British archaeologist Howard Carter and his workmen discovered
a step leading to the tomb of King Tutankhamen in the Valley of
the Kings in Egypt on November 4, 1922.

When Carter first arrived in Egypt in 1891, most of the ancient
Egyptian tombs had been discovered, though the little-known
King Tutankhamen, who had died when he was 18, was still
unaccounted for. After World War I, Carter began an intensive
search for “King Tut’s Tomb,” finally finding steps to the burial
room hidden in the debris near the entrance of the nearby tomb
of King Ramses VI in the Valley of the Kings. On November 26,
1922, Carter and fellow archaeologist Lord Carnarvon entered
the interior chambers of the tomb, finding them miraculously
intact.

Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon at the opening of
King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings,
Egypt, 1922. Screen print from a photograph.

KING TUTANKHAMUN

MIKE GRACIA

1948

1947

In the face of widespread opposition in the American colonies,
Parliament enacted the Stamp Act, a taxation measure designed
to raise revenue for British military operations in America.

Defense of the American colonies in the French and Indian War
(1754-63) and Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763-64) were costly affairs
for Great Britain, and Prime Minister George Grenville hoped to
recover some of these costs by taxing the colonists. In 1764, the
Sugar Act was enacted, putting a high duty on refined sugar.

Although resented, the Sugar Act tax was hidden in the cost of
import duties, and most colonists accepted it. The Stamp Act,
however, was a direct tax on the colonists and led to an uproar
in America over an issue that was to be a major cause of the
Revolution: taxation without representation.