King Tut

Tutankhamun’s funerary mask, made of beaten and burnished gold, was on view at the Los Angeles Museum of Art in 1978.

Tutankhamun’s funerary mask, made of beaten and burnished gold, was on view at the Los Angeles Museum of Art in 1978.

Crowds gather at “The Treasures of Tutankamun” exhibit at the L.A. County Museum of Art in 1878.

Crowds gather at “The Treasures of Tutankamun” exhibit at the L.A. County Museum of Art on March 8, 1978.

Crowds gather at “The Treasures of Tutankamun” exhibit at the L.A. County Museum of Art on March 8, 1978.

Closing the Tomb of Tutankhamun, Valley of the Kings, Egypt, in February 1923. The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter (1874-1939) was one of the most astounding discoveries in archaeology. Tutankhamun was a previously unknown pharaoh whose name had been eradicated from historical records by one of his successors because of his association with the heretical pharaoh Akhenaten, who was Tutankhamun’s father-in-law. Consequently his tomb, uniquely, had remained undisturbed by grave robbers.

Soldiers watch treasures being removed from Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1923.

Bearers remove objects from the tomb of King Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor in February 1923.

The mummy of King Tut-Ankh-Amen is shown in his coffin in the tomb where it was discovered in Egypt in 1922.

A quartzite statue of the king on display at the “King Tut: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh exhibit at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Ornate jewelry and bands that wound around the linen of the mummy on display at the current exhibit.

Guests photograph ornate jewelry and bands that wound around the linen of the mummy on display at the current exhibit.

Gilded wooden figure of Tutankhamun on a skiff, throwing harpoon; wood, gesso, gold leaf, bronze, on display at the current exhibit.