Egypt's famous Tomb of Tutankhamun will undergo a five-year project to clean and restore the lavish wall paintings in the underground chambers of the boy king whose golden mask and artifacts have long awed the world. The project to restore the country's most famous tomb is the latest collaboration between Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Los Angeles-based Getty Conservation Institute. Since the small, four-roomed tomb and its famous golden burial mask were discovered in 1922 by British archeologist Howard Carter, observers have noted strange brown spots marring the wall paintings. “I always see the tomb of King Tut and wonder about those spots, which no scientist has been able to explain,” said Zahi Hawass, the head of the SCA, in a statement. The conservation plan will involve a two-year research period to determine the causes of deterioration, followed by three years of implementation.
