author
Earl of George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert Carnarvon
1866–1923
Best remembered as the aristocrat who backed Howard Carter’s search for Tutankhamun, he helped make one of archaeology’s most famous discoveries possible. His own fascination with Egypt grew after illness sent him there for the winter, turning a wealthy amateur into a serious patron of excavation.
1 Audiobook
Five Years' Explorations at Thebes A Record of Work Done 1907-1911 by The Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter
by Earl of George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert Carnarvon, Howard Carter
About the author
Born in 1866, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon inherited his title in 1890 and lived at Highclere Castle in England. After a serious motoring accident in 1901, he began spending winters in Egypt for his health, and that change of scene sparked a deep interest in Egyptian history and antiquities.
Carnarvon is most closely linked with archaeologist Howard Carter, whose excavations he financed for many years. Their partnership reached its historic moment in 1922 with the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings, a find that captured worldwide attention and secured Carnarvon’s place in the story of modern archaeology.
He died in Cairo in 1923, only months after the tomb was opened. Though often remembered as the money behind the dig, he was more than a patron: an energetic enthusiast, collector, and supporter of fieldwork whose name remains tied to one of the best-known discoveries in Egyptology.