When was tutankhamuns death mask found

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Magazine How one image captures 21 hours of a volcanic eruption. Science Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants. Tutankhamun was only the age of nine when he became king of Egypt during the 18th dynasty of the New Kingdom c.

His story would have been lost to history if it were not for the discovery of his tomb in by the archaeologist Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings.

His nearly intact tomb held a wealth of objects that give us unique insights into this period of ancient Egyptian history. Tutankhamun married his half-sister, Ankhesenamun, but they did not produce an heir. This left the line of succession unclear. Tutankhamun died at the young age of eighteen, leading many scholars to speculate on the manner of his death—chariot accident, murder by blow to the head, and even a hippopotamus attack!

The answer is still unclear. During the early twentieth century, Howard Carter, a British Egyptologist, excavated for many years in the Valley of the Kings—a royal burial ground located on the west bank of the ancient city of Thebes.

He was running out of money to support his archaeological digs when he asked for funding for one more season from his financial backer, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon. Lord Carnarvon granted him one more year—and what a year it was!

Pieces of genuine lapis lazuli form the cosmetic lines of his eyes. When Carter found the object, gold foil covered large holes in the ears. On the back text associates parts of the mask and the body with various divinities. That Tutankhamun met his end at such a young age has long puzzled Egyptologists and the public alike.

The great royal wife of Amenhotep III, queen Tiye has gone down in history for the important role she played Read more…. On the western bank of the Nile, across from the Eastern bank city of Luxor, the scale of the site Read more….

Yet while many may have looked, it transpires that all have completely failed to see something quite fundamental -- that the mask had never actually been meant for Tutankhamun at all. These piercings attest to the original presence of separately fashioned ear ornaments -- a form of jewelry not worn by males beyond early childhood, and so quite inappropriate for an adult-sized headpiece intended for male use.

Like the canopic coffinettes, the gold mask too had originally been a Nefertiti piece, and it and an entire range of other appropriated items transform our understanding of the Tutankhamun burial. The million-dollar question is why Nefertiti never used this treasure for herself.

Time may tell. That there are further extraordinary revelations of gold and buried treasure to come no one should doubt.