It was November 4th, 1922; in a harsh valley near the river Nile, on the bank opposite the monumental temples of ancient Thebes, the most extraordinary (or at least the most significant) archaeological finding of modern times was about to take place.

Howard Carter, an English archaeologist, who had till that time been rather unlucky and with an unpretentious scientific knowledge, found the entrance to a small tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the valley in which the great Pharaohs of the New Kingdom (from the Thutmoses to the Ramessides) lay: it seemed to be the umpteenth burial chamber, possibly well frescoed and undefaced, but presumably empty.

But here came an amazing surprise: when the members of the team engaged by Lord Carnavon, a wealthy upper-class Englishman with a deep interest for ancient Egypt, removed the rocks that concealed the entrance, the tomb appeared intact! In there was the greatest treasure in the history of mankind! It did not take them long to understand that this was the eternal resting place for Pharaoh Tut Ankh Amon, son of Akhenaton, who died extremely young in the year 1349 B. C., after having brought the centre of power back to Thebes and having reintroduced polytheism in Egypt; he had met a violent death, most likely clubbed to death by his prime minister Ay, as accurately demonstrated by American paleopathologist Bob Brier.

It was a tiny burial chamber, unworthy of a king: quite obviously Tut Ankh Amon was buried there because he had suffered a sudden death, and there had been no time to build a more imposing tomb. The treasures found in the tomb required extremely accurate work to be catalogued, photographed and subsequently removed: this work took 10 years.

Some pictures taken in those days show small compartments full of everything you could wish for (especially jewels and furnishing articles in solid gold, but also four chapels in gilt wood, a catafalque and a throne).

The burial chamber was opened in February 1923, but it was only one year later that Carter revealed the contents of the great mummy case in quartzite: inside it were three more sarcophagi and finally the mummy.

It was entirely covered with jewels and amulets and even the fingers and toes were coated with thin gold leaves. The best-known piece is the golden mask placed over the sovereign’s face and shoulders: today this symbol of ancient Egypt dominates the Cairo Museum, together with the other 2098 items from the treasure found by Carter and his workers. Not only was the tomb full of all kinds of articles, but it also had an anomalous layout: at the foot of the staircase, a steep passage led to the vestibule; inside, on the right, were the coffin chamber with two storerooms.

Only the coffin chamber was decorated and, unlike other tombs, in an unrefined and quick style; furthermore the themes are unusual, especially the picture of the young king, with a catafalque drawn by major personalities from the court, including Ay, his successor, proceeding to the Opening of the Mouth Ceremony.

Finally, also the famous curse legend falls within the rules of historicity; this originated after the sudden deaths of Carter (due to a car accident), Carnavon (following a heart attack) and of some of the workers: in fact, all these deaths can be traced back to logic explanations and were by no means mysterious; it is thanks to Carnavon’s correspondence that we find out that it was his secretary Vesna, a clairvoyant woman fond of esoteric practices, who made up the curse legend, probably struck, if not greatly excited, about the sensational implications the discovery had involved.

Translated by interpres sas