In the tomb of Tutankhamun, Anubis guarded the entrance to the Treasury.
Howard Carter discovered the tomb in 1922, and the Treasury contained some of the burial equipment associated with the young pharaoh’s afterlife. A prominent statue of Anubis, shown in a reclining jackal form, stood on a shrine facing the entrance. The image created a powerful protective presence within the burial complex.
Anubis was especially suitable as a guardian because Egyptian religion connected him with cemeteries, embalming, protection of the dead, and safe passage through the afterlife. His placement did not mean he was the ruler of the underworld; that role was more closely associated with Osiris.
Tutankhamun’s tomb is officially designated KV62 in the Valley of the Kings. Its discovery became one of the most famous archaeological events of the twentieth century, although the tomb’s contents had been disturbed and partially robbed in antiquity.