Excavator Howard Carter, funded by Lord Carnarvon after years of fruitless digging, found a step cut into the rock of the Valley of the Kings. Clearing the stairway revealed a sealed doorway bearing royal necropolis seals. Three weeks later Carter would peer through a small hole and see, by candlelight, the glint of gold that would make Tutankhamun the most famous pharaoh in history.
For five seasons Carter had scoured the Valley of the Kings for a tomb he believed still lay hidden, and Lord Carnarvon, his patron, had grown weary of pouring money into empty pits. On the morning of November 4, 1922, a water boy stumbled on a buried step while digging near the entrance to the tomb of Ramesses VI. Carter's crew cleared twelve more steps by nightfall, revealing a plastered doorway stamped with necropolis seals.
Carter, in a state of controlled agony, refused to break the seal until Carnarvon arrived from England. He sent a telegram that has become legend: 'At last have made wonderful discovery in Valley; a magnificent tomb with seals intact.' Three weeks later, on November 26, Carter chipped a small hole in a second doorway, held a candle to the gap, and when Carnarvon asked if he could see anything, replied with the understatement that made him famous: 'Yes, wonderful things.' The tomb, remarkably undisturbed by ancient robbers, yielded over 5,000 artifacts and reshaped the world's fascination with ancient Egypt.