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Primary sourcePhotograph1920s

Photograph of Tutankhamun's Shawabti Figure

Harry Burton · 1920s

An excavation photograph by Harry Burton showing a painted wooden shawabti figure of Tutankhamun found in his tomb.

The shawabti figure photographed here was made for Tutankhamun's burial, showing his royal insignia and funerary equipment.

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Black and white photograph of a wooden figure wearing a striped royal headdress with a uraeus cobra, crossed arms holding ceremonial objects, and hieroglyphic inscriptions in columns on the lower body.
Harry Burton, photograph of a shawabti figure from Tutankhamun's tomb, 1920s. Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities, Sweden.

About this source

What it is

This black-and-white photograph was taken by Harry Burton during Howard Carter's excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb in the 1920s. It shows a wooden shawabti (servant) figure of the king, wearing a royal headdress with a protective cobra and carrying ceremonial insignia. The photograph is held by the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities, Sweden.

Why it matters

Shawabti figures were placed in tombs to magically serve the dead king in the afterlife. This image, made by Burton as part of the official excavation record, documents one such object exactly as it was found, giving historians evidence about burial customs and the craftsmanship devoted to Tutankhamun's funeral equipment.

Look closer

  • What symbols can you spot on the figure, and what might they have meant to the ancient Egyptians?
  • Why would an excavation team want a careful photographic record like this before moving objects?
  • What does the condition of the face tell you about the passage of time?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tutankhamun on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Photograph of the gold funerary mask of Tutankhamun against a black background. The mask shows a stylized face with inlaid blue eyes and eyebrows, a striped blue and gold headdress, a vulture and cobra emblem on the brow, a blue false beard, and a collar of colored inlays.Artifact

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Mask of Tutankhamun

c. 1333 BCE

Interior wall of an Egyptian tomb painted gold, with rows of painted baboon figures and hieroglyphs in boxed panels, a boat scene at top left, and a painted standing figure of a pharaoh at right. A glass display case is visible at the bottom.Artifact

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Tomb of Tutankhamun

14th century BCE

Black and white photograph of two men inside a tomb opening the carved, hieroglyph-covered gilded doors of a shrine. One man in a light cap kneels and reaches toward the doors, while another man in a jacket leans over from the right. Carved relief figures and inscriptions cover the panels.Photograph

Primary source

Opening the Doors of the Fourth Shrine in Tutankhamun's Tomb

Harry Burton · 1920s

Photo of the Restoration Stela, a tall round-topped reddish stone stele in a museum with carved relief figures at the top and rows of hieroglyphic text below, with a diagonal crack running through it.Document

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Restoration Stela

Tutankhamun · c. 1326 BCE

Black and white photograph of an ancient Egyptian shrine interior. Carved hieroglyphic panels line open gilded doors, and a stone sarcophagus with a winged carved design is visible between them in shadow.Photograph

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First Published View of Tutankhamun's Sarcophagus Between the Shrine Doors

Harry Burton · 1920s

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