The 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb stands as one of the most extraordinary archaeological finds of the 20th century. Hidden within Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, the young pharaoh’s burial chamber contained more than 5,000 priceless artifacts, including his iconic golden mask. Thanks to this amazing discovery, the young king’s fame spread even outside the archaeological community.
More than a hundred years later, new research reveals that the tomb still has fresh insights to offer. Dr. Nicholas Brown, an Egyptologist at Yale University, argues in a study ´published in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology that a seemingly mundane set of items found within the tomb had a critically important purpose, one that has been overlooked in terms of its significance until now.
Osiris Awoke—and So Did King Tutankhamun
In a recent study, Dr. Brown explores the meaning of sets of clay trays and wooden staffs positioned close to the pharaoh’s sarcophagus. These objects, which have long been dismissed as as unremarkable, may have played a role in Egyptian funerary practices beginning in the 14th century BC.
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According to Dr. Brown, the clay trays and staffs were central to the 'Osirian funerary rite'—a ceremony related to Osiris, the god of the underworld. He suggests that Tutankhamun himself played a pivotal role in the evolution of this ritual, which was intended to assist the deceased in their journey to the afterlife.
Clay vessels found in Tutankhamun’s tomb, likely used to offer libations. (Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Ascending to the throne as a young boy in 1332 BC, Tutankhamun ruled for about a decade before his untimely death at the age of 18 or 19. Despite his short reign, he remains one of Egypt’s most well-known pharaohs, thanks in large part to the dazzling treasures uncovered when British archaeologist Howard Carter opened his tomb in 1922.
Dr. Brown highlights that while the tomb contained vast riches, including the golden funerary mask, statues, jewelry, and clothing—certain objects appeared far simpler by comparison. The four three-foot-t(one-meter-) tall wooden staffs and the clay trays, placed about five feet (1.5 meters) from the head of the elaborate coffin, seemed rather plain and were initially assumed to be mere supports for other artifacts.
However, Dr. Brown proposes a new interpretation. The clay trays, made from Nile mud, were likely used for ritual libations, he believes, which were ceremonial offerings of liquid to Egyptian deities, specifically in this case to Osiris. Water from the Nile may have been poured into them in the belief that its purity could revitalize the deceased in the next life.
The wooden staffs, positioned near the head of the pharaoh, may also have served an essential role in the symbolic ‘awakening’ of Tutankhamun. Dr. Brown draws parallels between these objects and an ancient Egyptian myth in which Osiris, the god of the underworld, is summoned to a waking state by staffs held behind his head.
This arrangement of objects mirrors the “Awakening of Osiris” ritual, a key mythological event in ancient Egyptian belief. The earliest known depiction of this ritual comes from the 19th Dynasty (1292–1189 BC), but since Tutankhamun ruled earlier, Dr. Brown suggests that his burial provides the first archaeological evidence of this rite.
Scene from Tutankhamun’s tomb, showing the king embracing Osiris. (Solomon Witts/Public Domain).
“I’m pretty convinced that what we’re seeing within Tutankhamun’s burial chamber is probably the earliest iteration of this ritual that we can see in the archaeological record,” he told New Scientist. This is a fascinating detail that suggests the innovation was added specifically for this king, and it could have even been his idea, or the idea of those who were close to him before his demise.
Osiris, one of Egypt’s most important deities, ruled over the underworld and was believed to pass judgment on the dead. According to legend, he was murdered by his brother Seth, dismembered, and scattered across Egypt. His wife (and sister) Isis eventually reassembled him and temporarily brought him back to life, in what was termed an awakening.
Dr. Brown also notes that Tutankhamun’s predecessor, Akhenaten, had disrupted Egyptian religious traditions by focusing worship on the sun deity Aten. This shift affected beliefs surrounding the afterlife, as the traditional concept of resurrection through Osiris was abandoned.
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“Tutankhamun and the officials acting on his behalf had the opportunity to adapt, alter, and change royal funerary practice and bring back Osiris into the picture,” Dr. Brown told the Daily Mail.
Not all scholars fully agree with Dr. Brown’s interpretation, although they consider it intriguing and worthy of close analysis.
Jacobus van Dijk, an Egyptologist at the University of Groningen, offers another theory. He acknowledges that the trays had a ritualistic purpose but is uncertain about the role of the staffs, and suggests they may have been linked to an entirely different ceremony—the 'spell of the four torches.'
In this ritual, four torchbearers stood at the corners of the sarcophagus, guiding the king’s soul through the underworld. The torches were then extinguished in the clay trays, which were filled with 'milk of a white cow.'
King Tut’s Tomb: The Gift that Keeps On Giving
Dr. Brown’s study represents a new effort to extract information about ancient Egypt from a discovery that put Egyptology on the map.
On November 4, 1922, the famed archaeologist Howard Carter’s team uncovered a set of steps in the Valley of the Kings leading to a sealed doorway inscribed with hieroglyphs. Over the following months, they painstakingly cataloged the treasures found in the antechamber, including alabaster vases, musical instruments, and dismantled chariots.
Howard Carter opening the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun, 1922. (New York Times/Public Domain).
Then, less than three weeks later, Carter created a small opening in a second sealed door, allowing him to peer inside by candlelight. When asked by Lord Carnarvon, 'Can you see anything?' Carter famously replied, 'Yes—wonderful things!'
Finally, in February 1923, the team opened the burial chamber itself, unveiling the sarcophagus that held the mummified remains of Tutankhamun. The tomb remains one of the most opulent ever found, containing a wealth of objects meant to accompany the young king on his journey to the afterlife.
Needless to say, the awestruck archaeologists, and those that followed them, paid little attention to the rather drab clay vessels and wooden staffs that were revealed during this discovery. This was a treasure of insight that was destined to remain essentially “undiscovered” from more than 100 years.
Top image: Tutankhamun burial chamber and sarcophagus, showing lid of the sarcophagus broken in two.
Source: Romagy/CC BY-SA 4.0.
By Nathan Falde
