Tut's finder may have stolen relics

BERLIN, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The man responsible for discovering King Tut's tomb may have deceived Egyptian authorities to steal treasured relics for himself, experts say.

British explorer Howard Carter discovered the Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 in one of the world's most famous archaeological finds, but may have systematically removed objects without authorization, Der Spiegel reported Sunday.

Carter had intended the contents of the tomb to go to England and the United States, but Egypt refused, insisting all artifacts remain in the country. Thwarted, Carter and his team then secretly helped themselves to many of the relics, some of which ended up in museums outside Egypt, the newspaper said.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, for example, holds about 20 objects believed to have come from Tut's tomb, while other museums in the United States and Europe have confirmed they hold tomb relics, Der Speigel said.

In the most recent discovery, a small sculpture of a servant for the dead was found in the Louvre in Paris.

Egyptologist Christian Loeben said he couldn't believe his eyes. "Tutankhamen's throne name is written on the figure," he explains. "It can only have come from his tomb."