Between 1917 and 1922, English archaeologist Howard Carter spent his time exploring the wadis of western Thebes, making notes on tomb graffiti and searching for the lost tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings. Carter's search ended after seven years of hard work on Nov. 4, 1922. The discovery of the tomb, with nearly all its original tomb furnishings, was called the most important archaeological discovery of the century, and it took Carter and his staff 10 years to clear it. Carter painstakingly photographed and catalogued every single object in the tomb, making copious notes on the locations of the objects, and saw to the necessary restoration work and the shipment of the objects to the Cairo Museum.