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Secondary sourceBook1923

Tutankhamen and the Discovery of His Tomb

Grafton Elliot Smith · 1923

A 1923 account of Tutankhamun and the discovery of his tomb, written by anatomist Grafton Elliot Smith following the excavation by Carnarvon and Carter.

Smith's book discusses Tutankhamun and the discovery of his tomb shortly after it was unearthed.

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Tutankhamen and the Discovery of His TombPDF · 144 pages
Grafton Elliot Smith, Tutankhamen and the Discovery of His Tomb, 1923. Scanned book, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

This 1923 book by Sir Grafton Elliot Smith, a professor of anatomy, describes Tutankhamun and the discovery of his tomb by the Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter. It includes illustrations, maps, and discusses the significance of the find.

Why it matters

Written in the immediate aftermath of the tomb's opening, the book captures how scholars outside archaeology, like an anatomist interested in mummification, reacted to the discovery. It reflects the huge public and scientific interest in ancient Egyptian beliefs about death and immortality that the find reignited.

Look closer

  • Why might an anatomist be asked to write about an archaeological discovery?
  • What does the chapter on 'embalming and immortality' suggest about the questions people wanted answered?
  • How does this book differ from a modern textbook on the same topic?

This book 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 Tutankhamun's Shawabti Figure

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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

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

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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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