Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive

 Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive

Reviewed By  Grasshopper2       September 7, 2022

 

Author  The Griffith Institute. Ed: Professor Richard Bruce Parkinson.

Distributor:      Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN:                 978-1851245857
Publisher:         Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (June 9, 2022)
Release Date:   June 2022  

Website:    https://www.bloomsbury.com 

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Excavating The Archive – Tutankhamun is a magnificent coffee table book which will lure the reader to explore the story of the discovery and contents of the famous tomb of Tutankhamun. Carter’s archive, on which this book is based, was donated to the Griffith Institute in Oxford by his niece in the 1940’s The small book has an anthology of fifty items. These items have been selected by the staff of the Griffiths Institute to reveal and describe artefacts, maps, and plans of the tomb. It is fascinating.

The story begins with the final closing of the tomb by officials on the day of the young king’s funeral. The mud plaster wall is seen with the official seal stamped on it; the seal of the Royal Necropolis. We follow Howard Carter, an artist with no formal training, as his skilled team of Egyptian workers discover the steps leading to the tomb. The story is interwoven with sketches, photos, and diagrams.

Howard Carter’s skill in drawing soon became apparent as he sketched a watercolour of the Horus falcon, which is superb. From the first photographs of the steps to the tomb, to the contents of the antechambers, we see the images that the explorers were to uncover. Many objects are shown individually and described. The photographer, Harry Burton, has albums, some leather bound, which show many of the objects in close detail.

One of the last entries in the book shows a young boy wearing a necklace of great antiquity. It shows the ancient and modern world together, “the world of the living and dead touching each other.” This superb book deserves to be on show, to be picked up often, and absorbed.

History, Non Fiction