TAA i.2.6.68

For lecture - Madrid, May, 1928.

Gentlemen,
 

          If[?] my memory does not fail me, when last I had the 

honour of addressing you upon the subject of the tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen 

and its contents, I was then only able to show you as far as the 

great quartzite Sarcophagus, the raising of its lid, and the rolling

back of the covering linen shrouds which revealed the outermost 

coffin of the king.

          In fact, in other words I was then only able to show you 

the entrance stairway, the steep descending passage, the Antechamber 

and its contents, the Burial Chamber, its golden shrines that 

shielded the Sarcophagus, and when our eyes were turned towards 

its contents - the gold encased outer coffin, in form a recumbent 

figure of the young king, symbolizing Osiris or, as it would

seem, by its fearless gaze, man’s ancient trust in immortality.

          I therefore propose to begin this address from that very moment, 

and, with my best/<utmost> endeavour, to convey to you what was disclosed 

during the continuation/<process> of the/<subsequent> déblaiement of that magnificent 

burial.

On resuming the <work>, our task was, in scientific sequence, first 

to raise the nest of coffins within the Sarcophagus, to open and 

examine them, and then to investigate the king’s mummy – 

an undertaking which was likely[?] took nearly eight months 

to carry out; that is, until the end of May, 1926:

          The nest of coffins which enclosed the king’s mummy, proved 

to be three in number – each one enclosed within the other. 

They comprised: firstly an outermost coffin made of oaken 

wood and covered with thin <sheet> gold; then a second coffin also 

of oak wood, but encrusted with a rich <polychrome glass> inlay of feather design;

and lastly a third coffin made of solid gold right ornamented/<richly>

and chased and ornamented.

          Now with archaeological work the reverse to that which is 

anticipated almost always occurs. The raising and the 

opening of those elaborate coffins, without causing them 

harm, proved an intricate undertaking, and the condition