Today in History—November 4: The Discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb

On this day in 1922, according to the popular account, a boy tripped on a stone and kicked off one of the greatest archaeological finds in history.

That boy—and many other workers—were employed by British archaeologist Howard Carter, doing backbreaking work in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.

Carter’s artistic talents had landed him in Egypt at the age of 17, where his skills were put to use recording treasures being unearthed in tombs around the country. Soon he grew interested in finding them too. Archaeology was still in its infancy as a science, and Carter eventually joined the Egyptian antiquities service.

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He dreamed of searching for unopened tombs. He believed he’d narrowed down the resting place of Tutankhamun, one of the few remaining pharaohs for whom no tomb or mummy had been found.

Carter finally secured the backing and rights to dig. Step one: remove tens of thousands of waste rock left by previous expeditions. Step two: excavate ancient flood debris that buried the site.

The work began in 1917. It took years of digging with picks and hoes. Local men filled baskets with debris and emptied them into trucks that they hauled along rail tracks.

Then basically nothing happened. Carter’s wealthy backer threatened to pull out, but Carter convinced him to fund one more season.

And that’s how November 1922 started. Carter resumed excavations near the tomb of Ramses VI, in a promising patch of ground he’d skipped earlier.

On this day, Carter rode his donkey the 20 minutes to the worksite as usual. He arrived to an eerie silence. The workers showed him the stone step. Then they found another and another, and soon a staircase emerged. It led to a doorway bearing the Royal Necropolis seal.

Carter made a small hole to peer inside, finding no evidence that this tomb had been disturbed since it was sealed in the 18th dynasty, about 3,300 years earlier.

Next he did what any good, science-minded archaeologist who wanted to keep his job would do: He sealed the hole back up and wrote to his investor. Workers reburied the site, even rolling boulders in front to conceal it. The door wouldn’t be opened until his patron could arrive.

The wonderful things they found inside are a story for a different day.