Message #136319

[Bianca]

So what did happen?


Richard Adamson, the only survivor of those who were there, insists that Carter was not involved but Dr. I. E. Edwards, former Head of the Egyptian antiquities department at the British Museum, tends to go along with the version written by Lord Carnarvon and published in the Times— on the grounds that it would be logical behavior on making such a discovery. He also said he thinks it "likely" that Carter would have at least poked his head into the burial chamber simply to ascertain that there would be something to show the Cairo officials if they came, but at this distance, it is impossible to determine precisely what did happen in what sequence.






And does it really matter?


After all, it was Carter who found, and preserved for Egypt some 5,000 priceless items found in the tomb, including the 22-pound gold mask, countless other statues, chalices, earrings and necklaces, and of course, the coffin: 2,448 pounds of pure gold worth, at 1981 prices, more than $13 million. Could he - and Lord Carnarvon, who put up $500,000 of his own money to finance the search - really be excited by one small chalice and a tiny box?


Furthermore - though this has been overlooked - Lord Carnarvon and Carter had a perfect right to enter the tomb. As Foreign Office records show, articles of the "authorization to excavate," an agreement between the Director General of antiquity services and Lord Carnarvon signed on April 18,1915, unequivocally gives them that right: "To the permittee himself [Carnarvon] shall be reserved the privilege of opening the tomb or monument discovered and of being the first to enter therein."


In any case, Lord Carnarvon didn't live long enough to enjoy their triumph; in March, just four months later, he was bitten by a mosquito as he left the tomb and the next day, while shaving, nicked the bite with his razor. As a result, the infection spread, blood poisoning set in, followed by pulmonary pneumonia of which, on April 6,1923, in Cairo,
he died.