# Tutankhamun Source: https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/tutankhamun Language: en # Tutankhamun A short reign, a remarkable burial and an extraordinary legacy for the study of ancient Egypt. **Reign**: c.1336–1327 BCE **Dynasty**: 18th Dynasty **Period**: New Kingdom **Also written**: Tutankhaten · Nebkheperure · Tutankhamen · King Tut · توت عنخ آتون · نب خبرو رع ## Who they were Tutankhamun came to the throne as a child after the Amarna period. During his reign, traditional cults (the worship and rituals devoted to a deity or royal figure) were restored and the royal name changed from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun. Details of his early life and parentage remain subjects of research. ## Why they matter In November 1922, Howard Carter’s excavation team, including Egyptian workers, uncovered the entrance to KV62. Although the tomb had been entered by robbers in antiquity, it preserved an exceptional part of a royal burial assemblage. Recording and conserving it became a long collaborative undertaking. ## What happened During Tutankhamun’s short reign, the court restored support for traditional gods after Akhenaten’s religious changes. At Luxor Temple, the Opet reliefs connect that restoration with a public festival of Amun. Horemheb later replaced Tutankhamun’s royal names on those scenes with his own. Tutankhamun died young and was buried in KV62. Its small size and limited wall decoration contrast with the quantity of burial equipment it contained. The ancient brown spots on its painted walls are a separate conservation question; they cannot by themselves explain the circumstances of his death or burial. ## What they built in Luxor The decoration of the Great Colonnade at Luxor Temple — the Opet procession on both side walls, carved in his reign and later re-inscribed with Horemheb’s cartouches (an oval frame containing a royal name). The Restoration Stela was set up at Karnak. His tomb is KV62. Very little else in Luxor is his, and a good deal of what was became somebody else’s. ## Where to meet them The burial chamber preserves the stone sarcophagus. The outer gilded wooden coffin was moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum in July 2019; it should not be described as still inside the tomb. Confirm current displays separately. How we label claims ## What is disputed Each claim below carries its evidence class. A claim marked interpretation or uncertain is not a weaker version of a fact — it is a different kind of statement, and the note says why. - Uncertain Who his parents were. A genetic study published in 2010 identified the body in KV55 as his father and a body known as the Younger Lady as his mother. Both identifications depend on further identifications that are themselves argued about — KV55 is most often called Akhenaten but has also been called Smenkhkare — and the methods and the sample have been questioned in print. Akhenaten as his father is the common reading; it is not settled. - Uncertain How he died. The murder story rests on a fragment of bone inside the skull, which is now generally explained as damage done during embalming or during the unwrapping in the 1920s rather than a blow. Imaging has since shown a fracture of the left leg and evidence of malaria has been reported. A cause of death is not established, and this site does not pick one. - Uncertain That further chambers lie hidden behind the walls of KV62. Proposals for hidden chambers have attracted attention, but a proposal is not a discovery. Do not treat an unconfirmed chamber or an identification with Nefertiti as established archaeology. Who added what ## Before and after [18th Dynasty **Akhenaten** c.1352–1336 BCE The king who shut the temples — and whose own buildings were used as rubble. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/akhenaten) [18th Dynasty **Tutankhamun** c.1336–1327 BCE A short reign, a remarkable burial and an extraordinary legacy for the study of ancient Egypt. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/tutankhamun) [18th Dynasty **Ay** c.1327–1323 BCE The courtier who outlived two kings and then wore the crown himself, briefly. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/ay) [18th Dynasty **Horemheb** c.1323–1295 BCE The general who took the throne and set about deleting the four reigns before him. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/horemheb) Tomb ## Their tomb - [KV62 — KV62 — Tomb of Tutankhamun](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/tombs#tomb-kv62) [Tomb directory](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/tombs) Continue reading ## Explore the connections 1–1 / 8 [Necropolis · West bank ### Valley of the Kings The royal burial landscape of the New Kingdom: rock-cut tombs tucked into a desert valley, separate from the kings’ major commemorative temples. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/valley-of-the-kings)[Temple · East bank ### Luxor Temple A temple of Amun in the heart of today’s city, shaped by royal ritual and the annual Opet festival. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/luxor-temple)[God ### Amun The hidden god of Thebes, who became king of the gods and the state god of an empire. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/amun)[God ### Osiris Ruler of the dead, associated with restoration and renewal. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/osiris)[God ### Anubis The black jackal of the cemetery, who does the embalming and guards the burial. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/anubis)[History ### Why Pharaohs Stopped Building Pyramids New Kingdom kings at Thebes used rock-cut tombs and separate commemorative temples. Landscape, royal tradition and protecting the burial all help explain the change; no single surviving account settles why it happened. ](https://luxor101.com/journal/why-pharaohs-stopped-building-pyramids)[Planning ### Choosing Tombs in the Valley of the Kings Choose KV34 for its distinctive Amduat drawings if the demanding route suits you, KV17 for carved funerary scenes, or KV62 for Tutankhamun’s burial setting. Confirm which tombs are open and separately ticketed before choosing. ](https://luxor101.com/journal/which-valley-of-the-kings-tombs)[History ### The procession that explains Luxor Temple The Opet festival connected Karnak and Luxor Temple through a journey of divine images and royal renewal. ](https://luxor101.com/journal/the-procession-that-explains-luxor-temple) Sources & further reading 6 Tier 2 The Complete Tutankhamun: The King, the Tomb, the Royal Treasure, Nicholas Reeves Thames & Hudson Tier 1 [The Howard Carter archive — the excavation records, object cards, plans and photographs from the tomb of Tutankhamun](https://tutankhamun.griffith.ox.ac.uk/about) Griffith Institute, University of Oxford Official page indexed · checked 2026-09-19 Tier 2 Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation, Aidan Dodson American University in Cairo Press Tier 2 Scanning the Pharaohs: CT Imaging of the New Kingdom Royal Mummies, Zahi Hawass and Sahar N. Saleem American University in Cairo Press Tier 1 [The Large Gilded Coffin of King Tutankhamun — transfer in July 2019](https://egymonuments.gov.eg/news/gilded-coffin-of-king-tutankhamun/) Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Egypt) Online source checked 2026-09-19 Tier 1 [Conservation and Management of the Tomb of Tutankhamen — scientific investigation](https://www.getty.edu/projects/conservation-management-tomb-tutankhamen/scientific-investigation-to-understand-issues-in-the-tomb/) Getty Conservation Institute Online source checked 2026-09-19 Source review is incomplete. Consultation dates are shown only for checked references. Published works and institutional references for further reading. [Sources and review status](mailto:corrections@egyptmore.com?subject=Luxor101%20correction) [Pharaohs](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs)