Howard Carter's diary, 1922.
Saturday, 4 November: "First steps of tomb found."
A sketch from one of Harry Burton's photographs:
Burton's photograph was taken on the spot where the sealed entrance doorway was uncovered on 5 November 1922. The view is looking up the 16-step staircase toward the top step recorded in Carter's diary on 4 November.
Harry Burton was the photographer solely responsible for documenting the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb. Mind-boggling. Such an unimaginably massive and complicated undertaking. Glass plates. Lighting challenges. Photographing the interior, the tomb contents in situ, the individual objects after removal, the people doing the excavating, and visitors to the site. On and on. And Burton's work is just so good, it's easy to forget the conditions he was working under. Inspiring!
I've made a dozen or more drawings and paintings from Harry Burton's photographs, and I'm so grateful that his work is available to view at the Griffith Institute website as part of "the definitive archaeological record of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon's discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun."
Here's a link in case you ever feel like poking around in an amazing archive:
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