King Tut’s Secrets

You probably recognize my face—or at least my golden mask. Most people know me as King Tut from ancient Egypt. But my real name is Tutankhamun. I became an Egyptian pharaoh, or king, when I was about nine years old. But my reign was not long. I was only 19 when I died from an unknown cause.

My people buried me in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. That’s where many other pharaohs were buried. I was an important king, and I made many big changes to Egypt. But people soon forgot about me, and I was lost for over three thousand years! Then, in 1922, a British archaeologist named Howard Carter discovered my tomb.

Carter and his team were amazed by what they found. The rooms of my tomb were filled with thousands of objects. That was because we ancient Egyptians believed the dead needed things for the afterlife. With me, I had golden chariots, furniture, food, wine— even underwear!

My coffin was made of solid gold. It took Carter ten years to remove everything from my tomb. People were excited about Carter’s discovery. Mine was the most complete pharaoh’s tomb ever found. Other tombs had been robbed of valuable objects. In fact, robbers had actually broken into my tomb twice! But they weren’t able to steal very much.

The contents of my tomb were displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Later some objects traveled across the world. In 1939, two of my trumpets were played on the radio. I hope the audience enjoyed the concert. I heard that 150 million people were listening! The most famous treasure from my tomb was the golden mask on my mummy.

Originally, this mask wasn’t meant for me at all! It had first been made for a different pharaoh. But when I died, it was used on me instead. The mask had to be changed though. The original owner’s face was removed from the front of the mask. Then a new face that looked like mine was placed on the mask. My name was written over the original owner’s name.