File TAA i.3.22 - Seal impressions: Tutankhamun excavation documentation - Carter's notes for planned publication

Howard Carter's drawing of a necropolis seal impression from Tutankhamun's tomb.
TAA Archive i.3.22.20 (detail).

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TAA i.3.22

Title

Seal impressions: Tutankhamun excavation documentation - Carter's notes for planned publication

Date(s)

  • 1922-1939 (Creation)

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Name of creator

(1865-1935)

Biographical history

American Egyptologist and orientalist. Born, Rockford, Ill. 1865. Died, New York 1935. Educated at North-Western College, Naperville, Ill., then Chicago College of Pharmacy, 1882-6. Started a career in pharmacy before going on to study Hebrew at the Congressional Institute. Then Yale University, 1890-1. AM degree, 1892. Went to Berlin to study Egyptology with Erman, 1894. Assistant in Egyptology and assistant director of Haskell Oriental Museum, University of Chicago, 1895-1901. Director of Haskell, 1905. Instructor in Egyptology and Semitic Languages, 1896. Professor of Egyptology and Oriental History, 1905. Whilst working on the Berlin dictionary in 1990-4, he was also able to record many texts from monuments in various German museums which formed the basis of his publication Ancient Records. Director, University of Chicago Egyptian Expedition, 1905-7. Was awarded many honours during his career. Founded the Oriental Institute at Chicago which was financially backed by J. D. Rockefeller, Jnr.

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 Most of Carter's records for Tutankhamun's tomb remain unpublished.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

(1874-1928)

Biographical history

British Egyptologist. Born, Glenorchy, Hobart, Tasmania 1874. Died, Haywards Heath, Sussex 1928. Educated, St Edward's School, Oxford, then Keble College, Oxford. BA, 1895. Worked with W. M. F. Petrie at Dendera, Hû, and Abydos, between 1897-1901. Assisted G. A. Reisner on the California University excavations at Gîza, 1901-6. From 1906 onwards, he spent of the rest of his career working for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, culminating in the position of Associate Curator in 1922. He founded and directed the first Metropolitan Museum expedition to Egypt. Between 1922-4 he was engaged as an assistant to H. Carter during the early stages of excavating of the tomb of Tutankhamun. He was forced to resign this position due to poor health. He published several books and articles and collaborated with Carter on the first volume of the publication The Tomb of Tut.Ankh.Amen (1923).

Archival history

Formerly in the possession of Howard Carter's niece, Miss Phyllis Walker.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Donated by Miss Phyllis Walker in 1945.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Seal impressions. Howard Carter's collected notes for the intended scientific publication of Tutankhamun's tomb.

  • i. Letters from James Henry Breasted to Howard Carter, 1923, on an article in Harpers Magazine, and Tutankhamun's seal impressions.
  • ii. James Henry Breasted's manuscript report on the eight types of seal impression found in Tutankhamun's tomb and 2 letters from Breasted to Carter dated 03-01-1923 and 15-02-1923.
  • iii, iv. Two folders marked "Seals A-H" and "Seals I-S", Carter's annotated typewritten reports with his draft and finished pencil drawings of each type of seal impression, with some manuscript and a few typewritten notes.
  • v. One record card with notes on seals, extracted from a letter from Breasted, dated 16-03-1923, copied by A. C. Mace.
  • Later typed note, dated 1960, with A. H. Gardiner's translation for Seal C.
  • Annotated photograph (Burton (sic) P0274b), almost certainly taken by Carter, of the outermost doorway showing the blocking intact with seals.

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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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Archived scans in Griffith Institute.

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