Tutankhamun, before Tutankaton, was only nine years old, when he in 1361 BC became Egypt’s 11th king in the 18th dynasty. It is nearly impossible to think, that this young king would be allowed to rule over this empire, without powerful persons would try to take over. The state God Amon was reinstated, the king and the queens name had to be change and Thebe was once again made the capital of Egypt. It is very likely that it was Tutankhamons premiere minister Ay and the army leader Horemheb, there pulled the strings and made these things happen.

Regardless of who guided the king, his kingdom was the beginning of a very happily time in Egypt. The Amon-priest regained there grand time back, the Opet-festival was reinstated and the state God Amons reintroduction transformed Tutankhamun from an ordinary kid to a living God.

The reason why Tutankhamun is so well-known today is, that they found his grave in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings, with incredible wealth. It was the British archaeologist Howard Carter and his protector Lord Carnarvon, there for the first time found a tomb of a king that was still intact.

The grave is very small and they say that it was build for another less important person. Tutankhamun died suddenly and many stories tell that he was murdered. The tomb was filled with a lot of treasures, even though it has been plundered several times in the past. The most important thing was that the mummy was intact and was in three coffins – or sarcophagus as it is called. The first coffin was made of massive gold and the two others of wood covered with gold. Difference in the coffins facial features on the outer sarcophagus support the theory about that it was made for another person.

Even though the tomb isn’t what you can expect of a tomb for such a famous king, there was many treasures. So many that it took ten years to registrate, remove and conserve the many thousand things. There was fx. the famous gold mask and two figures of the king in natural size, a gold throne, an altar covered with gold, a gold-dagger and jewellery from lazurstone, pound gold and half precious stone. Many of these objects is in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Beside the burial chamber, there was a treasure chamber. All objects Tutankhamun should use in the life after his death was in this chamber. There are figures covered in gold and an Egyptian sepulchral urn. This urn contained some of the king’s internal organs. Surrounding the urn was four beautiful statues of goddess in a protectively position. Just within the chamber door stood a figure of Anubis witch is a jackal figure (God of death).

In the chamber before the tomb chamber there were two chariots, several containers with food, beds, thrones and by the entrance two black guardian figures. The grave chamber is the only place where you can find wall paintings. One of the scenes is about the ceremony where the Kings mouth opens so the soul can get out and be reborn. It is Ay, there does this ceremony and he becomes the next pharaoh.

Howard Carter and the anatomic professor Douglas Derry were very exited to open the mummy and they used some amateur ways. They destroyed important evidence, there had been intact for 33 centuries. They removed Tutankhamons head from the body, cut through the belly and tore the body apart. Even though they destroyed the mummy a lot, Howard Carter made an important discovery. On Tutankhamons cheek just beside the left ear, there was a round hole. This hole reminded of a wound. Could Tutankhamun have died from a bug bite there without sterile treatment or antibiotics could lead to death. Other thinks that the hole could come from an arrow.

This discovery of a tomb for the child king, was one of the best archaeological found ever. But the destiny thrown a shadow over the discovery. Because Lord Carnarvon, that financed the expedition died six weeks after the visit of Tutankhamons tomb. After his death there were rumours about Tutankhamun and the Gods had drawn a curse over everyone that would intrude the peace off the tomb. The truth is more likely that Lord Carnarvon got a sting from a mosquito and died from it.