“As my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist: Strange animals, statues and gold – everywhere the glint of gold,” archaeologist Howard Carter wrote in his diary. The day was Thursday 24 November 1922, and he was taking his first look inside the glittering tomb of a minor boy king of ancient Egypt: Tutankhamun. What he found sparked a global Egyptomania – that moment has been the stuff of dreams for
