Howard Carter

Howard Carter

Howard Carter opens the innermost shrine of King Tutankhamun's tomb near Luxor, in 1922.

Howard Carter (9 May 1874 – 2 March 1939) was an English archaeologist. His mother was Martha Carter and his father was Samuel Carter. As a young man he worked for the Egyptian Antiquities Service. Later, he was the man who found King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922.

The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb was an accident. Howard Carter's waterboy stumbled across some steps leading under the desert surface. Lord Carnarvon, a sponsor of Carter's work, was impatient of the slow progress at this point. If the discovery had not been made then, it likely would not have happened at all.