At the end of 1922, a few months after Egypt formally declared its independence, the field of archaeology reached a historic milestone with the discovery of the largely intact tomb of Tutankhamun. The discovery of the royal burial chamber, still considered one of the most culturally significant in history, gave way to eight years of excavation, clearance and documentation down to the last object in the tomb. A process that propelled the leader of the mission, the famous British archaeologist Howard Carter, to international fame.

Yet a century after the discovery, Egypt’s contribution to Carter’s archaeological mission and the process of unearthing, cleaning and preserving the collection that lay in the tomb of Ancient Egypt’s most famous pharaoh remains a largely neglected chapter of the feat. In the collective imagination, fame and recognition went almost exclusively to Carter.

This narrative, however, could not be further from the truth, and the discovery was never the work of a solitary British archaeologist. In an effort to see beyond this popular colonialist stereotype that still surrounds the discovery of the tomb, and to mark the centenary of the momentous event, the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries launched an exhibition April 13 that puts the spotlight on the often-overlooked Egyptians who were also involved in the mission and the crucial role they played. The project includes photographs, letters, plans, drawings and diaries from Carter’s archive.

“Archaeology is not Indiana Jones [but] a very meticulous process that takes a lot of time, and you need a lot of expertise and knowledge,” said Daniela Rosenow, Egyptologist at the University of Oxford and co-curator of the exhibition "Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive." She told Al-Monitor. “[We hope] that people understand that this was a 10-year process, and that that involved a team. It was not the story of one heroic man.”