Howard Carter

Howard Carter (1873-1939), British archaeologist and Egyptologist, born in London. From 1891 to 1899 he served in Egypt on the staff of the Archaeological Survey of Egypt. In 1892 he assisted the British Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie in the excavation at Tall al ‘Amārinah, Egypt. Carter also served as inspector in chief of the antiquities department of the Egyptian government. Among the discoveries he made in Egypt were the tombs of the pharaoh Thutmose IV and Queen Hatshepsut. In 1922 Carter and the British Egyptologist George Herbert, 5th earl of Carnarvon, made one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century. In the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt, they discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, a pharaoh who reigned in the 14th century bc. The tomb, which was untouched, held a great collection of treasures, which are now on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The treasures of Tutankhamun were exhibited during 1972 at the British Museum in London; from 1976 to 1979 a similar exhibition was shown at six museums in the United States.