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Photo of the Day

October 11, 2001

King Tut Coffin, Egypt, 1998

Photograph by Kenneth Garrett

"Preserving the dignity of a dead king, mortuary priests placed the mummy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in a solid gold coffin, which was nestled in a wooden coffin, which was tucked inside yet a third. Nearby chambers held Tut's legendary trove of funerary goods, including several royal chariots. If a young king who ruled only briefly was buried with such treasures, what then might the tombs of the great pharaohs have contained before grave robbers plundered them?"

—From "Valley of the Kings," September 1998, National Geographic magazine