Discovery of the new tomb and Was scepter

The discovery of the Newly Discovered Tomb and its Was scepter marks Theodosia’s achievement as an archaeologist, but its aftermath makes clear that discovery also brought danger: German intruders were searching for objects to sell on the black market, and Theodosia needed medical treatment before her parents could consider exploring the find themselves.

Discovery and Immediate Danger

After Theodosia was brought out of the tomb, she learned that Henrietta Throckmorton and Alistair Throckmorton had not even paused to look into its newly discovered section. They had put her safe extraction and proper medical care first. When Henrietta asked whether anyone else had been below, Theodosia identified the intruders as Germans seeking objects for black-market sale, not people from the British Museum. By then, the intruders had escaped. The discovery was therefore bound up with a threat to the site and its contents, rather than unfolding as an undisturbed archaeological examination.

Recognition at the Museum

Nearly a week after the family returned home, Theodosia was allowed back to the museum for the first time. Henrietta and Alistair had decided that the Was scepter would be a focal point of a new exhibit, and that Theodosia would be named as its discoverer. At eleven, she was to have her name listed on the museum exhibit; the recognition left her speechless with joy. The find thus passed from the dangerous circumstances of the tomb into the museum’s public record, with her contribution explicitly acknowledged.

A Discovery Reconstructed

Back in her workroom, Theodosia tried to draw a diagram of the newly discovered tomb from memory. The effort shows the discovery continuing beyond the moment of escape: she was already reconstructing the place as a record of her own find. Her parents’ decision to feature the Was scepter and credit her gave that private act of remembering an institutional counterpart, turning an experience she had to recall into an acknowledged museum discovery.