Levitz Kaykeo Archaeology 1030 Research Project #1

King Tut was a pharaoh in early Egyptian days. His discovery and excavation of his tomb was one of the most prolific finds in history. In Egypt's Valley of the Kings, British archaeologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first souls to enter King Tutankhamens tomb in more than 3,000 years (History, n.d.). Cite KV62 was founded by these two archaeologist in November 4, 1922. On this day they discovered the very first step to a set of stairs which led to the actual tomb. I choose to do my research project on this particular excavation because growing up it was the only one I really heard of. It was one of the most popular finds and was often referenced or talked about in school. KV62 is the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, which became famous for the wealth of treasure it contained. (KV62, n.d.) Ive always heard of the astounding treasures and how his tomb was filled with riches beyond what you could imagine. This is one of the reasons I also decided to research this find. Upon discovery and carefully excavating around the door entrance they found that the tomb was not intact and there was evidence that the seals had been broken twice before. The next morning, the plastered door was photographed and the seals documented. Then the door came down, revealing the Antechamber. (Rosenberg, n.d.) Before the entrance between the two statues in the Antechamber could be opened, the items in the Antechamber needed to be removed or risk damage to them from flying debris, dust, and movement. Documentation and preservation of each item was a monumental task. Every step of the process of their excavation was well documented and photographed. (Rosenberg, n.d.) The soils of dirt and its stratum is how they came to a conclusion that even though they were the first to enter the tomb in more than 3,300 years that someone had previously entered the

Levitz Kaykeo Archaeology 1030 Research Project #1

tomb after the sacred burial. While excavating they noticed that someone had entered before them but covered it back up with different soil that was different from the original stratum. They were able to come to this conclusion as they also left behind evidence of midden. After entering, Carter established a routine for processing what must have seemed like an endless flow of treasures from the tomb. Each object or group of objects was given a reference number. The main reference numbers ranged from 1 to 620, though there were subdivisions for objects within a numbered group denoted by the use of single or multiple letters. Additional subdivisions were noted by bracketed Arabic numerals. Group no. 620 is anomalous in that it was given subdivisions numbered from 1 to 123. (History, n.d.) To begin the clearing process, each item was photographed in situ, both with an assigned number and without. Then, a sketch and description of each item was made on correspondingly number record cards. Next, the item was noted on a ground plan of the tomb. (Dunn, n.d.) Moving the items proved to be a difficult challenge and at time they needed to use a celluloid spray. When an item was successfully removed, it was placed upon a stretcher and gauze and other bandages were wrapped around the item to protect it for removal. Once a number of stretchers were filled, a team of people would carefully pick them up and move them out of the tomb. The types of material and evidence found on the site confirmed to be pre-historic Egyptian times. These artifacts made it significant to the world and Egyptians to understand and learn more about Egyptian rule, ancient history, and draw conclusions to culture history. This also gave them more insight to the ideational perspective of how things were during King Tuts rule. For the artifacts found they tried to use a relative dating technique due to how old the site

Levitz Kaykeo Archaeology 1030 Research Project #1

was but using some evidence of other sites they were able to also use absolute dating to find out what era some of the artifacts were made. (Dunn, 2011) This find highly influenced the aspect of culture. Not only did it influenced the Egyptian culture but also the culture of science. So many scientists from the world were called in to help be a part of history. These different scientists came to help in different aspects within their science. It became a showpiece of academic cooperation that would in time also draw in Douglas Derry of the Cairo Anatomy School, and Seleh Bey Hamdi of Alexandria to conduct the postmortem examination of the mummy, Battiscombe Gunn to work on the ostraca for the final publication, L. A. Boodle, a botanist from Kew Gardens, James R. Ogden, a Harrogate jeweler to report on aspects of the gold work, Alexander Scott and H. J. Plenderleith of the British Museum for analytical assistance, G. F. Hulme of the Geological Survey of Egypt, and many others. (Dunn, 2011) In comparison with what weve been doing and learning in class I kind of found it hard as most reports and or details about the archaeological excavation of King Tut didnt go to in depth or in detail using the same principles taught in our class. In class weve learned about many different terms and methods used in archaeological excavations. Some of the similarities that weve done that can relate to the excavation of King Tut, which is an important aspect of archaeology, is how we organize our data and what we find. Weve learned the procedures and precautions to take while documenting all of our information. Documenting reference points and datum points to pin point the exact location which artifacts are found is highly important. This way we can theorize and hypothesize if there is any relation to where artifacts were found and or if there is specific reasoning as to why they

Levitz Kaykeo Archaeology 1030 Research Project #1

were placed in the certain places they were found. Placement of artifacts can draw conclusions to many questions that we may have that originated from our original beginning hypothesis. Another thing that is highly important and one we can relate to both archaeological projects is the stratum samples and data that are collected and recorded. From class weve learned many important factors as why stratum information is highly important and one of the biggest aspects of archaeological projects and excavations. Stratum samples is one of the first steps and just like a tale, its the beginning that will tell you a lot about your excavation. Stratum samples will tell a story and its samples, when collected and carefully examined will tell you many things you need to know while starting off your excavation. The different levels and layers of stratum can give you a certain time frame or the changes between different eras of the land you are excavating. For example some of the stratum collected at King Tuts excavation showed conclusive evidence that there were others who have entered the tomb before the main excavation had taken place. Taking soil samples can be done in many different ways as there are different tools and techniques to do so. For smaller excavations you can use smaller tools such as a power auger rather than a back hoe or front end loader. These smaller augers are used to be cautious to not destroy artifacts and the site itself. The horizontal survey and vertical coring of both projects is usually the base and basic beginning procedure for all excavation projects. When starting and archaeological excavation you need to go out and survey the prospected land and take a few soil or stratum samples to read and analyze before doing bigger excavations. Preservation and documentation of artifacts found is also a careful aspect that must be taken when anything is found in the excavation site. Archaeologist have to be careful when extracting artifacts and also when moving and recording

Levitz Kaykeo Archaeology 1030 Research Project #1

the data to make sure nothing is damaged and as close to the same state is was when found so that they can analyze and draw better conclusions from. These conclusions can be drawn to answer many questions about the excavation. Although questions arent always answered the process of the excavation will help answer many hypothesis and theories that started from the beginning of the excavation. The entire process calls for many scientists from all different aspects of science to draw a better conclusion and to answer as many questions as possible. The questions will vary in range from a variety of different aspects involving many different subjects and reasons. The objective is to learn and draw as many conclusions as we possibly can to learn and relate the different eras together.

Levitz Kaykeo Archaeology 1030 Research Project #1

Levitz Kaykeo Archaeology 1030 Research Project #1

References Dunn, J. (2011). Excavating the tomb of Tutankhamun. Tour Egypt Times. Retrieved from: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/tutexcavation.htm History. (n.d.). King tut. Site-ology. Retrieved from: http://www.site-ology.com/egypt/KT.HTM KV62. (n.d.). KV62. Wikipedia.com Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KV62 Rossenberg, J. (n.d.). Tomb of king tut!. About.com Retrieved from: http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/kingtut.htm