A strange and wonderful medley

June 6, 2006 10:18 PM

Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an ExcavationThe University of Oxford's Griffith Institute has put together a fantastic digital collection of records documenting Howard Carter's excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun, including ninety-three pages of photographs taken by Harry Burton during the excavation. You can also read Carter's diaries and eyewitness accounts of the excavation.
posted by LeeJay (11 comments total)

Very cool. Thank you for sharing!
posted by BioCSnerd at 11:00 PM on June 6, 2006

Just because not many people know it, David Macaulay's Motel of the Mysteries is a cute parody of the Tutankhamun excavation. It was originally released during the 1970s King Tut mania.
posted by dhartung at 11:27 PM on June 6, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

what a great post!
posted by growabrain at 1:03 AM on June 7, 2006

Wow... thank you so much for this post.
posted by basicchannel at 4:47 AM on June 7, 2006

This is awesome, thank you for sharing!!
posted by headspace at 5:19 AM on June 7, 2006

Wow...great!

Two donkeys.

A good find of a good find.
posted by rmmcclay at 6:06 AM on June 7, 2006

All this gushing is a load of crap-- my King Tut FPP from last month kicks this FPP's ass.
posted by ibmcginty at 8:17 AM on June 7, 2006

ibmcginty: You've no idea how many people I conveyed that story to. You have really no idea.

Seriously.
posted by basicchannel at 8:47 AM on June 7, 2006

This is way awesome, thanks.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 8:56 AM on June 7, 2006

This is very cool and what makes the internet amazing. Thank you.

I was really into this when I was a boy. After seeing a Pharaoh exhibit at some museum coupled with the release of Indiana Jones, I remember that I was certain that archeology is what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be Howard Carter. Of course, that passion died the same death of so many other boyhood passions, but reading this brings back that boyhood joy and intrigue.

So thanks on multiple levels.
posted by dios at 9:05 AM on June 7, 2006

Two donkeys.

I really loved that part of the diaries for some reason. Yeah, some days you're excavating the tomb of a famous Egyptian King but most days it's just you and two damn donkeys.
posted by LeeJay at 8:16 PM on June 7, 2006