Message #136313

[Bianca]

Ironically, that scene is a scene strangely similar to the one that Carter, long considered the most reputable of archeologists, now stands accused of taking part in himself - in another book on the famous discovery: Tutankhamen: The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving, former head of the Metropolitan Museum in New York.


Hoving's book adds still another version to a long list of King Tut accounts. According to Sergeant Adamson, for example, the King Tut drama began to unfold during the afternoon of November 3,1922. Having resigned himself to his enforced stay in the valley, and inspired, somewhat, by Carter's stories of tomb robbers and treasure, the young sergeant decided to explore his new surroundings. He was making his way along a narrow path 30 feet above where Carter's Egyptian workmen were clearing away the foundations of the laborers' huts, when suddenly he heard a shout.


Attracted by the buzz of excitement, Adamson picked his way down the steep slope to where the Egyptians had unearthed several large boulders. But seeing no reason to get excited over a few boulders, the young soldier went back to his tent and the workmen covered them up.


The next morning, though, when Carter arrived and found his men not working, he asked Adamson what had happened. "Nothing, sir," replied the sergeant, "They did find some boulders but then they covered them up." On hearing this, Carter ordered them to uncover the boulders again and found, beside one of them, a large stone step. Looking back, Adamson now says: "The workmen knew they had found something. They also knew Carter was leaving and that they could come back and claim the credit themselves."