Tutankhamun's Funeral

Winlock, Herbert E., with an introduction by Dorothea Arnold (2010)

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Description

In 1907, more than a decade before the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, the archaeological team of Theodore M. Davis unearthed a small cache of materials related to the young pharaoh. The significance of the find was not immediately understood, and the objects entered the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a mystery. It was only several years later, after further excavations and study, that the Museum's Herbert E. Winlock was able to identify them: These were the remains from the embalming and funeral of Tutankhamun, who ruled ancient Egypt in the fourteenth century B.C.

In 1941, after he had retired as director of the Metropolitan Museum, Winlock penned a detailed account of the finds, a now-classic text that is reprinted in this volume. Beginning with a colorful description of his encounter with Davis's group, Winlock proceeds to analyze each of the cache's items in depth: sacks of natron, used to desiccate the body before embalmment; linen bandages and sheets, left over from the wrapping of the mummy; pottery that held offerings of food and drink; decorative collars of flowers, long dried.

Produced to accompany the exhibition "Tutankhamun's Funeral," this book also features an Introduction and Appendix by Dorothea Arnold, Lila Acheson Wallace Chairman of the Museum's Egyptian Art department, which update Winlock's conclusions with recent scholarship and further explain the mummification process and burial rites practiced morethan 3,000 years ago.

Tutankhamun's Funeral is illustrated throughout with new color photography of the objects as well as related works of art and historical images by Harry Burton, the Metropolitan Museum photographer who famously captured the excavation of the pharaoh's treasures. This volume provides a revealing look at the unfolding process of archaeology while shedding light on the end of the life of Tutankhamun.

Table of contents

Directors Foreword
Thomas P. Campbell

Introduction
Dorothea Arnold

Materials Used at the Embalming of King Tutankhamun
Herbert E. Winlock

Updating Winlock: An Appendix of Recent Scholarship
Dorothea Arnold, with Emilia Cortes

Acknowledgments

Photograph Credits

About the authors

Herbert E. Winlock (1884–1950) was Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from 1932 to 1939; prior to that, he headed the Department of Egyptian Art.

Dorothea Arnold is Lila Acheson Wallace Chairman, Department of Egyptian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Press reviews

Egyptian Archeology

"... the book is a very handy re-presentation of a very important group of objects."

Antiquity Journal

"Although slim, it encapsulates much impressive scholarship ... The text is packed with detail enhance by colour photographs and contributions by the appropriate specialists ... an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Tutankhamun, ancient funerals, the mummification process, the politics of early excavation and, perhaps most importantly, the time some discoveries can take to be fully understood."

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Tutankhamun's Funeral

Timelines (1)

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Exhibition

Tutankhamun's Funeral

In 1908, while excavating in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, the American archaeologist Theodore Davis discovered about a dozen large storage jars. Their contents included broken pottery, bags of natron (a mixture of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium sulphate, and sodium chloride that occurs naturally in Egypt), bags of sawdust, floral collars, and pieces of linen with markings from years six and eight during the reign of a then little-known pharaoh named Tutankhamun. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was given six of the vessels and a good part of their contents in 1909.

In time, Herbert Winlock, curator and field director of the Metropolitan's Egyptian excavations and in the 1930s director of the Museum, came to realize that the natron and linen were the embalming refuse from the mummification of Tutankhamun. He also suggested that the animal bones, pottery, and collars might have come from a funeral meal. Winlock's analysis was an important clue that led to Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb some 110 meters away...

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