0:00:02 > 0:00:05'The great civilisation of ancient Egypt,
0:00:05 > 0:00:09'with its dramatic spectacle and mystery has always fascinated me.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11'I've been travelling the country to explore
0:00:11 > 0:00:13'some of the intriguing stories
0:00:13 > 0:00:16'that have emerged from this historic land.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20'In this programme, I'm following in the footsteps of Howard Carter,
0:00:20 > 0:00:24'tracing the life of the man who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.'
0:00:42 > 0:00:45'Here, in the Egyptian museum in Cairo,
0:00:45 > 0:00:47'this spectacular collection of treasure
0:00:47 > 0:00:50'comes from the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54'It's come to symbolise the greatness of ancient Egypt.
0:00:54 > 0:01:00'But it's here only thanks to the sheer tenacity of the renowned archaeologist Howard Carter,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03'who in 1922 - after all others had given up -
0:01:03 > 0:01:07'pushed on to discover the tomb of the little-known Pharaoh.'
0:01:14 > 0:01:19Howard Carter made this amazing discovery against all the odds,
0:01:19 > 0:01:21and he's always intrigued me.
0:01:21 > 0:01:22He's now, of course,
0:01:22 > 0:01:27only known in association with the treasure of Tutankhamun,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30but in fact, he made a major contribution to archaeology.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33Indeed, from the moment he arrived in Egypt,
0:01:33 > 0:01:38he started to question and change the way in which archaeology was carried out.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45'But the life of Howard Carter holds a mystery that I want to explore.'
0:01:47 > 0:01:52What's astonishing is that Carter didn't get any official recognition from Britain.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57He didn't get any of the honours he so richly deserved.
0:01:57 > 0:01:58Really extraordinary.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02'What was it about this man that made him achieve so much,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05'yet receive so little from his own countrymen?'
0:02:05 > 0:02:09One clue is offered by his childhood,
0:02:09 > 0:02:10and by the strange story
0:02:10 > 0:02:14that brought him to Egypt in the first place.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18What I find most surprising about Carter's childhood
0:02:18 > 0:02:22is that he had almost no education and he was a real loner.
0:02:22 > 0:02:23He was a sickly child,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27and was sent away to live with his maiden aunts in rural Norfolk.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30From what we know, he had few friends here
0:02:30 > 0:02:33and I suspect became a self-reliant young man,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36perhaps triggering in him a sense of being an outsider.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Something that lasted all his life.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43But it's Carter's rudimentary education that astonishes me.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45He left school altogether at 15,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48showing none of the academic aptitude
0:02:48 > 0:02:50that would later bring him such fame.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54In fact, he never took an exam in his life.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57But he did have a talent for painting and drawing,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00especially the local countryside and wildlife.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Norfolk is probably where Howard Carter would have stayed,
0:03:03 > 0:03:07if it wasn't for the magical attraction of a stately home nearby.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Didlington Hall was where Carter saw something
0:03:11 > 0:03:13that would trigger a lifelong passion.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Here, Lord and Lady Amherst had assembled
0:03:18 > 0:03:23the finest private collection of Egyptian objects in Britain.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Carter became entranced and inspired
0:03:25 > 0:03:28by what he saw of this ancient art.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32Then he got an astonishing break.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39Lady Amherst suggested he join an expedition she was funding to Egypt.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42He was to use his artistic talents to record the ancient art
0:03:42 > 0:03:45on the walls of the tombs that were being excavated.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48So suddenly, at the age of 17,
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Carter found himself setting sail for far-off Egypt.
0:03:52 > 0:03:58I'm following his route down the Nile, to a place called Beni Hasan.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Carter, it seems, had arrived at just the right moment.
0:04:02 > 0:04:08The late 19th century was a boom time for archaeologists in Egypt.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13Tombs were being discovered, temples excavated and recorded,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and much of the work was paid for
0:04:16 > 0:04:20by rich amateurs or English aristocrats.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24They would fund archaeologists to come here,
0:04:24 > 0:04:29pay for excavators to work on their pet projects,
0:04:29 > 0:04:30and this, of course,
0:04:30 > 0:04:36is exactly how young Carter found himself here in Egypt in 1891.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40Can you imagine what this young chap must have felt?
0:04:40 > 0:04:46How thrilling - this 17-year-old, poorly educated, from rural Norfolk,
0:04:46 > 0:04:53suddenly being in this exotic world of Egyptian archaeology.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58'I've come to these rock-cut tombs at Beni Hasan
0:04:58 > 0:05:00'to see where Carter started work,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02'and where, right from the start,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05'he would want to challenge the way things were done.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09'His first task was to record wall paintings.'
0:05:10 > 0:05:13And what paintings!
0:05:13 > 0:05:16The young Carter, already gripped by Egyptian art,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19must have been overcome with excitement
0:05:19 > 0:05:21when he entered this tomb.
0:05:21 > 0:05:27The scheme of paintings is so complete on all four walls.
0:05:27 > 0:05:33It shows the earthly delights and achievements of a local governor.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38We see him fishing, hunting, receiving tribute.
0:05:39 > 0:05:46Now, Carter had been employed as a "tracer" - paid £50 a year.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50The tracer's job was simply to put a piece of tracing paper
0:05:50 > 0:05:53over the image to be recorded, and then copy it,
0:05:53 > 0:05:55and that's it, basically.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Once it's been filled in, it ends up looking like this.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Pretty crude.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Just a black and white image silhouette.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07All the details there, but rather robbed of life.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11You can see that if you compare this tracing
0:06:11 > 0:06:14with the wall painting it's traced from.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19Full of colour and texture and life and meaning, and for Carter -
0:06:19 > 0:06:21with his love of Egyptian art -
0:06:21 > 0:06:25this sort of arid approach simply wasn't good enough.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36So, at the age of 17, he began his mission
0:06:36 > 0:06:40to raise the standards by which Egyptian art was recorded.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Here, what we can see are some charming watercolours
0:06:48 > 0:06:52that he produced of some of the paintings on the walls.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57But I have copies of them, and this was really to play to his strengths,
0:06:57 > 0:06:59because he was a very talented artist,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02and he loved recording natural life.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05And this bird, I believe, is somewhere in front of me.
0:07:05 > 0:07:11Ah, yes, there he is, perching up there in this scene.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15And here's another one. Up there, yes.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19These little creatures are being - I'm afraid -
0:07:19 > 0:07:23hunted by the owner of this tomb who's up there,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26sort of poking at them with a big stick.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28One of his worldly delights.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32The longer Carter spent in Egypt,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35the more sophisticated his artwork became.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44In the archives, I tracked down this stunning original watercolour,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47painted just four years after he arrived in Egypt.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52It must have really caught the eye of the archaeological community.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56He was in his early 20s when he made this, in 1895.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59It shows an image of Horus.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01It's a wonderful piece of work.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03It shows many things about Carter.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06It shows how meticulous he was as an observer.
0:08:06 > 0:08:12It shows the image absolutely in its correct context...
0:08:12 > 0:08:14the hieroglyphs, some removed.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17It shows the cracks...
0:08:17 > 0:08:18on the wall.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23So, we get from this the sense that he's observing
0:08:23 > 0:08:25the photographic precision,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28not an emotional interpretation.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31An accurate rendering of this thing of beauty -
0:08:31 > 0:08:35drawing as a scientific exercise.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37In a sense, it's pioneering.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39It's on the cutting edge
0:08:39 > 0:08:42of the way Egyptian art was being documented
0:08:42 > 0:08:44in the late 19th century.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Carter's obsession with precision and accuracy
0:08:48 > 0:08:50would have been a good start
0:08:50 > 0:08:53for someone with ambitions to be an archaeologist.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57And he was soon to get his first lesson - from a real master.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01A little south of the tombs at Beni Hasan
0:09:01 > 0:09:05is the site of the ancient city of El Armana.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10'It's a desolate plain where Carter made his first steps towards his future career.'
0:09:12 > 0:09:14At the time, there was a thriving dig here,
0:09:14 > 0:09:20led by the pioneering archaeologist Flinders Petrie.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Petrie's philosophy was that every object on an ancient site, however small,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27could hold vital clues, and should be recorded.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30It was a far more scientific approach
0:09:30 > 0:09:32than was common at the time.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Carter came here to collect objects for the Amhersts back in Norfolk,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39but significantly, he was watching
0:09:39 > 0:09:42and learning the way Petrie ran an excavation.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47The meticulous Carter soaked up Petrie's painstaking techniques,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50and they were the key to his later great success.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Carter's trail led me further south
0:09:55 > 0:09:58to Luxor, the site of the old city of Thebes.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05'It's where Carter - still only 19 years old -
0:10:05 > 0:10:07'got the chance to bring together his art
0:10:07 > 0:10:10'and his growing passion for archaeology.
0:10:10 > 0:10:11'It was here,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15'at the magnificent mortuary temple of the Queen Hatshepsut
0:10:15 > 0:10:17'at Deir el-Bahari.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23'When Carter arrived as the site artist,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25'the place was still half-buried...
0:10:27 > 0:10:31'..but what eventually emerged was a spectacular monument.
0:10:37 > 0:10:42'Carter's job was to oversee the recording of the ancient art as it emerged from the rubble.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47'But he soon demonstrated his newly learned knowledge of archaeology.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51'Gradually, Carter earned the respect of the authorities,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54'taking on increasing responsibility.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59'He ended up, after six years, almost running the whole excavation.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04'Deir el-Bahari was Carter's big break as an archaeologist.
0:11:04 > 0:11:10'At the age of 25, this uneducated man had learned his profession on the job.'
0:11:13 > 0:11:18And that led to another big step on his road to fame.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20He was offered the job of chief inspector
0:11:20 > 0:11:23in the Egyptian Antiquities Service.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27It really had been an extraordinary, rapid rise for the Norfolk schoolboy.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32He now supervised many of the ancient sites in Egypt...
0:11:35 > 0:11:37..including the great temples at Luxor,
0:11:37 > 0:11:39and the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45'And he had authority over older and more experienced archaeologists.
0:11:45 > 0:11:51'Some, no doubt, resented this - something that may have added to Carter's sense of being an outsider.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55'But his success was not to last.'
0:11:55 > 0:11:56His obsessive streak
0:11:56 > 0:12:00that made him a painstaking artist and archaeologist
0:12:00 > 0:12:03also made him dangerously inflexible.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06And this led to a huge row with his employers.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09'One afternoon in 1905 -
0:12:09 > 0:12:11'at the site of the great step-pyramid at Saqqara -
0:12:11 > 0:12:16'a group of drunken French tourists were causing a scene,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19'so Carter had them thrown out.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22'It caused a major diplomatic incident with the French.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26'Carter was ordered to apologise, but he refused,
0:12:26 > 0:12:30'and - after months of wrangling - he resigned from his beloved job.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32'It caused considerable embarrassment
0:12:32 > 0:12:34'to the British establishment,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37'and didn't do Carter's reputation any good.'
0:12:40 > 0:12:43It was a bad time for Carter.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Really very little detail is known about his life at this period.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48He seems to have spent days
0:12:48 > 0:12:50wandering around the back-streets of Luxor,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53looking at stalls like these, chatting to people.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55Really, he had no direction,
0:12:55 > 0:12:57obviously he must have been very depressed.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00There were no obvious employers for him.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04Old sponsors like Lord Amherst... Well, he'd gone bankrupt,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08and potential new employers seemed to rather shun Carter.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13So, he became... well, a gentleman dealer, really -
0:13:13 > 0:13:15buying and selling antiquities.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18All a bit, I suppose, embarrassing for him.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20A bit of a...sort of a disgrace,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23but he had his art to fall back on, his artistic talent.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26He made watercolours -
0:13:26 > 0:13:31drawings of famous locations, ancient buildings - and sold them.
0:13:31 > 0:13:32Didn't make him a fortune,
0:13:32 > 0:13:38but it certainly provided him with a reliable and reasonable income.
0:13:43 > 0:13:44'For four long years,
0:13:44 > 0:13:49'Carter was almost an outcast from the world of Egyptian excavation.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53'But then came a turning point that would reverse his fortune
0:13:53 > 0:13:56'and lead to the the biggest archaeological success
0:13:56 > 0:13:57'of the 20th century.
0:14:00 > 0:14:05'This is the hotel in Luxor where Carter met the fabulously wealthy Lord Carnarvon,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08'who was to become his new patron and change his life.'
0:14:09 > 0:14:12Caught on camera, Carter - on the right -
0:14:12 > 0:14:15clearly struck up a rapport with the aristocrat,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18and began to adopt some of his style.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23The two men worked together for years in various parts of Egypt with only modest success.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26But then, in the Valley of the Kings -
0:14:26 > 0:14:29the burial ground for so many Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt -
0:14:29 > 0:14:35Carter and Carnarvon became more and more convinced that they could find the tomb of Tutankhamun -
0:14:35 > 0:14:37that so many others had sought and missed.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40As the search for the missing tomb went on,
0:14:40 > 0:14:41it's fascinating to realise
0:14:41 > 0:14:45that it was Carter's less attractive characteristics -
0:14:45 > 0:14:47his stubborn tenacity, his obstinacy -
0:14:47 > 0:14:49that led to eventual triumph.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54In the summer of 1922, Carnarvon wanted to abandon the search.
0:14:54 > 0:14:55Carter wouldn't give in,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59and persuaded him to finance one more season of digging.
0:14:59 > 0:15:04Carter systematically explored the unexcavated section of the Valley,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08and within a few weeks, the world knew Carter's hunch had been right.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10Walking here,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13it's easy to understand why the tomb of Tutankhamun
0:15:13 > 0:15:17was hidden for so long, why it was so hard to find.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21The entrance to his tomb is right in front of me,
0:15:21 > 0:15:23now covered by this flat concrete roof.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26The entrance being just about here.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30Behind me is a later tomb to Rameses VI,
0:15:30 > 0:15:31and when that was dug,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35obviously lots of limestone chippings and spoil
0:15:35 > 0:15:37would have been cascading right down here,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41utterly burying, obscuring, Tutankhamun's tomb.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48'It's thrilling now to retrace Carter's footsteps.'
0:15:48 > 0:15:50Golly! This is it.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52This is where it happened.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56That magical moment when Carter found the entrance to the tomb.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Things have been tidied up a bit since his time,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02but nevertheless, still very exciting,
0:16:02 > 0:16:07and down these few steps is the entrance to the tomb itself.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14This is the first door where Carter found the seals intact.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17He then started to remove the rubble
0:16:17 > 0:16:21and go down the descending passage, as I am now.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Carter reached the second door - here it is -
0:16:30 > 0:16:35also filled with rubble, plastered over, seals intact.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Goodness me, this is exciting.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40Well, he then made a little hole here,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44I suppose, hoping against hope they wouldn't see a sea of devastation.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47He looked through this little hole,
0:16:47 > 0:16:53and saw something that made him turn back to Carnarvon standing up there, and say,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56"I can see wonderful things."
0:16:56 > 0:17:00He realised the tomb had not been pillaged by robbers in antiquity.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02Much survived.
0:17:02 > 0:17:03He saw in front of him
0:17:03 > 0:17:06a series of great ritual couches,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10gilded animal heads, a chest down there,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12a great treasury of artefacts,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16bits of chariots were around, and over here when he came in,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19there was a wall, since removed - a rubble wall -
0:17:19 > 0:17:22dividing this, the ante-chamber, from the burial chamber.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25And here we see the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun
0:17:25 > 0:17:27with all the coffins inside it.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32Of course, in that coffin is the young Pharaoh's body.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39This was the first Royal tomb from Ancient Egypt
0:17:39 > 0:17:41ever to be found intact -
0:17:41 > 0:17:44virtually untouched by tomb robbers.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Carter must have been thrilled indeed.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Yet when I tracked down his diary for 1922,
0:17:50 > 0:17:54I was surprised by its matter-of-fact tone.
0:17:55 > 0:17:56Here we have it.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01The 4th of November, "First steps of tomb found."
0:18:01 > 0:18:05This is a moment when he realises he's on to something.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Over the page, on the 5th of November,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13"Discovered tomb under tomb of Rameses VI.
0:18:13 > 0:18:19"Investigated same and found seals intact."
0:18:19 > 0:18:25Getting to the 23rd of November, "Lord Carnarvon arrives."
0:18:25 > 0:18:30On the 25th, "Opened first doors" Incredible moment.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34And the next day, yes, here we have it, the 26th,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37"Opened second doorway."
0:18:37 > 0:18:38And this great event,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41the greatest event in the history of archaeology, really -
0:18:41 > 0:18:43certainly in the 20th century -
0:18:43 > 0:18:48is recorded in very spare detail in this little book.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53It's strange reading really, lacking in emotion.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55I suppose...
0:18:55 > 0:19:01this portrayal of this great event in this rather detached way
0:19:01 > 0:19:04is a portrait of the man himself.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Whatever his feelings about the discovery,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13we can be sure that Carter was soon very aware of the hard slog ahead.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Clearing the tomb of the hundreds of objects
0:19:19 > 0:19:22and preparing them for the trip downriver to the Cairo Museum
0:19:22 > 0:19:25would be, for Carter, almost a life sentence.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32Everything we see today owes its beauty - if not its survival -
0:19:32 > 0:19:35to the care taken by Carter and his team,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38such as this stunning golden throne,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42with its wonderful image showing Tutankhamun and his wife.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48It's no surprise to discover
0:19:48 > 0:19:52that the meticulous Carter kept notes of everything he found.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55'But when I looked at his original records,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58'I was amazed by the volume of detail.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02'There's a full written description, and pictures too.'
0:20:02 > 0:20:06This is a set of drawings of the throne
0:20:06 > 0:20:08by Carter himself,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11and characteristically meticulous,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14absolutely lovely annotated drawings,
0:20:14 > 0:20:16each component labelled,
0:20:16 > 0:20:21revealing what it's made out of - the components, the materials -
0:20:21 > 0:20:25"Wood overlaid with gold."
0:20:25 > 0:20:29And in conjunction with the drawings are photographs.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32Lovely use of photography.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34The throne shown at various angles,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36details, again annotated,
0:20:36 > 0:20:41revealing the materials it's made of again, confirming the drawings.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Fantastic piece of work, this.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49When you consider that Carter produced packs of cards like this for every object -
0:20:49 > 0:20:51hundreds of objects -
0:20:51 > 0:20:55you then begin to understand how this project took over his life.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08The joy of this tremendous discovery
0:21:08 > 0:21:11was soon tainted for Carter.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13He was a solitary man.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15He wasn't used to working with a large team.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17And he now needed a large team
0:21:17 > 0:21:19to work with him on this great discovery,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22to catalogue, to analyse, even just to move the objects,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24and that was difficult for him.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27He couldn't work with people who didn't work as he worked,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29and very few people worked like he worked.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32That was one of the disappointments, I suppose,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36but the biggest thing was his fall-out with Lord Carnarvon.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40The trouble was, having funded the search for the tomb,
0:21:40 > 0:21:43Carnarvon expected something in return.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Traditionally, the finds from an archaeological dig
0:21:46 > 0:21:49would be shared between the sponsor of the excavation and the state.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52But with an intact royal tomb like this one,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55the Egyptian authorities wanted to keep everything.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59Carter supported this view and disagreed with Carnarvon.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02He believed this was such an important find
0:22:02 > 0:22:06that Carnarvon should give up a claim to any share of the treasure.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09It was clear that the two men were moving apart.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15This must have been a very difficult time for Carter.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17On the one hand, this great discovery
0:22:17 > 0:22:20making him internationally famous,
0:22:20 > 0:22:24on the other hand, the collapse of old relationships,
0:22:24 > 0:22:26particularly with Carnarvon.
0:22:26 > 0:22:33So, Carter was a man more isolated, more alone.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38And that feeling must have been deepened just a few months later,
0:22:38 > 0:22:42when Carter lost his friend and patron for good.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46In the spring of 1923, Carnarvon travelled upriver to Aswan
0:22:46 > 0:22:49where he went sailing with his daughter and some friends.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52It was to be Lord Carnarvon's last holiday.
0:22:53 > 0:23:00Within a couple of weeks Carnarvon was dead, just four months after the the tomb had been opened.
0:23:00 > 0:23:01He'd been bitten by a mosquito.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03The bite had become infected,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06and he died of blood poisoning and pneumonia.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09The suddenness of the death led to wild speculation,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13fuelled by the fact that it is said that back in England,
0:23:13 > 0:23:18Carnarvon's dog dropped dead at the same time as his master died.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20Was this tomb in fact cursed?
0:23:20 > 0:23:26Was Carnarvon being punished for his role in disturbing the rest...
0:23:26 > 0:23:28of the Pharaoh?
0:23:28 > 0:23:30This kind of superstition
0:23:30 > 0:23:34only increased the whirlwind of interest in Tutankhamun.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36Tut-mania, even Egypt-mania,
0:23:36 > 0:23:40was sweeping the world, embracing everything.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42Showbusiness...
0:23:42 > 0:23:44fashion...
0:23:46 > 0:23:48..even architecture.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53But Carter was suspicious of all the publicity.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56I think he found it a distraction from his work in the tomb.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00He became irritable and was picking fights with everyone,
0:24:00 > 0:24:02even the Egyptian authorities.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04Eventually they closed him down,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07banning him from the tomb for nearly a year.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14I was saddened to discover how once again Carter's cantankerousness
0:24:14 > 0:24:16had separated him from his life's work.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21It was not until the autumn of 1925,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24three years after he discovered the tomb,
0:24:24 > 0:24:28that he was able to open the sarcophagus.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30Finally, Carter came face-to-face
0:24:30 > 0:24:34with the mummified body of the 19-year-old Pharaoh.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41The body of Tutankhamun, still in this coffin,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44remains the focus of intense interest.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46It can tell us, we believe,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49much about his life, how he died,
0:24:49 > 0:24:53indeed maybe even reveal whether he was in fact murdered,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55as many now speculate.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00These are all questions that we know intrigued Carter,
0:25:00 > 0:25:06but ironically the removal of the body from the coffin by Carter
0:25:06 > 0:25:09destroyed much crucial evidence.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12The remains were firmly set in hard resin,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16and Carter had to break the body apart to remove it.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18This treatment, typical of the time,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22has made it harder to work out how the young king died,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25but over the years, several attempts have been made.
0:25:25 > 0:25:31In the 1960s, when the body was X-rayed, damage to part of the skull
0:25:31 > 0:25:35raised the suspicion that a violent blow had killed him.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41But the idea was dismissed by more detailed later scans.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Whatever investigations are carried out,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46it seems the death of Tutankhamun
0:25:46 > 0:25:49will remain as mysterious as it was for Carter.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54'By 1932 - after ten years of work -
0:25:54 > 0:25:58'Howard Carter had finished clearing the tomb.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02'Everything had gone, save the king's body.
0:26:02 > 0:26:03'The tomb of Tutankhamun
0:26:03 > 0:26:07'is the only one out of 26 royal burials in the Valley
0:26:07 > 0:26:10'in which the occupant still remains.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12'But now Carter's job was over,
0:26:12 > 0:26:16'and he must have felt a real sense of anticlimax.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20'Tutankhamun was a triumph that was hard to follow.'
0:26:24 > 0:26:30In the years after the opening of the coffin, Carter felt less and less comfortable in Egypt.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34The authority took over the running of Tutankhamun's tomb,
0:26:34 > 0:26:38and I suppose, in a way, Carter felt he'd lost his baby.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42The old days were past - for him, anyway.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46I suppose the romance of Egypt had gone. He stayed on a bit.
0:26:46 > 0:26:52He used to take tours around the tomb and then, in 1935,
0:26:52 > 0:26:55he decided to go home to England.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Back here, Carter's health deteriorated.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08He'd never married and he seems to have lived a rather solitary life.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14Carter died in March 1939,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18before he managed to publish a full account of his great discovery,
0:27:18 > 0:27:20which was ironic really,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23for a man dedicated to documenting everything,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27and he's buried here, in Putney Vale cemetery.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30But why wasn't Carter honoured in this land
0:27:30 > 0:27:33for his extraordinary achievement?
0:27:33 > 0:27:36Well, maybe the answer is partly to do with his humble birth.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38He was self-educated.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41The world of archaeology was becoming increasingly academic,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44so a bit of intellectual snobbery at work.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47He was also a very difficult character,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51ruffled many feathers, a bit of a loner, not very clubbable,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54not the sort of man that could be easily accommodated
0:27:54 > 0:27:56within the British establishment.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02So, no honours for Carter, and no statue.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06His only memorial is his own grave, and here it is.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13Carter discovered the most famous tomb in history,
0:28:13 > 0:28:15but all he gets...
0:28:15 > 0:28:18is this very simple headstone.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21I feel there's a great injustice here.
0:28:21 > 0:28:22He was a great man,
0:28:22 > 0:28:28and does deserve a better, more public, memorial.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35But Carter's legacy is still with us -
0:28:35 > 0:28:39his huge contribution to the science of archaeology,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42and the glorious reminders of ancient Egypt
0:28:42 > 0:28:46that he discovered 3,300 years after they'd been buried.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58Next time, I'm on the trail of the rebel Pharaoh, Akhenaten,
0:28:58 > 0:29:00and his renowned wife Nefertiti.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd