Friday March 29th, 2024
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Previously Unseen Photographs From Tutankhamun's 1922 Expedition

The collection is to be exhibited at Cambridge University for the first time.

Staff Writer

In 1922, the British archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter unearthed the intact tomb of the now-world-famous 18th dynasty King Tutankhamun, widely recognised as one of the 20th century's most significant archeological discoveries. The stunning discovery established Carter as one of the era's most respected archaeologists and earned him worldwide fame and recognition.

Alongside Carter was the lesser known - nevertheless not any less accomplished - photographer Harry Burton, who took more than 3400 photographs of Carter's expeditions over a whole decade, as reported by BBC. Carter's previously unseen photographs of the King Tut expedition are soon to exhibited at Cambridge University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.The exhibition, which is curated by the university's Professor Christina Riggs, offers astonishing insight into Howard Carter's work and properly documents the invaluable contribution of Egypt's locals - more than a 100 of them -  to the success of the expedition and the transportation of the artefacts from Luxor's Valley of The Kings to a barge which would carry them to their final destination, Cairo's Egyptian Museum, known then as simply the Antiquities Museum.

"It's about shifting our entire perspective on ancient Egypt, modern Egypt, and archaeology," says Prof. Riggs to BBC. "Once we start thinking about the complex, and inherently unequal set of relationships in which the archaeology took place, it's hard to see photographs in any kind 'neutral' way," she further elaborates.

Check out Harry Burton's work:

Photos: BBC