5th Season (1926–1927)

In late September 1926, Howard Carter departed London on the 22 September, travelling via Paris and Trieste, where he boarded the S.S. Vienna on the 23 September, reaching Alexandria on 27 September and Cairo that evening. Meetings followed with Dr. Saleh Bey Hamdi, A. Lucas, and Edgar of the Cairo Museum to plan the season’s work—chiefly the clearing of Tutankhamun’s Store Chamber, with the tomb to remain closed to the public until January 1927. On 5 October, Carter and Lucas left Cairo for Luxor, reaching Gurna the next morning. After inspecting the tomb and laboratory, they prepared for work. Early tasks included repairing the King’s mummy and the outer coffin, preparing the painted casket (No. 21) for display in Cairo, and installing electric light in the Valley. Burton arrived on 16 October to photograph, and on 21 October, the tomb was reopened and the mummy restored to its sarcophagus.

From 23 October, work turned to the Store Room—an untouched chamber filled with funerary emblems, including a gilt Anubis shrine and a golden cow’s head, symbols of the underworld. Over the following weeks, Burton photographed and Lucas conserved objects: shrines, chests, boats, and jewellery boxes (Nos. 261–314). Many had been plundered in antiquity, though magnificent pieces remained—pectoral ornaments, fans, slippers, mirrors, and statuettes of the king. By late November, the chamber was largely cleared, and in December, a group of sixteen shrine-like chests and nine model boats was removed for study.

King Fuad visited the tomb and laboratory on 31 December 1926, and on 1 January 1927 it opened to the public three days a week. After visits from dignitaries including Sultan el Melek and President Masaryk, the tomb closed again on 28 March for conservation. Carter left Gurna on 23 April, reaching Cairo on the 24th, and departed for England on 29 April, arriving in London on 3 May 1927.

Record produced during this season: Miscellaneous, Correspondence, Scientific notes, Maps, plans, sketches and drawings, Conservation notes, Images, Journals and diaries.