Correlations between Howard Carters Life Events - Essay Example

Howard Carter Howard Carter is one of the most famous archaeologists in the history of the world, but no one ever would have predicted this - not even Carter himself - by judging from his humble beginnings. He was born on 9 May 1874 in Kensington (Reeves and Taylor 1993, 10). He was the son of Samuel John Carter and Martha Joyce Carter, nee Sands (Crystalinks 2005). His father was a well-known artist whose subjects were mostly animals (Reeves and Taylor 1993, 11). In Carter's own autobiographical sketches, he notes, "I can hardly find any trace of my father in myself, except an inborn faculty for drawing, which unfortunately, in my case, was never fully cultivated" (11). Perhaps Howard Carter's artistic abilities were never fully cultivated because his family did not have much money, or perhaps it was because Carter spent much of his early life as a very sickly, weak little boy (10). Whatever the reasons were, Carter never saw himself as good as his father, who taught Carter all he knew about drawing (11). However, Carter was good enough to get a job as an assistant copyist with Percy Edward Newberry (20). The recommendations of a family friend, Mrs. Margaret Tyssen-Amherst also helped to secure this position (22), thus began Howard Carter's career as an archaeologist. In the autumn of 1891, when Carter was just 17 years old, he made his first trip to Egypt and experienced sea-sickness for the first time (Reeves and Taylor 1993, 23). The voyage across the Channel is vividly - although not too fondly - remembered by Carter in his autobiographical sketches: It was then that I discovered I was not physically fitted for a sailor; that an appetite for food oozy with oil, and the motion of the ship caused very adverse sensations which centered around the sensitive nerves of the solar plexus, and which in my case resulted in a complete 'knock-out' (23-24). Carter was extremely relieved when the ship at last landed in Alexandria (24). From there, he journeyed to Cairo, where he met the famous archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie (24). A few days later, he joined Newberry's archaeological work in Beni Hasan (24). Howard Carter soon proved his merit as a copyist. As Newberry wrote to one of his acquaintances: I never reckoned on getting done so fast. It is astonishing how much can be done by two men working hard when the hands are willing. I believe that Carter and I could almost trace all the tombs in Egypt in five years!!! On Sunday last I tried Carter at painting and found he could copy things here very well indeed (Reeves and Taylor 1993, 27). Not only did Carter copy quickly, he also copied with great attention to detail. A sketch he did of a relief in a tomb at Deir el-Bersha shows a complex and faithful rendering of how a gigantic stone statue was transported from the stone quarry where it was carved (31). When it is compared with other copies of the same picture, there is no doubt that Carter's is far superior (31). Carter's successes at the excavation of Queen Hatshepsut's tomb in Deir el-Bersha earned him a position as the first Inspector General of Monuments for Upper Egypt at the very young age of 25 (Warren 2005). He was responsible for supervising all archaeological activities that went on in the Upper Nile Valley, including the ancient city of Thebes (Warren 2005). During his tenure, he conducted extensive excavations and preservations, and established electric lighting in the Valley of the Kings and the temples of Ramses II and Nefertari at Abu Simbel (Warren 2005). Carter also made a significant discovery at the Tomb of the Horse, or Bab el-Hosan. He found a sepulchre with what he thought was a human body, but it turned out to only be a statue (Reeves and Taylor 1993, 66-67). The usually meticulous Carter informed the British Consul-General in Egypt, Viscount Cromer, of the discovery before he had actually examined it closely. His friend and employer, Gaston Maspero, describes the incident in this way: [Carter] had announced his discovery too soon to Lord Cromer. Lord Cromer came to be present at his success and he is now very saddened at not having been able to show him anything of what he foretold. I console him as best I can, for he truly is a good fellow and he does his duty very well (67). This marked a pivotal moment in Carter's career. He would never again make that mistake. About six years after his appointment began, he was forced to resign because of a violent incident involving 15 drunken French tourists and site guards at Saqqara (Warren 2005). Maspero and Cromer did not approve of how Carter handled the situation, and they ordered him to make a formal apology (Warren 2005). Carter refused. He was reprimanded, and as part of his punishment, was sent to Tanta, a place with very little interest to an archaeologist (Warren 2005). He continued his duties for another seven months. Finally, he could take it no more, and decided that he would leave government service to become a commercial artist (Warren 2005). He worked as a painter and antique dealer for four years. Then, becoming obsessed with the thoughts of the tomb of Tutankhamun and seeking financial support for an excavation he wanted to undertake, he met Lord Carnarvon (Warren 2005). Lord Carnarvon did not start out as an Egyptologist (Dunn 2005). During his early years he was more interested in cars and races. Then in 1901, at the age of 35, he was in an automobile accident that rendered him very weak and unhealthy (Dunn 2005). To improve his health, he journeyed to Egypt and began his hobby as an antiquity collector (Dunn 2005). He soon found that he needed a scholar to help him in his discoveries, and Carter desperately needed financial support (Dunn 2005). The two were introduced by Maspero and Cromer, immediately hit it off, and began working together in 1907 (Reeves and Taylor 1993, 89-90). Several interesting discoveries were made during these years leading up to the greatest discovery of all - the tomb of King Tut. First, Carter managed to turn up not only the decorated tomb of Tetiky, an early 18th Dynasty mayor of Thebes, but another tomb containing two wooden tablets. One of these was inscribed on one face with the Precepts of Ptahhotep, a set of moral laws (Dunn 2005). The tablet presented a history of the expulsion of the Hyksos during the 17th Dynasty (Dunn 2005). The subsequent years proved to be very fruitful. In 1915, after the death of one of their rivals, Carter and Carnarvon gained access to the tomb of Amenhotep III in the Valley of the Kings (Dunn 2005). World War I distracted the pair from their archaeological interests, and by the early 1920s, Carnarvon's funds were depleting along with his interest (Dunn 2005). In 1922, Carnarvon told Carter that this would be his last season of funding, and on 26 November 1922, Carter found King Tut's tomb (Warren 2005). The cataloguing of the artifacts took another ten years, during which time Carnarvon died, sparking rumours of an ancient mummy curse (Warren 2005). Carter did his best to ignore the stories of a curse, and retired soon after his discovery of Tut's tomb (Warren 2005). Like Carnarvon before him, he collected Egyptian antiquities for the rest of his life, which ended on 2 March 1939. Certain aspects of Carter's life and personality can be explained through the developmental theories of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the behaviourist John B. Watson. These two psychological theorists represent two different ends of the spectrum. Freud's views of psychological development rely heavily on understanding the subconscious - the mental processes that are under the surface and are not easily measurable. On the other hand, Watson believed that only what is seen is worthy of psychological study (Goldstein 1994, 228). Anything else was considered to be too subjective (228). Interestingly, both of these men were practicing psychology at the time Carter was alive. Freud's writings appeared a bit earlier than did Watson's so our discussion will begin with him. Freud believed that an individual's personality is fully formed by the time he/she is five or sex years old (Goldstein 1994, 593). Carter had a relatively difficult childhood. He was sick almost all the time, and because he was the youngest of eight children, he was often spoiled. This could account for his stubbornness later in life, when he refused to apologize to the French drunkards at Saqqara. He was used to getting his own way, and he just could not see how it was necessary to bend to the will of another in this instance. Another idea of Freud's which could explain a little about Carter's personality is his conceptualisation of the Oedipus complex, which occurs in the phallic stage (between ages 4 and 5). Carter always had the highest regard for his mother. He wrote to her frequently while he was away, and always spoke of her fondly in his own journal writings; however, this does not mean that he had an incestuous love for his mother. I think the aspect of the Oedipal complex that most fits Carter is the notion of castration anxiety, which leads is resolved when a boy joins forces with his father and begins to identify with him (Goldstein 1995, 594). This can be seen in Carter's taking up art and drawing, just like his father, even though Carter himself admits that he did not much talent. Carter was probably more attracted by the historic and scientific nature of archaeological work than he was by the actual drawings, although the drawings did allow him an opportunity to express his anal-retentive side. During the anal stage of development which, according to Freud's view, encompasses the span of time between 18 months to 3 years, the child will have to learn how to control his/her bowels (Goldstein 1995, 594). According to Freud, if this toilet training process is not handled correctly, the child may either become an anal-expressive personality (exhibiting aggressive, messy, disorderly, and even creative behavior) or anal-retentive (exhibiting compulsively neat or fastidious behavior) (594). From the story of Carter's life, we can see that he always paid close attention to detail. He was fastidious in manner and dress, and even in his business affairs (except perhaps for that one incident at Bab el-Hosan). There is not much information about Carter's childhood, and even less about his toilet training, but it can be conjectured that Carter experienced some difficulties in this area when he was young. One thing psychoanalytic and behaviourist theories have in common is the belief that a person's environment shapes their personality development. While psychoanalytic theories describe how experiences shape the psyche, behaviourist theories study how life experiences shape observable behaviours. The Environmentalist theory espoused by John B. Watson is one example of this. It is believed that a child's environment shapes learning and behaviour (Theories of Childhood Development 2005). This was certainly true in Carter's case. His father and siblings were all artists. Art was around him constantly, so it was only natural that he would want to become an artist, as well. Another behaviourist idea is operant conditioning, and the incident at Bab el-Hosan is a good example of this in Carter's life. Operant conditioning occurs when "an animal [or person] operates on its environment to gain rewards or avoid negative stimuli" (Goldstein 1995, 242). The desired behaviour is learned based on the presence of absence of rewards. I think this event in Carter's life is an example of the effects of punishment. Punishment occurs when "presentation or removal of a stimulus after a response decreases the rate of the response" (255). Carter did not check out all his facts before he invited Cromer to the tomb. He and Cromer were disappointed with the results. Carter learned from this incident that he needed to be more careful in his research assumptions from that point on, which is why he kept such detailed records of the findings at King Tut's tomb. They must have been detailed, to have taken a decade or more to complete. There are some interesting correlations between Howard Carter's life events and the developmental theories of both Sigmund Freud and John Watson. However, I do not believe that either theory fully explains Carter's development as a person and an archaeologist. For example, the importance of art in Carter's early life cannot be disputed, but its effects can be explained by both Freud's and Watson's theories. I believe that instead of focusing on either a psychoanalytic or a behaviourist explanation of personality development, one must look to both theories for explanations. Discovering the interplay between the environment and the mind will provide a more complete, and more interesting, picture of human behaviour. References Dunn, J., 2005, Egypt Feature Story: Lord Carnarvon. (online). http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/carnarvon.htm Goldstein, E.B., 1994, Psychology, Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, Pacific Grove, CA. King Tutankhamen's Tomb (online) 2005. http://www.crystalinks.com/tutstomb.html Reeves, N. and Taylor, J.H., 1992, Howard Carter: Before Tutankhamun, British Museum Press, London. Theories of Child Development (online) 2005. http://64.233.187.104/searchq=cache:qZh_y8JIWeEJ:www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupDownloadFile.asp%3FGroupId%3D7820%26ResourceId%3D28642+environmentalist+theory&hl=en&client=firefox-a Warren, J., 2005. Egypt Feature Story: Howard Carter (online). http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/carter.htm Read More