TAA i.3.9.9

                                          –           5            –    

change of religion l/<t>ook place, or how old Tutankhamen was when

he died. But this latter point is pretty sure to be cleared up

within a few weeks/<months> when the workers at the tomb have entered the

inner most shrine and seen the king’s mummy lying in its sacro-

phagus^sic. Some people have doubted whether he will actually be

found there at all, but there is very strong evidence for bl/<e>lieving

he lies there as he was placed 3270 years ago. So far all

the evidence gathered from the tomb seems to point to his having

died a young man – in fact he may not even have reached manhood.

It has been suggested that Tutax[?]/<h>k/<h>hamen was actually murdered by

his successor. There is not much evidence of this, but from

the conditions of affairs at the time and the powerful court dignita/<y>

that his successor was, it is not unlikely. All the representat-

ions of the king in the tomb depict him as a young man, <and the contents of the famous painted caskets are> with a

very few exceptions, <the> articles and garments of a child. It might

be thought that these may have belonged to Tutankhamen before he

became king, but this idea is not tenable, because on some of the

articles has been found the royal cartouche, and this shows that

he must have been king at the time. However, this question of the

king’s age will be cleared very/<up> shortly, and possibly other pro-

blems as well. We may even learn the manner of this death.

As it is, the objects in the tomb have taught us far more

of everyday life of the Egyption^sic kings than was known before,

for the numerous representations on the thrones, caskets, shrines,

etc., depict incidents more of domestic life than the somewhat con-

ventional religious scenes which are generally predominant.

          Let us turn now to the discovery of the tomb. It is im-

portant, at the outset, to realise the attitude of the Egyptian

kings with regard to their burial places. It was a matter of

supreme importance to <the> Egyptians that his body should lie absolutely

inviolate in its tomb. At first, the earlier kings sought to obtain.