Cleaning the Innermost Coffin

In this photograph Howard Carter, the director of the excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun, is shown with an Egyptian reis (foreman) cleaning Tutankhamun's innermost coffin, which is still inside the base of the middle coffin. The dark, resinous fluids covering the lower section of the lid were used in the funerary rituals, and their sticky consistency had adhered together the two coffin bases. Tools such as tweezers and a magnifying glass have been laid out in the foreground of this staged photograph, which would have required both men to stay perfectly still.

The individual on the right is one of the four Egyptian reises: Ahmed Gerigar, Hussein Ahmed Said, Gad Hussein, or Hussein Abu Awa. They were essential to the excavation work, and Carter thanked them by name in his publication, but they went unidentified in photographs. At the time Egyptian team members generally did not receive recognition for their crucial role in excavations.