THE BOY WHO DISCOVERED THE BOY KING

When Howard Carter located the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb, he became an archaeological hero. Yet, as Toby Wilkinson reveals, the British Egyptologist failed to credit the person behind the historic find

- Toby Wilkinson

One hundred years ago, on 4 November 1922, an excavation in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, directed by the British archaeologist Howard 0 further access. This was the moment for which Carter and his aristocratic patron, Lord Carnarvon, had been toiling for 15 long years in the heat and dust. Carter immediately sent a telegram to Carnarvon, who was 2,500 miles away at Highclere Castle, his stately home in the south of England: "At last have made wonderful discovery in valley. A magnificent tomb with seals intact. Re-covered same for your arrival. Congratulations."

When Carnarvon arrived in Luxor on 23 November, he and Carter looked on anxiously as the rubble wall was cleared, revealing a plastered doorway. Now there could be no doubt what they had found: "On the lower part the seal impressions were much clearer, and we were able without difficulty to make out on several of them the name of Tut.ankh. Amen." In due course, the blocked doorway was dismantled, only to reveal a sloping tunnel, filled from floor to ceiling with limestone chippings. As workmen struggled in the confined space to clear the tunnel, they encountered a second doorway, likewise covered with sealings naming Tutankhamun.