More than half a century passed between the opening of the famous Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt and the investigation of Thomas Hoving, the former director of the New York Metropolitan Museum. In human terms, a whole life has flown by. But little has become clear in the history of this greatest discovery.
Thomas Hoving - historian and curator, appraiser and researcher, studying the treasures of the museum, asked the question that caused the storm: “If in all studies of the tomb of Tutankhamun it is said that the Egyptian government left to the Museum of Cairo everything found in the Valley of the Kings, why other collections hold treasures from this tomb ? The consequence of such a question could be either careful research or agreement with what the official literature suggests. But the historian noticed that official literature contradicts letters, testimonies, even observations of that time.
Archaeological research in the Valley of the Kings brought no success to any of the seekers. And suddenly, in 1922, the archaeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, who had been digging in the Valley of the Kings on the banks of the Nile for many years in the hope of discovering not just a certain monument, but a unique ensemble, a rare collection of works of Egyptian art, stumbled upon an unusual architectural move. A certain staircase was found leading down, fragments of various objects began to come across. Everything suggested that they had come across a monument that had not yet been explored by anyone (by that time, Carter had been doing Egyptology for thirty years, and the Lord had been fifteen).
The ladder was taken apart for a long time and carefully. Until the workers ran into a transverse wall, behind which, most likely, there was an unknown tomb. A hole was drilled. Carter, shining a candle into the hole, was silent for a long time, examining something behind the stone wall. Carnarvon asked: "Do you see anything there?" - and heard in response: "Oh yes, amazing things!"
It was not just the famous dialogue about the famous discovery, these words marked the beginning of one of the strangest mysteries that have not been resolved to this day.
Legal rules required those who found something of value on Egyptian soil to call representatives of the archaeological department and carry out an official opening of the tomb. Legend has it that archaeologists filled up the hole they had made and waited for the arrival of the Egyptians, who had the right to participate in the discovery of an unknown monument. The wait lasted more than one week, as the Egyptian law enforcers were in no hurry: apparently, they did not expect pleasant and rich surprises.
Finally, they arrived, carried out all the official procedures, and the weekdays began with holidays for the seizure and description of rare finds. But…
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As Dr. Hoving's research has shown, other events took place at this time, which one side tried not to advertise, and the other, the Egyptian, did not notice.
When organizing the exhibition "Tutankhamun and His Time", Hoving decided to place its exhibits in the sequence that corresponded to the moments of the discovery of works of art in the tomb of the young king, the pharaoh of the XVIII dynasty. To comply with this plan of the exposition, it was necessary to study in detail everything that was written about the find: official documents, letters, notes, notes of the expedition participants. And here a lot of contradictions came to light. In the chronological sequence of the events described, there were gaps, some items from the tomb-treasure were not mentioned at all, and in the private correspondence of the archaeologist and his patron Lord, there were downright suspicious places and hints. The director of the Metropolitan Museum could only confirm or dispel his doubts by reading the documents, because by that time all the participants had died.
The working papers of the archaeologist Carter, kept in Oxford and Cairo, were widely known, and their study could not give anything new. Personal materials have not survived - they, like the entire archive of Lord Carnarvon, died in the war. But unexpectedly a lot of materials of archival significance ended up in the Metropolitan Museum. Why? Sorting through papers written by Carter's hand, Hoving unraveled a true detective story, full of secrets that accompanied the "find of the century."
The tomb was not closed after a cursory examination through a drilled hole in the light of a candle flame. Carter, Carnarvon, Carnarvon's daughter Evelyn on the night of November 26, 1922, entered and carefully examined the first cell, which was only one room of the burial complex. Here, between two human-sized sculptures of the boy-king, they found a door sealed and sealed by the guardian priests, connecting the first chamber with the chamber of the burial itself. Having broken open a part of the door near the floor to make it less noticeable, they entered the tomb chamber. And then, returning to the front camera, the break-in was disguised.
Thomas Hoving is confident that both expedition leaders, gripped by a passion for collectors, stole some of the rare works of art. He could not establish exactly how many items were illegally seized, however, information that the largest US museums display twenty-nine priceless works from the treasure of Tutankhamun, which were never sold by official Cairo, suggests that the originals were also received by the Metropolitan Museum. and to the museums of Boston, Cleveland, Kansas City, Cincinnati from the archaeologist Carter and Lord Carnarvon. The documents confirmed the researcher's suspicion.
Among the documents of the Metropolitan Museum was Carnarvon's own handwritten note, intended for publication in the Times. It says everything quite definitely: “Finally, this passage has been cleared. We found ourselves in front of a sealed door or wall … I asked Mr. Carter to remove some stones and look inside. A few minutes later he stuck his head into the hole … He was silent for a long time until I asked in a trembling voice: "Well, what is there?" “There are amazing things here,” was the long-awaited answer.
Slightly widening the opening, we went inside and then already realized the full importance of the opening, for we carried out electric lighting … I kept wondering why there was nothing like a sarcophagus … But upon re-examination (the front one - Author) we found the cameras between two statues of the king … a walled passage. It was also covered with seals, but at the floor level in the center of the wall there were traces of a closed hole sufficient for a small person … There was no doubt that behind this wall there is a chamber or chambers where the mummy of King Tutankhamen rests."
This note has an interesting continuation, which for some reason all historians writing about the "find of the century" carefully avoided, and Hoving was the first to draw attention to this publication.
An employee of the Egyptian Department of Chemistry, Alfred Lucas, joined Carter's expedition in December 1922 and was supposed to cooperate for only one season, but archeology captured him so much that he worked on the excavations for ten years. And after the death of the leaders of the expedition, old Lucas wrote a note in the Egyptian archaeological journal - about the continuation of the night adventures of four people who deliberately and recklessly violated the laws of Egypt.
“There are many mysterious stories about this hole made by robbers,” Lucas wrote. “When I first appeared in the tomb on December 20 (that is, three weeks after the discovery was made. - Author), the hole was masked by a basket lid or some kind of wicker and reeds raised from the floor by Mr. Carter.”
Lucas further states that Mr. Carter, Lord Carnarvon and his daughter entered the burial chamber prior to its official autopsy.
Lucas puts an end to another question: “Mr. Carter's published statement that the hole was repaired and sealed in ancient times is misleading. Unlike the entrance to the tomb, the opening was not sealed and sealed by the priests, but by Mr. Carter himself. When I first started working with him, Mr. Carter showed me this place, and when I said that it was all very different from the ancient work, he agreed and admitted that he did it!"
An early document has survived, noting the fact that illegal visitors entered the burial chamber of the tomb - a letter from Carnarvon's daughter Evelina, who congratulated Carter on Christmastide days in 1922: “He (father. - Author) revels in all of this and, if a little dejected, calls me and asks again and again telling him about the "holy of holies" - it always affects him like a glass of champagne. I will never be able to fully thank you for allowing me to enter …"
The woman who studied Egyptology, like her teachers, meant by the "holy of holies" the burial chamber. And despite the fact that these mentions are only indirect evidence of the misconduct of archaeologists, there is still some information that says that the researchers did not leave the treasure store empty-handed.
The most valuable exhibits of the Egyptian department of the Metropolitan Museum are figurines of a gazelle and a horse, executed by a wonderful ivory animal painter in a manner that can only be compared with the plasticity of things found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Measuring ten centimeters in size, brilliantly modeled, with a finely detailed silhouette, these figurines caught the attention of Lord Carnarvon and, along with his legacy, ended up in America.
The letter from Lord Carter found by Hoving about this "acquisition" followed a month after their parting at the tomb, that is, in December 1922: "… I put the gazelle and horse, bought in Cairo, in a chest, they look wonderful. On reflection, I believe that they belong to the beginning of the reign of the eighteenth dynasty pharaohs, must have been found in Saqqara."
Suspicious slips: “bought in Cairo”, “must be found”, and then an obvious absurdity for a person who has been engaged in Egyptology for many years. He calls the necropolis in Sakkara, abandoned by the pharaohs of the 5th dynasty, that is, a thousand years before Tutankhamen, the place of discovery. It's like a warning to a partner in unseemly deeds. And if you add a question from another December letter to these assumptions, you will simply have to call the partners accomplices. The lord asks the archaeologist who remained in the excavation to examine each item of the "find of the century": "I would like to know how much you will be able to find unmarked items …" boy. After all, such rarities can not be associated with the sensational tomb.
In his notes, Alfred Lucas directly indicates that even before the official opening of the tomb, he saw a bowl and a beautiful casket for incense in Carter's house: “… Obviously, it (the casket - Auth.) Was found when Lord Carnarvon and Mr. Carter first entered the funeral camera.
True, it should be noted that both items were handed over to the Cairo authorities. But the fact that the works were taken out during the first visit to the tomb was confirmed. And there were several such confirmations. The most unexpected and unclear was the story of the wine basket, which became the subject of litigation with the local authorities.
Egyptian officials and workers of the Cairo Museum were constantly on the excavations and carefully, item by item, together with archaeologists, examined everything and kept their registration. They examined not only the tomb itself and the adjoining premises, but also archaeological services, warehouses, workshops, utility rooms.
In a half-empty tomb used by archaeologists as a warehouse, the Egyptians were interested in a mountain of baskets from Fortnham & Mason wine. The container was empty and hardly needed a thorough examination, but meticulous inspectors turned each one over and was surprised to find in one a wooden sculpture - a bust of the boy-king. The rare beauty item did not pass the inventory list and was not registered by Carter.
The surviving explanations of the archaeologist are confusing and suspicious. He stated that the bust is on conservation, and it was found in the passage to the tomb. Shortly before the discovery of the bust, Carter published his lists of finds both in the corridor and in the preliminary cell. Neither there nor there the sculpture was listed, and yet it was not at all included in the category of ordinary ones - rather, on the contrary. The fact with a strange concealment of some of the finds was hushed up and the bust of the boy-king, having completed, was sent to Cairo.
Soon after the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun, along with congratulations, Carter received a message from the curator of the Egyptian department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Albert Lithgow. The museum offered to help the expedition with all available means and experienced specialists. The American also reported that the trustees of the museum would very much like to adequately express their gratitude for everything that Lord Carnarvon and Carter himself had done.
What was it about? Hoving was able to answer this question by building a long chain of facts that testified to the long-term smuggling activities of two scientists. The disclosure of the mystery was helped by the mention of Carnarvon in a letter from 1922: “I am afraid that this year I no longer have a chance to send from New York. Who knows, though! Perhaps there is still something left of the princesses' treasure …"
It was the last words that prompted Hoving to look for traces of mutual services between the archaeologists and the museum.
The village of Qurnet on the banks of the Nile, almost opposite modern Luxor, won fame as a refuge for the gravediggers and grave diggers of Ancient Egypt. The ancestors of today's inhabitants built a necropolis and at the same time were engaged in robberies of burial grounds, rock caves and mastaba. After studying the features of the Nile floods, rains, high winds and hurricanes, they developed a whole system of observations of the surrounding area. So their descendants usually in July, after a rainstorm, went to inspect the surroundings in the hope of finding archaeological values washed out by jets of water. Digging up the eroded tombs, the grave diggers collected, if this happened, the treasure and, having divided it into several parts, offered it to archaeologists, museum intermediaries, and auction participants.
The archaeologist Carter, who had been digging in Egypt since the end of the 19th century, learned that one of the intermediaries had received a very valuable treasure from village seekers, and together with Lord Carnarvon decided to replenish his collection, and if possible, then offer his services to some large museum. The mediator waited until 1917 - that was a tradition that had developed over the centuries. Then the treasure, divided into seven parts, each of which contained works of both very rare and ordinary, went on sale. The dealer from Courna offered one part of the treasure to the Metropolitan Museum, another - to the British Museum, Lord Carnarvon claimed the third.
Carter said to Metropolitan Museum Director Edward Robinson: "It is very important that all items remain as inseparable as possible - both from a scientific point of view and in terms of collection value." He even proposed a plan of action, since he knew Carnarvon's intentions: the lord redeems all parts of the treasure, seizing only a few things he needs for his collection, and reselling the rest to the museum through an intermediary - Carter. Robinson agreed only after he found out what the treasure was made of, and for the next five years he paid for the treasure, called "The Treasure of the Princesses."
It consisted of 225 gold items - headdresses, necklaces, rings, breast ornaments, amulets, jugs, bowls, glasses inlaid with precious stones, silver mirrors. All products were made in triplicate, as they were intended for the daughters or wives of Pharaoh Thutmose III, who ruled in 1525 - 1473 BC. Many objects were stamped with the seal of the pharaoh and the names of women - Menchet, Menvi and Merti. The entire treasure was estimated at 250 thousand pounds, and Carter's commission was 55 thousand.
Hoving not only established the fact of settlement with the archaeologist, but also that when an intermediary from the village tried to enter into relations with the British Museum, Carter dissuaded the English side in the value of the Princess Treasure, thereby enabling the Americans to collect part of the first payment for the treasure. Knowing this, the Americans offered the archaeologist the services of their employees, hoping that from the “find of the century” with the help of their freelance, but paid employee, something would get to the Metropolitan Museum.
The museum later acquired the Carter and Carnarvon collections of antiquities, making its department of antiquities one of the most extensive and diverse in the world.
Alexander PROKHOROV