36 Facts About Howard Carter

Howard Carter was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings.

Howard Carter was born in Kensington on 9 May 1874, the youngest child of artist and illustrator Samuel John Carter and Martha Joyce Carter.

Howard Carter's father helped train and develop his artistic talents.

Howard Carter's father had previously relocated to London, but after three of the children had died young, Carter, who was a sickly child, was moved to Norfolk and raised for the most part by a nurse in Swaffham.

Lady Amherst was impressed by his artistic skills, and in 1891 she prompted the Egypt Exploration Fund to send Howard Carter to assist an Amherst family friend, Percy Newberry, in the excavation and recording of Middle Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan.

In 1899, Howard Carter was appointed Inspector of Monuments for Upper Egypt in the Egyptian Antiquities Service.

Howard Carter was praised for his improvements in the protection of, and accessibility to, existing excavation sites, and his development of a grid-block system for searching for tombs.

Howard Carter resigned from the Antiquities Service in 1905 after a formal inquiry into what became known as the Saqqara Affair, a violent confrontation that took place on January 8,1905.

Howard Carter sided with the Egyptian personnel, refusing to apologise when the French authorities made an official complaint.

Howard Carter made a living by painting and selling watercolours to tourists and, in 1906, acting as a freelance draughtsman for Theodore Davis.

Howard Carter soon developed a good working relationship with his patron, with Lady Burghclere, Carnarvon's sister, observing that "for the next sixteen years the two men worked together with varying fortune, yet ever united not more by their common aim than by their mutual regard and affection".

Howard Carter led the work, undertaking a systematic search for any tombs missed by previous expeditions, in particular that of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

However, excavations were soon interrupted by the First World War, Howard Carter spending the war years working for the British Government as a diplomatic courier and translator.

Howard Carter enthusiastically resumed his excavation work towards the end of 1917.

Howard Carter returned to the Valley of Kings, and investigated a line of huts that he had abandoned a few seasons earlier.

Howard Carter had the steps partially dug out until the top of a mud-plastered doorway was found.

Howard Carter was able to peer in by the light of a candle and see that many of the gold and ebony treasures were still in place.

Howard Carter did not yet know whether it was "a tomb or merely an old cache", but he did see a promising sealed doorway between two sentinel statues.

On 16 February 1923, Howard Carter opened the sealed doorway and confirmed it led to a burial chamber, containing the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun.

Towards the end of February 1923, a rift between Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter, probably caused by a disagreement on how to manage the supervising Egyptian authorities, temporarily halted the excavation.

Lady Carnarvon retained her late husband's concession in the Valley of the Kings, allowing Howard Carter to continue his work.

Howard Carter's meticulous assessing and cataloguing of the thousands of objects in the tomb took nearly ten years, most being moved to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Howard Carter was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by Yale University and honorary membership in the Real Academia de la Historia of Madrid, Spain.

Howard Carter wrote a number of books on Egyptology during his career, including Five Years' Exploration at Thebes, co-written with Lord Carnarvon in 1912, describing their early excavations, and a three-volume popular account of the discovery and excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb.

Howard Carter delivered a series of illustrated lectures on the excavation, including a 1924 tour of Britain, France, Spain and the United States.

Howard Carter had given Gardiner an amulet and assured him it had not come from the tomb, but Reginald Engelbach, director of the Egyptian Museum, later confirmed its match with other samples originating in the tomb.

Egyptologist Bob Brier said the letter proved previous rumours, and the contemporary suspicions of Egyptian authorities, that Howard Carter had been siphoning treasures for himself.

Howard Carter could be awkward in company, particularly with those of a higher social standing.

The suggestion that Howard Carter had an affair with Lady Evelyn Herbert, the daughter of the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, was later rejected by Lady Evelyn herself, who told her daughter Patricia that "at first I was in awe of him, later I was rather frightened of him", resenting Howard Carter's "determination" to come between her and her father.

An Egyptian guide who knew Howard Carter claimed that his tastes extended to "both boys and the occasional 'dancing girl'" There is no evidence that Howard Carter enjoyed any close relationships throughout his life, and he never married nor had children.

Howard Carter continued to live in his house near Luxor in winter and retained a flat in London but, as interest in Tutankhamun declined, he lived a fairly isolated existence with few close friends.

Howard Carter had acted as a part-time dealer for both collectors and museums for a number of years.

Howard Carter continued in this role, including acting for the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Howard Carter died at his London flat at 49 Albert Court, next to the Royal Albert Hall, on 2 March 1939, aged 64 from Hodgkin's disease.

Howard Carter used this heightened interest to promote his books on the discovery and his lecture tours in Britain, America and Europe.

Howard Carter has been portrayed or referred to in many film, television and radio productions:.