Braving rumors of a curse, Carter’s team opened a tomb filled with treasures—notably Tut’s mummy, wearing a splendid gold death mask—that provided evidence of the most lavish period of Egyptian history.
The long-lost tomb of the 18th-dynasty boy pharaoh, Tutankhamen, was rediscovered by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922. Located in the Valley of the Kings on the west bank of the Nile, Tut’s tomb had been covered by debris for some 3,000 years, protecting it from looters. Braving rumors of a curse, Carter’s team opened a tomb filled with treasures—notably Tut’s mummy, wearing a splendid gold death mask—that provided evidence of the most lavish period of Egyptian history.