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4 November 1922: the step that led to Tutankhamun's tomb, and the seals with his name

4 November 2026

On 4 November 1922 Howard Carter's workmen in the Valley of the Kings uncovered a step cut into the rock, below the huts where earlier diggers had camped. It was the top of a staircase down to a blocked doorway, and plaster on that door carried the stamp of the man buried behind it, Tutankhamun.

The date came round again 103 years later: on 4 November 2025 the Grand Egyptian Museum near Giza opened to the public, with everything from the tomb shown together for the first time.

A water boy is credited with the first step

Carter's own book says a worker found the step as the men cleared the ground under the old huts. Other tellings give the find to a boy who carried water for the workmen, and different people have been named as that boy, among them Hussein Abd el-Rassul, whom Zahi Hawass named in 2018. Historians think the story may mix more than one account.

Carter had worked in the valley for Lord Carnarvon since 1917, and the season was meant to be the last. He had the staircase cleared to the top of a door, saw the seals, then had it filled in again and sent a telegram to Carnarvon in England. Work restarted after Carnarvon and his daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert reached Luxor on 23 November.

Read the tomb of Tutankhamun

A jackal over nine captives sealed the door

Mud plaster over the blocked doors was pressed with stamps. Most showed the seal of the royal cemetery at Thebes: a jackal lying above nine bound captives. The nine stand for all of Egypt's enemies, held down by the god of the dead.

The jackal (E15) is Anubis, written in full inpw: the flowering reed (M17) for i, the ripple of water (N35) for n, the stool (Q3) for p and the quail chick (G43) for w, then the jackal itself. Anubis was the god of embalming who guarded tombs, and statues of him lay on top of a gilded shrine inside this one.

Jackal lying down, tail hanging Flowering reed Ripple of water Stool Quail chick

The seals carry his throne name, Nebkheperure

Other stamps carried the king's throne name, nb-ḫprw-rꜥ, Nebkheperure, "lord of the manifestations of Ra". The sun disc (N5) is rꜥ, written first though read last. The scarab beetle (L1) is ḫpr, the three strokes under it (Z2) make it plural, ḫprw, and the basket (V30) is nb, "lord".

Four signs fit easily on a small stamp, so the throne name is the one most often pressed into clay. His birth name, twt-ꜥnḫ-imn, Tutankhamun, "living image of Amun", takes ten signs in its long form. It begins with Amun's name and holds the ankh (S34), "life". Carter knew the name from objects found nearby in earlier years, so the seals told him whose tomb it was before he went in.

Sun Scarab beetle Plural strokes Basket Ankh

Read both of Tutankhamun's cartouches

Wonderful things came on 26 November

On 26 November the team reached a second sealed door at the end of the passage. Carter made a hole, held up a candle, and Carnarvon asked if he could see anything. The famous answer, "Yes, wonderful things", is the one in Carter's book. His notes say "Yes, it is wonderful", and the polished line may be the work of his colleague Arthur Mace.

The burial chamber was opened officially on 16 February 1923. Carnarvon died in Cairo on 5 April 1923 from an infected mosquito bite, and stories of a curse spread. No curse is written anywhere in the tomb, and a 2002 study in the British Medical Journal found that those who entered did not die sooner than those who did not.

Clearing the tomb took ten years

The four small rooms held 5,398 objects by the excavators' count: chariots, beds, chests, statues, clothes, food and the nested shrines, sarcophagus and three coffins of the king. The innermost coffin is of solid gold and weighs 110.4 kg. The gold mask covered his head and shoulders.

Every object was numbered, photographed by Harry Burton and recorded before it was moved. The last pieces went to Cairo in February 1932. The records are now online at the Griffith Institute in Oxford, including the cards for the door seals.

The whole treasure is now in one museum

For a century only part of the treasure was on show in the old Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square. At the Grand Egyptian Museum, which opened on 1 November 2025 and to visitors on 4 November, two galleries hold the complete burial, the mask and coffins among it. The tomb itself is still open in the Valley of the Kings, with the king's mummy in its burial chamber.

Look for Nebkheperure on almost everything in those galleries. It is carved on chests, inlaid in jewellery and painted on the shrines, often next to his queen Ankhesenamun's name.

Plan a visit to the Grand Egyptian Museum

Questions

When was Tutankhamun's tomb discovered?

The first step was found on 4 November 1922. The tomb was entered on 26 November 1922, and the burial chamber opened on 16 February 1923.

Who found Tutankhamun's tomb?

Howard Carter's team, paid for by Lord Carnarvon. The first step is often credited to a water boy, though the story varies.

Was there a curse on the tomb?

No curse is written in the tomb, and a 2002 study found no early deaths among the people who entered it.

Where are Tutankhamun's treasures today?

In the Grand Egyptian Museum near Giza, shown together since November 2025. His mummy stays in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

Glossary

ankh: The sign of life, ꜥnḫ, a cross with a loop on top. Gods hold it out to kings in temple scenes.
birth name: The name a king was given at birth, written in the second cartouche after the title "son of Ra". Egyptologists also call it the nomen.
coffin: A box for the body, of wood or stone, often shaped like a person and painted with spells, names and gods. Rich burials nested several coffins inside a sarcophagus.
mummification: Preserving a body for the afterlife. Embalmers took out the organs, dried the body in natron salt for about 40 days and wrapped it in linen.
mummy: A body dried and wrapped in linen so that it would last. Egyptians believed the spirit needed it in the afterlife.
sarcophagus: A large stone coffin. In rich burials it held one or more coffins of wood.
scarab: The dung beetle, sign of the rising sun and of the word ḫpr, "to come into being". Carved scarabs were used as seals and amulets.
throne name: The name a king took when he came to the throne, written in the first cartouche after the title "King of Upper and Lower Egypt". Egyptologists also call it the prenomen.
tomb: A burial place: a pit, a mastaba, a pyramid or rooms cut into rock. Its chapel was where the family brought offerings.
Valley of the Kings: A desert valley on the west bank at Luxor where the New Kingdom kings were buried in tombs cut into the rock, Tutankhamun among them.