Following the turbulent succession after Akhenaten’s death, the child-king Tutankhaten took the throne, beginning a short reign that would later be framed as a reversal of Amarna-era religious policies.
Early in the reign, the court’s center of gravity moved away from Akhenaten’s city (Akhetaten/Amarna) toward Memphis, signaling a practical and political break with Amarna governance even before the full religious restoration was formalized.
By about the third regnal year, the king changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun, and the queen from Ankhesenpaaten to Ankhesenamun, publicly aligning the monarchy with the restored cult of Amun and the wider traditional pantheon.
A royal restoration policy was proclaimed that reinstated temples, divine images, personnel, and privileges of the traditional gods after Atenist disruption—an official pivot that later rulers would still reference (and sometimes erase) in their own legitimacy-building.
The Restoration Stela recorded the program of repairing cults and temples and condemning prior neglect. Scholarly reconstructions commonly place it around Year 4 of the reign, making it a key primary text for Tutankhamun’s state-sponsored religious restoration.
As part of restoring traditional worship, Tutankhamun initiated and/or resumed building projects at Karnak/Thebes, helping re-legitimize the monarchy through visible investment in Amun’s major cult center.
During the reign, a royal tomb project in the Valley of the Kings appears to have been commissioned; because of Tutankhamun’s premature death, the burial ultimately occurred in the smaller KV62, widely understood as a hurriedly adapted tomb.
Tutankhamun died unexpectedly at roughly 18 years old and left no surviving heir. The senior official Ay presided at the funeral in the role of presumptive heir and then became king.
The king was buried in KV62 in the Valley of the Kings. Physical evidence indicates the tomb was entered by robbers at least twice soon after burial but was resealed, contributing to its later exceptional preservation.
In July 1905, Georges Legrain discovered the Restoration Stela in fragmented condition in the Great Hypostyle Hall area at Karnak, enabling modern study of Tutankhamun’s restoration policy from a key monument.
On 4 November 1922, Howard Carter’s excavation identified the staircase leading to the sealed entrance of KV62—initiating the most famous royal-tomb discovery in modern archaeology.
On 26 November 1922, Carter (with Lord Carnarvon and others) opened access into the tomb’s interior chambers, confirming a spectacular assemblage of burial equipment and objects still largely in place.
On 16 February 1923, the sealed burial chamber was formally opened in the presence of officials, revealing the nested shrines and coffins that contained the king’s sarcophagus and mummy.
A major modern investigation used portable CT imaging to examine the mummy and reassess earlier claims about trauma and cause of death, marking a shift toward non-destructive, high-resolution study of the remains.
Tutankhamun's Restoration, Reign, and Burial (c. 1332–1323 BCE)
