Tutankhamun - Missing Papyri?

The fullest treatment of the theory I have found is Tutankhamun: the Exodus Conspiracy by Andrew Collins and Chris Ogilvie-Herald. The great news is that it can usually be picked up secondhand from Amazon for a few cents.

As is usual with Andrew Collin's books, the Exodus Conspiracy is well researched and includes a detailed bibliography so that most points can be cross-referenced. The central difficulty is that there is no direct evidence of missing papyri; however, the story is at least plausible. Indeed, Thomas Hoving indicated in his book, Tutankhamun the Untold Story, that New York's Metropolitan Museum has a number of items which privately the museum attributes to the tomb of Tutankhamun. Thomas Hoving was, of course, a director the Met. The items were obtained from the private collections of Carter and Carnarvon suggesting that they illicitly removed at least some items from the tomb. So although the existence of papyri remains highly speculative, had they existed then they could have been removed from the tomb.

Gerald O'Farrell takes the tale several steps further and his theory is really not credible in my opinion: he suggests that the Carter discovered Tutankhamun's tomb several years before 1922. systematically looted it then blocked off several chambers so that the remaining artefacts filled the remaining chambers. (This seems to overlook the packing dockets found in the tomb.) He suggests that papyri were removed - although he fails to explain why Carter would indicate the presence of papyri in the tomb having had several years to systematically clear it before announcing it to the public. O'Farrell goes on to stretch credulity even further by suggesting that the papyri indicated Tutankhamun was the Son of God, the son of Joseph and Mary.

On the other hand, the book can usually be picked up for a few cents and reprints some excellent contemporary photos of Carter's work in the Valley of the Kings.