Tutankhamun's Funeral August 10, 2010

Buried near his tomb in around 1327 B.C., remains from the mummification and funeral of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun were unearthed in 1907 by the American businessman and excavator Theodore M. Davis, who in 1909 donated the objects to the Metropolitan Museum. This exhibition will consist of the most important pieces from the Davis find. On display will be pottery vessels from the funeral meal, linen sheets and bandages, bags of natron and sawdust from the embalming process, and some fine linen head covers worn by the embalmers. Highlights will be the miraculously well-preserved collars of real flowers that must have been intended to adorn the mummy, but were not used. A sculpted head of the youthful Tutankhamun, facsimile paintings representing contemporary funerary rituals, and photographs by Harry Burton will round out this intimate glimpse into what went on at the king's funeral.