Carter, Howard

Howard Carter, född 9 maj 1874 i Kensington i London, död 2 mars 1939 i Kensington i London, var en brittisk egyptolog.
Carter deltog från 1890 i William Flinders Petries utgrävningar i Egypten, och hjälpte 1893-99 Édouard Naville vid utgrävningen av Deiv el-Bakritemplet och offentliggörandet av resultaten därifrån. Under senare år ledde han främst det femtonåriga sökandet efter Tutankhamons grav för Lord Carnarvons räkning, och var den som 1922 upptäckte graven i Konungarnas dal utanför Luxor.
Då man trodde sig ha hittat den rätta platsen för Tutankhamons grav anslöt sig lord Carnarvon, och när Carter bröt igenom den sista väggen till gravkammaren, med ett vaxljus i handen, ska han ha yttrat det klassiska ”Jag ser underbara ting!” (Eng: Carnarvon: "Can you see anything?" Carter: "Yes, wonderful things!").
Jag ser underbara ting – Strövtåg i Egypten är titeln på en dokumentärfilm av Hans Villius och Olle Häger från 1993.
Carter utgav tillsammans med Arthur Cruttenden Mace böckerna The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen (2 band 1923-27). (Wikipedia, 2015-08-19)

Howard Carter (9 May 1874 – 2 March 1939) was an English archaeologist and Egyptologist who became world famous after discovering the intact tomb of 14th century BC pharaoh Tutankhamun (colloquially known as "King Tut" and "the boy king") in November 1922.
Howard Carter was born in Kensington, London, the son of Samuel Carter, an artist, and Martha Joyce Carter. His father trained and developed Howard's artistic talents.
Howard Carter spent much of his childhood with relatives in the Norfolk market town of Swaffham, the birthplace of both his parents. In 1891 the Egypt Exploration Fund (EEF) sent Carter to assist Percy Newberry in the excavation and recording of Middle Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan.

Although only 17, Carter was innovative in improving the methods of copying tomb decoration. In 1892 he worked under the tutelage of Flinders Petrie for one season at Amarna, the capital founded by the pharaoh Akhenaten. From 1894 to 1899 he worked with Édouard Naville at Deir el-Bahari, where he recorded the wall reliefs in the temple of Hatshepsut.

In 1899, Carter was appointed as the first chief inspector of the Egyptian Antiquities Service (EAS). He supervised a number of excavations at Thebes (now known as Luxor). In 1904 he was transferred to the Inspectorate of Lower Egypt. Carter was praised for his improvements in the protection of, and accessibility to, existing excavation sites, and his development of a grid-block system for searching for tombs. The Antiquities Service also provided funding for Carter to head his own excavation projects and during this period Carter discovered the Tombs of Thutmose I and Thutmose III, although both tombs had been robbed of treasures long before.

Carter resigned from the Antiquities Service in 1905 after formal inquiry into what became known as the Saqqara Affair, a noisy confrontation between Egyptian site guards and a group of French tourists. Carter sided with the Egyptian personnel. (Wikipedia 2015)