“The Story of Tutankhamun” is taken from the writings of Dr. David P. Silverman, exhibition curator, and the text of Dr. Zahi Hawass, as printed in Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, the companion book to the exhibition.	The Story of King Tut Howard Carter’s Arrival
		In 1902, Theodore Davis, a wealthy American, purchased the license to dig in the Valley of the Kings. Archaeologists working for him uncovered a deposit of robbers' plunder that included funerary items belonging to Tutankhamun, as well as a collection of objects used during his embalming. In 1914, a discouraged Davis gave up the license and an English earl, Lord Carnarvon, applied for and later purchased it. He then chose Howard Carter to begin the search for Tutankhamun. Howard Carter’s Training Born in London in 1874, Howard Carter was a sickly child. His father, a successful artist, taught him the technical skills of drawing and painting. Later, several archaeologists hired Carter as an illustrator for their Egyptian expeditions. Over time, Carter himself became a trained archaeologist and held several prominent positions with the Egyptian Antiquities Service before being hired by Lord Carnarvon. The Hunt for Tutankhamun’s Tomb World War I prevented the team of Carter and Carnarvon from digging for several years. Finally in 1917, they began their expedition, concentrating their search in the area where Davis had found materials relating to Tutankhamun. For five long years, little of interest emerged, and in the summer of 1922, Carnarvon told Carter that he would no longer fund the expedition. Carter volunteered to continue the work using his own money, which so impressed Carnarvon that he agreed to finance the dig for one last year…. Continue to The Find of the Millenia. >>