Item Carter MSS i.J.388 - Thebes. Carnarvon-Carter excavations. 1911-1922: ostraca, correspondence and report

Identity area

Reference code

Carter MSS i.J.388

Title

Thebes. Carnarvon-Carter excavations. 1911-1922: ostraca, correspondence and report

Date(s)

  • 1931 (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

1 folder

Context area

Name of creator

(1874-1939)

Biographical history

British Egyptologist. Born, London 1874. Died, London 1939. Privately educated. Employed by P. E. Newberry in 1891 working for the Archaeological Survey. Assisted in excavations for the Egypt Exploration Fund 1892-3, was with Petrie at Amarna in 1892, and as a draughtsman to the Deir el-Bahri expedition 1893-9. Appointed Chief Inspector of Antiquities of Upper Egypt 1899-1904. Discovered several royal tombs, including those of Hatshepsut, Tuthmosis IV and Amenophis I. Inspector of Lower Egypt 1905. Employed by Lord Carnarvon from 1909 onwards, to excavate in the Theban necropolis, the Delta and Middle Egypt. His most famous discovery, that of the intact tomb of Tutankhamun, was made in 1922. He spent the next ten years recording the tomb's contents. Most of Carter's records for Tutankhamun's tomb remain unpublished.

Name of creator

(1883-1950)

Biographical history

British Egyptologist. Born, London 1883. Died, Oxford 1950. Studied hieroglyphs at University College, London, as a student of Margaret Murray. Assistant to Gardiner helping him with the lexicographical work on Onomastica. Excavated at various sites including Amarna, Haraga, and Saqqâra. Assistant Curator at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo in 1928-31. Curator of Egyptian Antiquities at the University Museum, Philadelphia, 1931-4. Professor of Egyptology, Oxford, 1934-50. Edited the Journal of Egyptian Archeology, 1934-40.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

This material was sent to the Griffith Institute by Mr Walter Hauser from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1955.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Records for ostraca found during Carnarvon-Carter excavations at Thebes, including those from the Valley of the Kings, 1911-1922.

  • Two typewritten letters from Battiscombe Gunn to Carter, dated 25 and 27 July 1931, concerning Gunn's work on the ostraca
  • Gunn's typewritten report, "The Ostraka", 26 pages, with translations and commentary
  • Carter's manuscript draft letter, dated 7 August 1931, addressed to Gunn, acknowledging receipt of Gunn's report, and the intention to include it in a planned publication for the Carnarvon-Carter excavations between 1911 and early 1922.

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Property of the Griffith Institute. No restrictions.

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Copyright Griffith Institute, University of Oxford.

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Existence and location of copies

Archived scans in Griffith Institute.

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Not published.

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