The Boy Who Discovered King Tut

We’ve all heard the story of the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb – how English archaeologist Howard Carter, with funding by the 5^th Lord Carnavon, spent years searching for the undiscovered tomb and eventually found a staircase leading to the burial chamber of the boy pharaoh.

The discovered made news all over the world and made King Tut one of the most famous Egyptian pharaohs in history.

But, was Howard Carter the person who truly deserves all the credit?

The person who found the first clues which led to the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb was a 12-year-old Egyptian boy from Luxor, who worked as a water boy at the excavation site.

His name was Hussein Abd el-Rassul of Gurna.

On November 4, 1922 while working with Carter’s team in the Valley of the Kings, Hussein was fetching water for the workers, which he would bring to the site on a donkey. As he unloaded the jars from the donkey, he noticed that the ground was uneven and began to dig.

What he discovered was the top step leading down to the tomb of Tutankhamun.

That single step led to one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time – the nearly-intact tomb and treasures of the boy king who ruled more than 3,000 years ago.

The tomb was filled with thousands of artifacts, including furniture, chariots, weapons, and over 100 gold necklaces. It was the first royal Egyptian tomb to be unearthed with nearly all of its contents intact inside, providing unprecedented insight into ancient Egypt, its burial practices, and cultural beliefs.

To celebrate the discovered, Carter had Hussein photographed wearing one of King Tutankhamun’s commemorative necklaces, King Tut’s Scarab pectoral pendant. This item was found among many other treasures in the tomb and was worn by the boy in the photo.

The necklace is made of gold and contains gems including carnelian, lapis lazuli, and turquoise, representing the sacred scarab beetle, which was a symbol of protection, wisdom, and immortality in ancient Egypt.

Carter reportedly rewarded Hussein with a gold necklace from the tomb and a lifelong pension. He later became a guide and protector of Egypt’s antiquities.

As an older man he posed with his famous photo, his own son later posed with the earlier photo of his father.