Tutankhamun, usually called “King Tut,” was a young pharaoh of ancient Egypt. He became king when he was only about nine years old and died around the age of nineteen. For a pharaoh, he had a fairly short and ordinary reign. What made him famous happened thousands of years after he died.
In 1922, an archaeologist named Howard Carter found the entrance to Tut’s hidden tomb buried in the Valley of the Kings. Most royal tombs had been raided long ago, but this one was almost untouched. Inside were more than 5,000 objects: chariots, weapons, jewelry, statues, board games, even chairs and beds.
The most famous treasure was Tut’s burial mask, made of solid gold and decorated with blue glass. His coffin alone was solid gold and weighed about 240 pounds. The discovery taught historians a huge amount about how the ancient Egyptians lived and how their kings were buried, and most of these treasures are still in museums today.
