The tomb of Tutankhamun is one of the most famous archaeological finds of all time. When discovered in 1922, the tomb was filled with spectacular artifacts including gold-covered chariots, elaborately carved alabaster vessels, inlaid furniture, a vast array of jewelry, and the famed gold mask. Every step of the archaeologists' painstakingly detailed work in and around the tomb was documented through photography, one of the first large-scale excavations to be so thoroughly recorded. The dramatic and artistic images clearly convey the excitement and the tension of the work, indeed, many of the photos have become as famous as the artifacts themselves.

The clearance of the tomb took ten years, and in that time, photographer Harry Burton took more than 1400 large format black and white images. The photographs in the exhibition document the Valley of the Kings, the initial discovery of the tomb, the dramatic moment when the excavators first glimpsed the dazzling array of artifacts, the entry to the burial chamber, the series of shrines and coffins that protected the king, and the king's mummy, wreathed in floral collars and bedecked with gold jewelry.

Harry Burton (1879-1940) was an accomplished archaeological photographer who began working in Egypt in 1910. In 1914, he joined the staff of the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, Burton's services were loaned to the British team. Two sets of Burton negatives exist, one in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the other with Howard Carter's papers now in the Griffith Institute, Oxford, UK. The prints to be exhibited at the Carlos are being loaned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Griffith Institute.

The exhibition consists of 50 photographs with explanatory labels, wall panels that discuss the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun and the role of the Oriental Institute in its interpretation, the early use of photography in archaeology, the photographic career of Harry Burton, and how the photographs fueled the public relations campaign of the excavators and spawned the myth of the curse of Tutankhamun.

The Harry Burton photography is a companion exhibition to Tutankhamun: The Golden King & the Great Pharaohs

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