Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 and has since been suspected by the Egyptians of stealing parts of the pharaoh’s treasure before the tomb was officially opened. However, the evidence for those allegations was not forthcoming.
A previously unpublished letter is now changing that. The letter was written in 1934 by Alan Gardiner, a philologist hired by Carter to translate hieroglyphics. For this he was given an amulet by the archaeologist, who assured him that it did not come from Tutankhamun’s tomb.
But Gardiner did not trust the case and presented the amulet to Rex Engelbach, the then British director of the Egyptian museum in Cairo. He assured the philologist that the amulet certainly came from the tomb. It clearly came from the same mold as other examples.
‘Difficult position’
Gardiner then sent a letter to Carter in which he wrote down Engelbach’s verdict and stated that the amulet was undoubtedly stolen from Tutankhamun’s tomb. “I deeply regret being placed in such a difficult position.”
The letters were in a private collection, but will soon be published in the new book Tutankhamun and the tomb that changed the world from Oxford University Press.
The world-famous Carter had been working in excavations in Egypt from the age of 17, he died in London in 1939.