Following a Boy's Clue, Archaeologists Discover Pharaoh's Treasure.
For years, archaeologist Howard Carter and his team dug in the hot Egyptian desert, sifting through sand to find the burial place of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, which had been missing for 3,200 years.
Finding the tomb was very hard. Every day, from morning to night, their digging led nowhere. Old records didn't help, and each new layer of sand only brought more sadness. Then, a boy named Hussein Abd el-Rassul, who carried water, provided a helpful hint, not a scholar or a lord.
On November 4, 1922, a Saturday, Hussein, while giving water to the workers looking for treasure, noticed an unusual sand pile that looked like steps. He told the workers about it out of interest. Carter then heard the news.
Carter arrived right away. He examined the raised area, then slowly started to dig. Under the sand, there was indeed a staircase going down. With his workers, Carter cleared away sand layer by layer until he found a small door on the twelfth step. The door had a special seal, showing the god Anubis standing over nine conquered enemies.
"We had enough proof that this was the way into a tomb that hadn't been touched," Carter wrote in his journal, as reported by Live Science.
The work kept going. After clearing the rubble blocking the path, Carter saw a door with Tutankhamun's name on it. But he didn't confirm it until November 26, 1922, when he made a small hole in the second door and shined a light. As light entered, a sparkle of gold appeared.
"It took a while for my eyes to see well, but once the light from the candle filled the room, all the old beauty suddenly became visible again," he said.
What Carter found was more than just a tomb. He discovered the only complete pharaoh's tomb in recent times.
Inside were items fit for a king. For over three thousand years, no one had found the tomb. But now, because someone kept looking and a boy got lucky, we can learn more about ancient Egypt.
Britannica states that King Tutankhamun's tomb was the first pharaoh's tomb found untouched in modern times. It held amazing riches. A well-known item is the detailed golden mask for the dead, made from 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of pure gold and decorated with jewels.
Also, Tutankhamun had many clothes buried with him, thought to be used in the afterlife. This amazing find quickly became world news. Yet, while people were excited, rumors also spread about a pharaoh's curse, said to harm anyone who opened the tomb.
A month later, bad news arrived. Lord Carnarvon, who paid for the dig, died. Doctors said he died from an infection after a mosquito bite and then shaving the same spot. But many people thought the curse was to blame.
Still, whether you believe in the curse or not, Carter's find gave the world a great gift.
Who was Pharaoh Tutankhamun?
Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh from the New Kingdom era, becoming king when he was 9 and dying suddenly at 19. Tests on his genes and X-rays show he died from malaria along with a problem with his bones. His golden coffin and many other items from his tomb are now on display at the Grand Egyptian Museum, which has a section just for him. But his mummy is still in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt.
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