Treasures of Tutenkhamen

Toward the end of Dynasty XVIII Amenhotep III, the builder of the two colossal statues on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor and the
founder of the Temple of Luxor, was succeeded by Amenhotep IV, probably his son. Amenhotep IV, the "heretic" king, decreed
that the ancient religions of Egypt should be replaced by a monotheistic worship of the Aten, the sun. He changed his name to Akhenaten.
He tried to encourage artists to adopt a naturalistic style like that of the Old Kingdom, rather than the imitative style that had been
the custom since. Some of them appear to have succeeded in changing, but others seem to have learned only to imitate the new
instead of the old. Akhenaten was succeeded by Smenkhare, probably his younger brother. Tutenkhamen then succeeded.
He was very young and died very young, probably in his early twenties. He was buried in a very small tomb, which was entered by
robbers soon after his burial. The robbers were interrupted before they could remove anything, and the tomb was resealed and
apparently forgotten. The stone rubble from the large tomb of Rameses VI was thrown on top of the Tutenkhamen tomb. It was not
entered again until it was unearthed by Howard Carter in 1923.

This New Kingdom tomb is the only royal tomb in Egypt which was found with its contents undisturbed since ancient times.
When you visit the small tomb in the Valley of the Kings opposite Luxor, as I did in 1964, and then see the display of its contents
in the Egyptian Museum it is hard to believe that these treasures fit in this small space.

Gold or Gilt Falcon	Gilt Figurines	Hundreds of shabti figures	Deity Netjerankh
Sekhmet, the fierce lioness goddess of the sun and one of the eyes of Ra.	Innermost Coffin of Tutenkhamen	A different view	Gold Mummy Mask
A different view	Throne This work shows strong Atenist influence. During Tut's reign the old religion was reestablished.	A simpler throne-chair	Stone model of Boat, much gilded.
Canopic jars to contain the entrails of the deceased, removed i preparation for mummification.	Shrine which held the canopic jars	Chariot, found disassembled	God Anubis

Thanks to Rev. Willow Polson for identifying of some of the objects

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