Tutankhamun's Funeral

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.