Tutankhamun's Tomb: Inside Egypt's Most Famous Discovery

Why did Tutankhamun's tomb survive when so many others were robbed?

Almost every other tomb in the Valley of the Kings was entered and looted within a few centuries, sometimes a few decades, of its original burial, as thieves targeted the gold and valuables sealed inside. Tutankhamun's tomb, officially KV62, is the rare exception, and the reasons for its survival have as much to do with geography as with luck.

KV62 sits in a low part of the valley floor, and over the centuries following its sealing, flash floods repeatedly washed debris down the surrounding hillsides, gradually burying its entrance under layers of rock and silt. Workers constructing a later tomb for Ramesses VI built stone huts directly above the buried entrance, unknowingly sealing it further beneath their own construction debris.

By the time serious archaeological excavation of the valley began in the modern era, KV62's entrance was concealed beneath what looked like ordinary ground, overlooked by earlier expeditions who had cleared much of the valley floor without realizing a sealed tomb lay just beneath their feet.

The tomb itself was also modest by royal standards, consisting of four small chambers rather than the long, elaborately decorated corridors typical of other pharaonic burials, which some Egyptologists believe suggests it was originally built for a lower-ranking individual and hastily repurposed when Tutankhamun died unexpectedly young.

How did Howard Carter actually find the tomb in 1922?

British archaeologist Howard Carter had worked in Egypt for decades and had been searching the Valley of the Kings specifically for Tutankhamun's tomb since 1917, funded by the wealthy English aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who had grown impatient after years of excavation with little to show for it.

On 4 November 1922, Carter's water boy stumbled upon a step cut into the bedrock near the entrance to the tomb of Ramesses VI. Clearing further revealed a full staircase leading down to a sealed doorway stamped with royal necropolis seals, a promising sign that the tomb inside had not already been disturbed.

Carter famously waited for Lord Carnarvon to arrive from England before opening the inner doorway, and when he finally made a small hole and held a candle up to peer inside, Carnarvon asked if he could see anything. Carter's reported reply, "Yes, wonderful things," became one of the most quoted lines in the history of archaeology.

What followed was roughly a decade of careful, systematic clearing and cataloguing, as Carter's team removed, documented and conserved over 5,000 individual objects from the tomb's four small chambers, a process that established many of the conservation standards still used in archaeological excavation today.

What treasures were found inside the tomb?

The tomb contained an extraordinary density of objects for its small size: three nested coffins, the innermost made of solid gold, along with the now-famous gold funerary mask inlaid with lapis lazuli and colored glass, which has become one of the most recognized artifacts from the ancient world.

Beyond the coffins, Carter's team catalogued golden shrines, chariots, weapons, jewelry, furniture, clothing, perfume jars, and even food and wine intended to sustain the young king in the afterlife, reflecting the full range of objects an Egyptian pharaoh was believed to need beyond death.

Several items carried personal rather than purely ceremonial significance, including a dagger with a blade made from meteoric iron, a material so rare in ancient Egypt that its presence in the tomb has drawn particular scholarly attention, and small items like linen gloves and a lock of hair believed to belong to Tutankhamun's grandmother.

Modern scientific analysis of objects from the tomb has continued well after Carter's original excavation, including CT scans of the mummy and DNA testing that helped confirm family relationships among royal mummies, work that has quietly kept KV62 at the center of Egyptological research nearly a century after its discovery.

Where can you see Tutankhamun's treasures today?

Almost the entire collection of objects recovered from KV62 is now displayed at the Grand Egyptian Museum near the Giza Plateau, which opened a dedicated Tutankhamun gallery bringing together artifacts that had previously been split across different halls of the older Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The relocation reunited the collection for the first time in a single purpose-built space with modern climate control and lighting designed specifically to protect fragile organic materials like linen, wood and leather that make up a significant portion of the find.

Inside the tomb itself at the Valley of the Kings, visitors see empty chambers and painted walls rather than the treasures, since nearly everything portable was removed during Carter's excavation and conservation work in the 1920s.

Why does Tutankhamun's mummy remain inside the tomb?

Unlike most other pharaonic mummies, which were relocated to museum collections in Cairo for conservation and security reasons during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Tutankhamun's mummy was left in its original burial chamber, now displayed inside a sealed, climate-controlled glass case.

This decision reflects both the tomb's significance as a complete, undisturbed archaeological context, which Egyptologists consider valuable to preserve intact, and practical conservation concerns about repeatedly moving a fragile mummy that had already suffered some damage during Carter's original unwrapping process in the 1920s.

Visitors to KV62 today can view the mummy in place inside its burial chamber, a detail that distinguishes a visit to this specific tomb from most other stops in the Valley of the Kings, where the chambers are typically empty of human remains.

How do you visit Tutankhamun's tomb within the Valley of the Kings?

A standard Valley of the Kings ticket grants entry to three tombs chosen from a rotating group left open to protect them from overuse, but KV62 is not automatically included and usually requires a separate, additional ticket purchased at the main visitor center due to its small size and fragile decoration.

Because the chambers are compact, visitor numbers inside KV62 at any one time are more tightly controlled than at larger tombs nearby, and photography inside is typically restricted or prohibited to help protect the original wall paintings from flash damage.

Most visitors combine KV62 with several of the valley's other major tombs and nearby sites like the Temple of Hatshepsut, detailed in the Hatshepsut guide, in a single half-day or full-day visit to Luxor's West Bank, since all of these sites sit within a short drive of one another.

Guides generally recommend visiting early in the morning, both to avoid the worst of the Upper Egyptian heat on the largely shadeless valley floor and because the smaller crowds make it easier to spend a few quiet minutes inside KV62's burial chamber rather than moving through quickly behind a queue of other visitors.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why was Tutankhamun's tomb not robbed like the others?

KV62 was small and modest compared to other royal tombs, and over the centuries it was buried under flood debris and the stone huts of workers building a later tomb nearby, which hid its entrance from ancient tomb robbers and later explorers alike.

Is the mummy of Tutankhamun still inside the tomb?

Yes. Unlike most other royal mummies, which were moved to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo or the Grand Egyptian Museum, Tutankhamun's mummy remains in its original burial chamber inside KV62, displayed in a climate-controlled case.

Where is King Tut's golden mask displayed?

The iconic gold funerary mask, along with the rest of the more than 5,000 objects found in the tomb, is displayed at the Grand Egyptian Museum near Giza, not inside the tomb itself.

How did Howard Carter find the tomb?

Carter had searched the Valley of the Kings for years funded by Lord Carnarvon before his team uncovered a step cut into the bedrock on 4 November 1922, leading to a sealed doorway and, eventually, the first intact royal tomb found in the valley.

Can you still visit the tomb today?

Yes, KV62 is open to visitors as part of a standard Valley of the Kings ticket, though it usually requires a separate, additional ticket purchased at the main gate due to its small size and fragile wall paintings.