Howard Carter made a remarkable discovery in 1922 when he located the tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt. The promise of precious artifacts waiting to be revealed to the modern world must have thrilled Carter’s heart as he peaked down into the tomb. Anxiety to enter and retrieve the wondrous treasures and sacred sarcophagus of Tutankhamen might have blurred his ability to think his method of entry through completely. In the process of retrieving the ancient “goods”, Carter destroyed a major portion of one of the burial chamber walls. He sacrificed the image of Isis for the sake of easily obtaining access to more highly valued riches. Now that the expedition is long gone and over, we can only sit back and wonder what was Isis like in her full glory painted on the burial chamber wall? With today’s technology and better understanding of entomology, the question of successfully saving Isis while still obtaining the artifacts of the tomb is a matter of critical thinking, skill, and careful planning. Although Carter accomplished a great task by breaking into the tomb, he stripped it of major component of its authenticity. My fellow group mates and I sought ways to recreate Carter’s expedition omitting the mistake of destroying Isis. I played the visionary role, mainly cultivating as many creative plans as possible and evaluating the likeliness of successful execution. With the help of my other group mates, the plan was fine tuned to what we believe is the best way to get the treasures of the tomb and maintain the treasures on the walls.

The first factor considered for entering the tomb was the origin of access. When deciding the best way to approach entering the tomb, there were certain options that we eliminated immediately. However one plan in particular showed potential success. The question posed was whether or not it was possible to enter from above. By first finding out the longitude and latitude coordinates of Tut’s tomb, it would be possible to pin point the area directly above the burial chamber. Breaking through the top surface above ground would allow aerial access to the chamber. The sarcophagus could then be lifted up and out of the open ceiling. The rest of the treasures and artifacts would be physically removed by people. They would be lowered into the burial chamber and enter through the cut entrance into the treasury room. Once inside the treasury, individual items could be removed. The above basic outline of the plan made it seem feasible to execute. However, investigating the details of putting each aspect of the plan into action revealed how that the plan carried its own seeds of self destruction and ultimately failure.

The main issue with accessing the chamber from the top is dealing with the environmental composition of the earth above the chamber. The Valley of the Kings is primarily composed of layers of thick sedimentary rock. Breaking through such thick layers of rock posed an obvious issue; debris. To conquer this issue, the earth above the tomb would be removed in small proportions through different techniques. Any dirt and rock that could be dug out would be removed first. Once the rock portion of the earth was reached a small area would be tested to measure the depth of the rock with a drill. However by doing so, there is a great risk of damaging the outer most layer of king Tut’s protective casing due to the crumbling rock or by accidently running into it with the drill. Secondly, discovering a drill powerful, long, and slim enough to cut through the rock presented another problem. Such a drill would need an exceptionally high bit rate and durability considering the variations of brittleness that exist in varying layers of rock. Essentially, an expert geologist would need to be on board to identify if such tools even exist. A modern tool that comes closest to fitting the criteria necessary for completing the task is a Rotary Cutter, which is often used in tunnel building. Since Rotary Cutters “are used with great ease for excavating tunnel in different topography which ranges from hard rocks to softer soils” they potentially could break through and smooth out the hard rock above the tomb in same manner it does for the surface of a tunnel ("Rotary Cutter").

If it was possible to dig and drill through majority of the depth between the outside world and the tomb, a new technique could be used to break through the final layer to expose the tomb. All the land removed prior to this point would just be for the sake of decreasing the thickness of the “ceiling” above the tomb. Once the “ceiling” was decreased to a certain thickness chemicals could be used to eat through it. By using chemicals rather than continuing to drill the amount of debris falling down into the chamber decrease drastically. The issue with this technique is determining what chemical is strong enough to disintegrate the rock without being hazardous to human life. Confining the spread of the chemical so that it doesn’t destroy the walls of the chamber in the process of eating through the ceiling would be difficult. However the use of chemicals to destroy the rock ceiling shows more promise of a clean cut aerial entrance to the tomb. According to our research, the composition of the soil is mainly sedimentary rock containing both limestone and sale ("Valley of the Kings"). Limestone is a calcium carbonate, therefore it is possible to dissolve in the prescence of an acid. Hydrogen chloride is a strong enough acid to react with the limestone (Pangalos). Sale expands in the excessive presence of water and as a result of the spreading causes surrounding rock to break ("Valley of the Kings"). This could both aid the process in the sense saving some labor but it could also harm the the method by creating unexpected cracks and debirs; yet another flaw in the plan.

With the tomb open to the sky, a crane could be used to the entire casket as well as any other large item out of the tomb and treasury. The rest of the job would involve physical labor and man power. Most importantly, Isis would be safe. With the diversion from Carters error of destroying Isis, each wall of the chamber would still remain for analysis. With the entire chamber intact, it would be possible to study and look for clues as to how the Egyptians entered and exited the burial chamber from annex. Since there are no skeletal remains of the tombs builders inside the tomb, there must have been some secret or cleverly hidden entrance incorporate within the tomb design.

This plan seemed brilliant conceptually but discovered many potential flaws in real execution. The plan presents certain questions which further investigation could calrify. The exact compostion of the soil would have to be identified; the number of layers of rock, the type of rock in each layer, and the thickness of each layer. In doing so the proper tools, if they exist can be established for use. In the event that such tools do not exist, companies could be contacted to create them. The use of chemicals and hydrogen chloride presents enviornmental and health hazards. Also the reaction occuring between the hydrogen chloride and limestone would create both water and a dangerous amount of carbondioxide (Pangalos). Issues in ventilating the tomb and applying the acid to the rocks presented many unanswered questions. We did not find any known technique for acid use in archeolgic endeavors, therefore a new process would have to be created for chemicals to be applied in massive quantities to the rocks. The "kinks" in this idea caused us to eliminate it as our final plan.  The possibility of entering from above does not seem far fetched but it is not as promising as access the chamber through a tunnel perpendicularly connecting the treasury to the passage hall. As the visionary of the group I realized that despite the creativity of the plan our research did not produce enough evidence to validate its success. The effective plan is outlined here, by a fellow group member, Elliot.

Pangalos, Dr. George."Re: Quick Question." Email from Dr. George Pangalos. 18 November 2009.

"Rotary Cutter." Construction Machinery. B2B, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. <http://www.theconstructionmachinery.com/rotary-cutter.html>.

"Valley of the Kings." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Nov. 2009. Web 20 Nov. 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Kings>.

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