beyond this door there was a passage completely filled with rubble, as protection against robbers. Could Tutankhamun’s tomb be intact?

Then, at a time when the discovery was becoming more and more exciting, Carter stopped. He filled in the excavation and went home. In a situation when most people, and indeed most excavators of the period, would have torn down that sealed doorway in an uncontrollable desire to reach what lay inside, Howard Carter waited. In this case he waited for Lord Carnarvon, his associate and patron, who was not in Egypt but in England.

On November 6th, with the passage filled in, Carter cabled Lord Carnarvon in England.

By November 24th, Carnarvon with his daughter, Lady Evelyn Herbert, had arrived, the excavation re-opened and the work continued, to reveal a full sixteen steps with the sealed doorway beyond.

Having recorded and photographed the seals and made good provision for a replacement door, the excavators removed the door, clearing the rubble from floor to ceiling for a full thirty feet from the outer door. Then before them another door.

Here for better or worse was the decisive moment, and they knew it, as with trembling hands Carter made a hole in the door large enough to pass a candle through. There was no rubble behind this door. There were no poisonous gases. What was behind the door was to stagger the world and give Howard Carter and his anxious colleagues the most remarkable day of their lives. It was November 26th 1922, when Carter, hardly daring to breathe, put a candle through the hole in the door of Tutankhamun’s Tomb and peered into the darkness. He wrote later:

“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.”

By this time Carnarvon could restrain himself no longer,

“Can you see anything?” he inquired. After a pause of what must have seemed minutes Carter replied, “Yes, wonderful things.”
Extract from “The Discovery of The Tomb Of Tutankhamun” by World Heritage Books. © Copyright 2007 World Heritage Books, Dorchester, UK.

King Tut Key Dates November 1922:

1 – Start of the 1922 Season
4 – Discovery of the first step of the tomb entrance
5 – Excavated down to the 12th step confirmation that steps were part of entrance to tomb. Cabled Carnarvon in England.
6 – Discovery filled in again with rocks and rubble
20 – Lord Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn arrived in Cairo
23 – Carter’s assistant Callender begins work on clearing the rubble
24 – Excavation reached the first outer doorway
25 – The first doorway opened and clearing passage of rubble began. Small objects discovered.
26 – Second doorway opened. Carter and Carnarvon enter the antechamber
27 – Tomb inspected with the aid of electric light
29 – Official opening of the Tutankhamun’s Tomb

You may be interested in “Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation”, Howard Carter’s diaries at
http://griffith.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/gri/4sea1not.html

Return to Tutankhamun Exhibition main page: http://www.tutankhamunexhibition.com

 Tutankhamun’s Cook Book is the work of Jackie Ridley, who is the Conservation Director of The Tutankhamun Exhibition in

The result of extensive research, Jackie Ridley had broughrt together a series of mouth-watering ancient Egyptian dishes adapted for today. They are easy to cook and delicious and exotic to eat. Each is good on its own but can be prepared to form an exciting ancient Egyptian meal. A feast fit for a pharaoh!

Tutankhamun’s Cook Book is a study of ancient Egyptian food, from earliest times until the Roman period. Althought small in size, the book is packed with facts combining the author’s knowledge of Egyptology with her passion for good food.

The price of £4.99 includes shipping!

Click here to order this book online!

The statue of Selkit is approximately one metre tall and depicts the Scorpion Goddess as a beautiful woman with an emblem of the scorpion on her headdress. Originally Selkit would have been guarding one side of the canopic shrine, with three other goddesses, Isis, Nepthys and Neith, protecting the other sides. They look similar, being distinguished from each other by their headdresses. Inside the shrine were the four canopic jars containing the internal organs of the mummy – the stomach, liver, lungs and intestines.

Tim Batty, the manager of the Tutankhamun Exhibition, said, “The gilded statue of Selkit is delightful, portraying the slender image of this goddess with her head gently inclined to the left. It’s a delicate piece in the Amarna style and is the perfect addition to the Exhibition. The statue has gone on show in the Treasury of the Tutankhamun Exhibition along with other unique recreations including the Golden Throne and the Funerary Mask.”
It is the only exhibition of its kind outside of Egypt. Visitors can experience the wonder and excitement of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, treasures and mummy.

Return to Tutankhamun Exhibition main page: http://www.tutankhamunexhibition.com

It was discovered under the hippopotamus couch in the antechamber, covered with a pall of blackened linen. Constructed in elaborately carved wood in the form of an armchair, its magnificence is achieved from its covering in repousé worked sheet gold and silver, inlaid with motifs in semi-precious stones, faience, and coloured glass.

The scene represented on the main panel is that of the young Tutankhamun in profile seated informally on the throne facing his queen Ankhesenamun, who is affectionately anointing his shoulders with scented oil. The composition in the Amarna tradition is among the most charming in Egyptian art. The king and queen are depicted with realism and the colouring is exquisite. The girlish figure of the queen is beautifully portrayed with the many pleats of her robe accentuating the outline of her body. The whole scene pulsates with life, and the colours of the glass, faience, carnelian and other stones blend to create a vivid effect, when combined with the gold and silver.

The throne is in pure Amarna style, the artistic tradition developed under the so-called heretic king Akhenaten. Above the throne is the sun-disc, Aten, with its rayed hand extending downwards towards the young couple.

Return to Tutankhamun Exhibition main page: http://www.tutankhamunexhibition.com