“The Valley is not empty, sir. Believe me. Davis’s methods were crude, unsystematic, and perfunctory. The tombs of many kings have yet to be discovered – amongst them perhaps one or more may remain undefiled. The odds are long, I admit, but I am convinced we shall make many discoveries – perhaps some of them great – perhaps the likes of Davis’s Yuya and Tuya tomb. But to have any chance of success we must be systematic.” He stabbed the map in front of them with his forefinger as if to physically underscore his last word. “Systematic, sir. Systematic.”
“Oh, Howard. We have so much to look forward to. I hope I can contain my patience.”
“That is a virtue we shall both need to cultivate, m’lord. There are three Ps in ‘approach’: patience, practice and polish! You have the polish, I have the practice, and together we must generate the patience!” They both chuckled.
Carter dragged his chair around the table to sit adjacent to his patron. “Sir,” he began, “I must confess to you now that not only do I expect that we shall find at least one of the several kings yet unaccounted for but that I have one particular Pharaoh in mind, ‘Tut.Ankh.Amen’.” He penned the name on the map in front of them. “The boy king.”
Carnarvon was captivated. “I thought Davis had reported he had found the tomb. Anyway, why he, Howard? From my readings, of all remaining kings he was of little significance in the history of Egypt. A stopgap, if you like, between the heretic Akhenaten and the new order of… er… ‘Harmhabi’… I believe Maspero called him.”
“Horemheb, sir, is the pronunciation I prefer to use. I might have thought the same myself, m’lord, had it not been for some recent clues.”
Carter’s obvious seriousness held the earl’s attention. He leaned closer to his colleague.
“Consider this,” Carter continued, “Davis. Bless his spatted feet. Quite by accident he finds a small alabaster cup under a rock. The cup has the cartouche of Tutankhamen inscribed into it. He found it about here…” Carter picked up a pencil and drew a small ‘X’ on the map.
“…Much later he discovers what he believes to be Tutankhamen’s ‘tomb’. But this is nothing more than a small, shallow pit. Perhaps the abandoned beginnings of a pit tomb in which, among other things, he finds fragments of gold foil bearing the names of Tutankhamen and Ankhesenamen, his queen…” He drew a second ‘X’.
“…About six or seven years ago, on the flank of the valley not far from the tomb of Ramses Ten, he finds what any experienced archaeologist would ascribe to ‘foundation deposits’ – the buried remains of funerary rubbish. He found that stuff about here.” Another ‘X’ appears on the map.
“You do not find this kind of material evidence if the very tomb itself is not somewhere close by. It just doesn’t happen.
“Now, consider this… Why hasn’t the tomb been discovered? Could it be so well hidden that even robbers could not locate it? Nearly all the tombs in The Valley of the Kings have been totally rifled in antiquity – even the cliff tomb of Hatshepsut, well hidden and dangerous to reach. Am I not correct in my assertion?”
“Yes. Yes. But not that of Yuya and Tuya.” Carnarvon’s observation was directly in line with where Carter had been leading.
“Right!” Carter slammed his fist down. “Right. And why Yuya and Tuya, do y’ think, sir?”
Carnarvon shrugged his shoulders. He couldn’t think. He was too excited, eager to hear what Carter had to say next.
“I’ll tell you,” conceded Carter after a pause. “Plenty of scattered evidence but no tomb. That of Yuya and Tuya was discovered in the very bottom of the valley, the area most vulnerable to the catastrophic floods that occur here – infrequently, yes, but they occur all the same – and to devastating effect – often leaving mountains of debris, burying all in their path.” He paused once more.
“Now… Tutankhamen died young – that much we know… So young, perhaps, that no tomb had been constructed for him. And there was no time to construct one from scratch, like that of Smenkhkare – also found by Davis – who died after only three years as regent. Now, what if the tomb of this king was built originally for a noble… like the tomb of Yuya and Tuya? In the bottom of The Valley… not like the kings, high up and potentially protected from the ravages of flooding, but in the bottom… And what if… What if there was a tremendous storm shortly after burial that wiped out all evidence of the tomb’s location before robbers had the opportunity to enter… Like Yuya and Tuya?”
An excerpt from Tutankhamun Uncovered, by Michael J. Marfleet.
Copyright 2009-2010 Michael J. Marfleet. All rights reserved.
Published by Apex Publishing Ltd.
