[5] This search had yet to yield any significant results when, in October 1922, Carter began to excavate beneath the foundations of a row of ancient workman's huts in the heart of the valley.

[4] On 4 November Carter's team discovered a flight of steps which, once dug out, revealed a doorway sealed with ancient cartouches, suggesting an intact tomb.

[8] Callender was present when, on 26 November, Carter made a tiny breach in the top left hand corner of the tomb doorway, enabling him to peer in by the light of a candle.

[9] However that night, Callender, Carter, Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn apparently made an unauthorised visit, becoming the first people in modern times to enter the tomb.

[b] In this account, a small hole was found in the chamber's sealed doorway and Carter, Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn crawled through, although Callender was too heavily built to do so.

[15] The scale of the task of assessing and clearing the tomb was vast, with Carter obtaining the loan of experienced archaeologists, including Arthur Mace, chemist Alfred Lucas and photographer Harry Burton.

[19] In December 1922, one visitor noted that, while a watchman's hut was being built, Callender stood guard outside the tomb "with a loaded rifle across his knee ... sitting in the gleaming hot sun ... with huge beads of perspiration upon his uncovered and balding head.

[c] Callender also worked on other excavations, including assisting Walter Bryan Emery and Robert Mond in reconstructing the tomb of Ramose in 1924,[3] and explorations at Armant in 1935 and 1936.