Working with extremely outdated technology, Howard Carter was able to find the tomb of King Tut on November 26, 1922. As best as he could, Carter made his way into King Tut's tomb trying to make it through without damaging the artifacts that were buried in and around the tomb. Howard Carter carefully examined how he was going to get into the antechamber to retrieve the sarcophagus without the destruction of the painting on the wall of the Egyptian Goddess, Isis. The sarcophagus was too much weight and although Carter was able to save the other artifacts, he was unable to retrieve the sarcophagus without the destruction of Isis. Considering the situation and the tools that Carter had to work with and the time period he was working in, there was not much he could do about the destruction of the painting of the Egyptian Goddess. 

Carter had taken it upon himself to come up with the idea to make a hole in the first plaster-sealed entrance and to place a candle through the opening (BBC). After he made his way through the first plaster-sealed wall he was stunned by what he saw: an antechamber filled with all sorts of Roal possessions, including amazing golden chariots and other 'wonderful things' to take the Pharaoh to his afterlife (BBC). Although Carter successfully made his way through the wall into the antechamber, we decided that there had to have been a more efficient and less destructive way to go about his findings. Our group had many thoughts and ideas about how to save Isis but it took a plethora of mishaps in discussion until we finally decided on what we thought to be a sufficient plan. Before we came to our conclusion we threw around ideas such as coming into the tomb through the top with a construction crane but this strategy has some faults to it. Due to the fact that we do not know how well built and sturdy the top of the tomb would be and how easily it might have crumbled because King Tut's tomb was built so many years ago. We also proposed the idea of digging a whole through the passageway into the antechamber, but this also had many flaws as we did not know how far we would have to dig and while we would dig further and further into the earth we would encounter unfamiliar pieces of rock and pieces of underground. Another flaw to this proposal was that the rods that we thought would hold up the hole that we would dig up had the strong chance of collapsing. 

After throwing these ideas off of one another, we came to the decision that through the research Sarah did, we would use a precision microscopic camera to get into the antechamber so that as we were rummaging through the tomb, we would be able to make sure that we were not damaging any aspect of Isis. We would form a hole, only small enough for us to be able to see what in fact we were drilling. I searched for specific precision tools that would enable us to safely make our way around Isis without damaging the painting of the Egyptian Goddess in any way. This was a tough task because of how heavy and large the sarcophagus was. I proposed the idea that we could use a diamond cutting drill in order to sufficiently cut through the wall because of how dense and strong the wall was. Chelsea came up with the idea that it would be smart to retrieve the dimensions of the artifacts inside of King Tut's tomb. This was an efficient idea because we needed these measurements in order to safely remove the artifacts from the tomb while doing the least amount of damage possible. Chelsea proclaimed that the most effective way of removing the artifacts from the tomb was to get the dimensions of each one however if we found the dimensions of the largest artifact, the sarcophagus, we would be safe with all of the other artifacts that were trapped inside. The measurements that Chelsea came up with were 2.47 meters long by 1.47 meters wide and is 1.47 meters high (touregypt). The sarcophagus was carved from a single block of the hardest quartzite and was supported at each corner upon a block of calcite (touregypt). The sarcophagus consists of multiple layers and in total weighs 3,000 pounds (touregypt). Chelsea also made sure to find out what the tomb walls were made of which was important in order to make sure that we were able to safely remove each artifact from the tomb while drilling through the walls. The tomb walls had been left as rough-cut rock which were unsmoothed and unplastered, while the walls of the burial chamber were covered with a gypsum plaster and painted yellow (history 1900s). 

Ultimately, Howard Carter did all he could do considering the technology that we was working with. Considering the type of precisions tools that we used, we were able to more exact with knowing the measurements of the sarcophagus and knowing exactly how deep to dig and the type of tools that would work most efficiently. We still had to cut through the wall but our work to the wall was not nearly as destructive as Carter because we were able to save Isis. When everything was complete and all the artifacts were removed from the chamber, we bad to seal back up everything that we had destroyed or marked up. The heaviest and most difficult artifact to remove, the sarcophagus was taken apart in order to be removed. This was split into three individual coffin sections and removed individually.   

Works Cited

20th Century History. New York Times Company. Web 16 Nov. 2009. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/kingtut_5.htm >. 

BBC Press Office. Howard Carter-Episode Synopsis. 17 Oct. 2005. <file:///Users/meghanhart/Desktop/BBC%20-%20Press%20Office%20-%20Egypt%20Press%20Pack.webarchive>.

  Howard Carter's Diary 1922. Griffith Institute, 8 Nov. 2004. Web. 17 Nov.2009. <http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/4sea1.not.html>. 

 Tour Egypt! InterCity Oz,Inc. Web 17 Nov. 2009.  

<http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/tutshrines.htm>.   

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