Howard Carter was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist,
born in London. From 1891 to 1899 he served in Egypt on the staff
of the Archaeological Survey of Egypt. In 1892 he assisted the
British Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie in the excavation at
Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. Carter also served as inspector in chief
of the antiquities department of the Egyptian government. Among
the discoveries he made in Egypt were the tombs of the pharaoh
Thutmose IV and Queen Hatshepsut. In 1922 Carter and the British
Egyptologist George Herbert, 5th earl of Carnarvon, made one of
the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century. In the
Valley of the Tombs of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt, they discovered
the tomb of Tutankhamen, a pharaoh who reigned in the 14th
century BC. The tomb, which was untouched, held a great
collection of treasures, which are now on display in the Egyptian
Museum in Cairo. The treasures of Tutankhamen were exhibited
during 1972 at the British Museum in London; from 1976 to 1979 a
similar exhibition was shown at six museums in the United States.
