History Embalmed

Howard Carter Timeline

This Howard Carter Timeline has been developed to provide a 'snapshot' of the famous people and events during this historical time period featuring the Pharaoh Tutankhamun - King Tut. Important dates in a fast, comprehensive, chronological, or date order providing an actual sequence of important past events which were of considerable significance to the famous people involved with the discovery of the Tutankhamun Tomb via the Howard Carter Timeline.

The discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun and its fabulous wealth has made Tutankhamun one of the most famous Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs and why the Howard Carter Timeline is so interesting to everyone interested in the Ancient Egyptian history and the life, and death, of Tutankhamun.

1325 BC
 

Tutankhamundied in the year of 1325 at the age of 18/19. He reigned for just 9 years and the cause of his death still remains a mystery. He was buried in his hastily prepared tomb in the Valley of the Kings 70 days after his death, according to the death rituals of the Ancient Egyptians

1133 BC

 

The entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun is buried with rubble when work is being carried out on the tomb of Ramses VI (r.1141 BC – 1133 BC)

Howard Carter Timeline
(9 May 1874 ­ 2 March 1939)

1874

 

May 9, 1874 Howard Carter was born in Kensington, London, England. He was the son of Samuel Carter who was an artist and is mother was Martha Joyce (Sands) Carter Howard Carter was the youngest, but sickly, son of eleven children

1874 - 1891

 

Due to poor health Howard moved from London to Norfolk. Howard Carter spent his early years in Swaffham, Norfolk, England. His father undertook some work for William Amherst.

1891

 

William Amherst arranged an interview for Howard Carter with Mr P F Newberry who had been working on a site at Beni Hasan. Carter was appointed as a trainee tracer

1891

 

Howard Carter travelled to Egypt with Mr Percy Newberry as a junior artist with the Egypt Exploration Fund working  on the excavation of Beni Hasan and and El-Bersheh.

1892

 

Carter was appointed Principle Artist to the Egyptian Exploration Fund for the excavations of Deir el Babri, the burial place of Queen Hatshepsut and during this time he worked with the famous Egyptologist Flinders Petrie.

1893

 

He then joined Prof. Naville at Deir el-Bahri where he spent six years drawing in the famous temple

1899

 

Howard Carter  was hired by Gaston Maspero, Director-General of the Department of Antiquities at Egypt's Antiquities Service as Inspector General of Monuments for Upper Egypt

1905

 

Howard Carter resigned from Egypt's Antiquities Service due to various disputes

1905 - 1907

 

He worked at Thebes and Edfu and installed electric light at Abu Simbel. He then worked for Theodore Davis in the Valley of the Kings. Their discoveries included the tombs of Thutmose I and Thutmose III

1907

 

Howard Carter was introduced to Lord Carnarvon, an amateur archaeologist, by Gaston Maspero and started excavations at Thebes

1912

 

Carter and Carnarvon decided to extend their digging at Thebes to include sites in the Delta

1914

 

Carter and Carnarvon receive a licence to dig in the Valley of the Kings from the Egyptian Antiquities Service

1914

 

Outbreak of World War I which prevented immediate excavations

1917

 

Howard Carter convinces Lord Carnarvon to finance his search for the tomb of Tutankhamun

1917 - 1922

 

Howard Carter digs in the Valley of the Kings but is unable to find the tomb

1922

 

Howard visited Highclere Castle. Carter was given just one more season of funding by Lord Carnarvon to find the tomb

1922

 

4 November 1922: Carter finds the steps leading to Tutankhamun's tomb

1922

 

5 November 1922: Carter cables Lord Carnarvon and asks him to come to Egypt

1922

 

26 November 1922: Carter makes the famous "tiny breach in the top left hand corner" of the tomb doorway accompanied by Lord Carnarvon and his daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert.

1922

 

27 November 1922: Carter, Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn Herbert explore the Antechamber and Annexe. They find a sealed door to another chamber

1922

 

December: The press go into a frenzy about the discovery of the tomb, disturbing the work being conducted at the tomb. 

1923

 

9 January 1923: Lord Carnarvon then strikes an exclusive deal with The Times newspaper. Carnarvon had signed a 5,000 pound contract with the London Times, plus 75 percent of all profits from the sale of Times articles to the rest of the world. Other journalists are furious about the deal, especially Arthur Weigall a correspondent from The Daily Mail.

1923

 

16 February 1923: Howard Carter opens the sealed doorway leading to the burial chamber and  the sarcophagus of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun

1923

 

17 February 1923: The Burial Chamber is officially opened. Under the terms of Lord Carnarvon's agreement with the Egyptian Director-General of Antiquities, if the site contains an intact Pharaoh's tomb its contents have to revert back to the Egyptian Government but Carter and Lord Carnarvon are allowed to continue with excavation.

1923

 

February / March: Howard Carter, argues with key members of the excavation team and some are sacked. He then argues with Lord Carnarvon regarding his attitude and his 'friendship' with Lady Evelyn.

Egyptian nationalists demand that the treasures of the tomb are sold to pay off Egypt’s national debt. Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon again quarrel about their individual rights of disposal of the treasures. Lord Carnarvon wanted to keep all rights. Carter wanted the contents of the tomb to be kept intact in the Cairo Museum although insisted that Lord Carnarvon should be generously compensated by the Egyptian government.

1923

 

5 April 1923: Lord Carnarvon dies in Cairo of septicaemia after nicking a mosquito bite with his cut-throat razor. Howard is devastated at the loss of his friend and sponsor. The rights to the contents of the Tomb of Tutankhamun are passed from Lord Carnarvon to his widow

1923

 

The press frenzy escalates with tales of the Curse of King Tut. The Curse of the Pharaohs idea was fuelled by a novelist named Marie Corelli. Then Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, announces that Lord Carnarvon's death had been the result of a "Pharaoh's curse".

1923

 

1923: Howard Carter publishes the first of his three-volume account of the discovery

1924

 

12 February 1924: Women are banned from entering the tomb which leads to diplomatic problems with Great Britain and America. Carter writes pamphlet to document interference by authorities and leaves the excavation and locks the tomb. Pierre Lacau, the French Director of Antiquities, demands the keys and Carter refuses to give them up

1924

 

20 February : Pierre Lacau, the French Director of Antiquities, is authorized by the Egyptian Cabinet to reopen the tomb and resume work. Howard Carter refuses its offer to continue his work under Egyptian control. Work on the excavations come to a halt

1924

 

Carter visited the United States giving a series of illustrated lectures in New York City

1925

 

January: The Ministry of Public Works in Egypt and the widow of Lord Carnarvon come to an agreement and she renounces her claims on Tutankhamun’s tomb. Carter then agrees to resume work at the tomb of King Tut

1925

 

25 January 1925: The tomb was officially reopened with Carter once more in charge

1925

 

The inner coffin is opened revealing the mummy of Tutankhamun

1932

 

Conservation work on the King Tut treasures are completed and sent to the Cairo Museum and Howard Carter returned home to England

1939

 

2 March 1939: Death of Howard Carter in London - of natural causes at the age of 65. He is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery, London

Howard Carter Timeline
Each section of this website addresses all topics and provides interesting facts and information about the Golden Age of Pharaohs and of Egypt. The Sitemap provides full details of all of the information and facts provided about the fascinating subject of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun and the discovery of his tomb.

Curse of King Tut

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