King Tut's Coffins
When
the broken lid of the yellow sarcophagus of King Tut in his
tomb was slowly lifted away from its base using an elaborate
pulley system, there was an audible gasp from the crowd of
dignitaries who had assembled for this very event. What they
found, underneath two sheets of linen, was a splendid anthropoid
coffin. Its golden surface still shined brilliantly under
Burton's arc lamps.
However, the size (and weight, about 1.36 metric
tons or 3,000 pounds) of this coffin suggested that it was
only the first of several such nested coffins. Nevertheless,
the excavators had to be patient. Conservation demands of
objects already removed from the tomb meant that it would
be another year and a half before work on opening the coffins
could begin. This is perhaps one of the greatest curses of
such work.
The Outer Coffin (no. 253)
The
exposed outer coffin of Tutankhamun, measuring 2.24 meters
long with its head positioned to the west, rested on a low
leonine bier that was still intact though certainly suffering
from the strain of a ton and a quarter worth of weight it
had endured over the prior 3,200 years. Fragments chipped
from the toe of the coffin lid at the time of the burial,
a crude attempt to rectify a design problem and allow the
sarcophagus lid to sit properly, were found in the bottom
of the sarcophagus. The chippings revealed that the coffin
was made of cypress with a thin layer of gesso overlaid with
gold foil. The layer of gold varied in thickness from heavy
sheet for the face and hands to the very finest gold leaf
for the rather curious khat-like headdress. The gold covering
also varied in color so that, for example, the hands and face
were covered by a paler alloy then the remainder of the coffin.
In Howard Carter's words, this gave "an impression of the
greyness of death".
The surface area of both the lid and base of the
coffin were covered with rishi, a feather decoration executed
in low relief. On the left and right sides and superimposed
upon this feathering were two finely engraved images of Isis
and Nephthys with their wings extended. Their protective embrace
is alluded to in one of the two vertical lines of hieroglyphs
running down the front of the lid. At the bottom of the coffin
under the foot is another depiction of the goddess Isis, kneeling
upon the hieroglyph for "gold", and below this are ten vertical
columns of text.
The lid of the coffin itself is carved in high relief
with a recumbent image of the dead king as Osiris. He wears
a broad collar and wrist ornaments carved in low relief, while
his arms, crossed on the chest, clutch the twin symbols of
kingship, the crook (heqa Scepter) and the flail. The "Two
Ladies". Wadjet and Nekhbet, representing the divine cobra
of Lower Egypt and the vulture goddess of Upper Egypt, rose
from the king's forehead. A small wreath tied around the pair
was composed of olive leaves and flowers resembling the blue
cornflower, bound onto a narrow strip of papyrus pith. The
olive leaves were carefully arranged so that the green front
of the leaves alternated with the more silver back surface.
The original design of the outermost coffin's lid
had incorporated four silver handles, two on each side, which
were used to lower the lid into place. Some three thousand
years later, these same handles would be used, once more to
raise this lid, by Howard Carter and his team.
The
second Outside Coffin (no. 254)
Carter tells us that "it was a moment as anxious
as exciting", when he lifted the lid of the outermost coffin.
Within, what was expected to be found was indeed found, a
second anthropoid coffin.
Once again, the surface was concealed beneath a decayed
shroud of linen, which in turn was obscured by floral garlands,
and similar to the first coffin, there was a small wreath
of olive leaves, blue lotus petals and cornflowers wrapped
around the protective deities on the Pharaoh's brow.
However,
even before the linen covering was removed, Carter and his
team decided to remove both the delicate lower half and contents
of the outermost coffin from the sarcophagus. The fragile
gessoed and inlaid surface of this outer relic required that
this be performed with as little handling as possible. Therefore,
steel pins were inserted through the inscribed tenons of the
outermost coffin and pulleys were employed in a process that
Carter records as a task "of no little difficulty". Nevertheless,
the outer coffin was lifted and then deposited upon trestles
resting on the rim of the sarcophagus box without incident.
Afterwards,
the second coffin was soon revealed as even more magnificent
than the first. It measured 2.04 meters long, and was constructed
from a still unidentified wood covered as before with an overlay
of gold foil. Here, the use of inlays were far more extensive
than on the outermost coffin, even though they had suffered
considerably from the presence of dampness within the tomb
and showed a tendency to fall out.
It is hard to image the amount of work which must
have been put into making this coffin. Carved in wood, it
was first overlaid with sheet gold on the thin layer of gesso
(a sort of plaster). Then narrow strips of gold, placed on
edge, were soldered to the base to from cells in which the
small pieces of colored glass, fixed with cement, were laid.
The technique is known as Egyptian cloisonne work, but it
is not true cloisonne because the glass was already shaped
before being put in the cells, and not put in the cells in
power form and fused by heating.
Many
details, such as the stripes of the nemes-headcloth, eyebrows,
cosmetic lines and beard were inlaid with lapis-blue glass.
The uraeus on the forehead was of gilded wood, with a head
of blue faience and inlays of red, blue and turquoise glass.
The head of Nekhbet, the vulture, was also of gilded wood
with a beak of dark block wood which was probably ebony. The
eyes were set with obsidian. The crook and flail, held respectively
in the left and right hands, were inlaid with lapis-blue and
turquoise glass and blue faience, while a broad "falcon collar"
containing inset pieces of brilliant red, blue and turquoise
glass adorned the king's throat. There were also two similarly
inlaid bracelets carved onto the wrists.
Rishi-pattern decorations covered the entire surface
of the king's body though here, unlike the outermost coffin,
the feathers were each inlaid with jasper-red, lapis-blue
and turquoise glass. However, here replacing the images of
Isis
and Nephthys as depicted on the outermost coffin, were images
of the winged vulture goddess Nekhbet and the winged uraeus,
Wadjet, also inlaid with pieces of red, blue and turquoise
glass.
Unfortunately, there were no handles on the second
coffin as there were on the first. Moreover, ten gold-headed
silver nails had been used to secure the lid of the second
coffin, and these were in a location that could not be accessed
easily with the outer shell (bottom portion of the outer coffin)
still in place. Therefore, Carter removed these pins just
enough to attach a "stout copper wire" to each and then "strong
metal eyelets" were screwed into the edge of the outer coffin
and the two separated by lowering the outer shell into the
sarcophagus while the inner hung suspended.
The Innermost Coffin (no. 255)
The
delicate lid of the second coffin was removed in a similar
fashion. Eyelets were screwed into the edge of the lid at
four points. The silver pins securing the ten inscribed silver
tenons were then removed, and the coffin lid, after some initial
flexing, was lifted effortlessly into the air. Thus, the third
anthropoid coffin was revealed, though covered once again
with fine linen in place above the nemes-headdress. It was
tightly encased within the second coffin and a shroud of red
linen, folded three times, covered it from neck to feet. However,
the face of this coffin had been left bare. The breast was
adorned with a very delicate, broad collar of blue glass beads
and various leaves, flowers, berries and fruits, including
pomegranates, which were sewn onto a papyrus backing.
Now this coffin was amazingly different, particularly
in one respect, as Howard Carter notes:
"Mr. Burton at once made his photographic records.
I then removed the floral collarette and linen coverings.
An astounding fact was disclosed. The third coffin...was made
of solid gold! The mystery of the enormous weight, which hitherto
had puzzled us, was now clear. It explained also why the weight
had diminished so slightly after the first coffin, and the
lid of the second coffin, had been removed. Its weight was
still as much as eight strong men could lift."
However, as opposed to the outer two
coffins, this one, entirely of gold, did not gleam. After
the linen shroud and papyrus collar were removed, what was
revealed was a coffin covered "with a thick black pitch-like
layer which extended from the hands down to the ankles". This
was actually a fatty resinous perfume. Howard Carter estimated
that up to two bucketfuls of this liquid had been poured over
the coffin, filling in the whole space between it and the
base of the second coffin and making them solid and causing
them to stick firmly together. The removal of this resinous
layer was difficult to say the least, according to Carter:
The
golden coffin measures about 1.88 meters in length. The metal
was beaten from heavy gold sheet, and varies in thickness
from .25 to .3 centimeters. In 1929, it was weighed, tipping
the scales at 110.4 kilograms. Thus, its scrap value alone
would today be in the region of 1.7 million USD.
The image of King Tut that was sculpted on this coffin
is today oddly ethereal, due to the decomposition of the calcite
whites of the eyes. The pupils of the eyes are obsidian, while
the eyebrows and cosmetic lines are inlaid with lapis-lazuli
colored glass. The beard was worked separately and afterwards
attached to the chin. It is also inlaid with lapis colored
glass. The headdress on the coffin is the nemes, as was that
of the second coffin, though here the pleating is in relief
rather than indicated by inlays of colored glass. During this
period of Egyptian history, males wore earrings only up until
puberty, so when discovered, patches of gold foil concealed
the fact that the ears, also cast separately, were pierced.
At the neck of the coffin were placed two heavy necklaces
of disc beads made of red and yellow gold and dark blue faience,
threaded on what looked like glass bound with linen tape.
Each of the strings had lotus flower terminals inlaid with
carnelian, lapis and turquoise glass. Necklaces of this kind
were awarded by Egyptian kings to military commanders and
high officials for distinguished services. Below these necklaces
was the falcon collar of the coffin itself, again created
separately from the lid, and inlaid with eleven rows of lapis,
quartz, carnelian, felspar and turquoise glass imitating tubular
beadwork, with an outer edge of inlaid drops.
Like the first and second coffins, the king's arms
are shown crossed upon his chest in the Osirian manner, with
sheet bracelets inlaid in a similar manner to the collar using
lapis, carnelian and turquoise colored glass. The crook and
flail are held in the left and right hands, overlaid with
sheet gold, dark blue faience, polychrome glass and carnelian.
Much of the decoration of the flail's shaft had decayed because
of the application of the thick black resin with which the
coffin had been so liberally anointed.
Underneath
the king's hands, the goddesses Nekhbet and Wadjet, made from
gold sheet and inlaid with red-backed quartz and lapis and
turquoise colored glass, spread their wings protectively around
the upper part of the royal body. Each of them grasp in their
talons the hieroglyphic sign for "infinity". Both the lid
and base of this coffin are further adorned with rich figures
of the winged goddesses Isis and Nephthys on a rishi background,
thus protecting the lower right and left sides, respectively.
Two vertical columns of text are laid out down the front of
the coffin lid from the navel to the feet, with the usual
figure of Isis kneeling upon the hieroglyph for "god" (nub)
upon the soles of the feet.
Like the outermost coffin, this innermost one was
also fitted with handles and was attached to its base by means
of eight gold tongues, four on each side, which dropped into
sockets in the shell and were retained by gold pins. Because
the available space between the two coffins was so narrow,
these pins had to be removed piecemeal. Then, at long last,
"The lid was raised by its golden handles and the mummy of
the king disclosed".
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