☰
Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues
Who discovered Tut’s tomb and what problems did he face with regard to Tut’s mummy? Why did Zahi Hawass say, “The Mummy is in very bad condition because of what Carter did in 1922”?
A British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered Tut’s tomb in 1922. Carter worked for months. He carefully recorded Tut’s treasures. Then he began investigating his three nested coffins. He found a shroud adorned with garlands of willow, olive and lotus leaves. Perhaps Tut was buried in March or April. Carter ran into trouble when he reached the mummy. The ritual resin had hardened. It cemented Tut to the bottom of his solid gold coffin. No amount of force could separate them. Then Carter tried another way of loosening the resins. He placed the mummy in the blazing sunshine. But the move didn’t work. At last, he decided to cut the mummy free from the resins. The resins had to be chiselled away beneath the limbs and the trunk. In his defence, Carter had little choice. Had he not cut the mummy free, thieves would have run away with the gold.
Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, blamed Carter for “the bad condition” of the mummy. His chiselling did the damage. After 40 years Tut’s mummy was X-rayed. It was found that his breast-bone and front ribs were missing.
Tips: -
Imp.
Sponsor Area
Give reasons for the following:
Howard Carter’s investigation was resented.
Give reasons for the following:
Carter had to chisel away the solidified resins to raise the king’s remains.
Give reasons for the following:
Tut’s body was buried along with gilded treasures.
Give reasons for the following:
The boy king changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun.
Give reasons for the following:
List the deeds that led Ray Johnson to describe Akhenaten as “wacky”.
Give reasons for the following:
What were the results of the CT scan?
Give reasons for the following:
List the advances in technology that have improved forensic analysis.
Give reasons for the following:
Explain the statement, “King Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned — in death, as in life ...”
Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view.
1. Scientific intervention is necessary to unearth buried mysteries.
2. Advanced technology gives us conclusive evidence of past events.
3. Traditions, rituals and funerary practices must be respected.
4. Knowledge about the past is useful to complete our knowledge of the world we live in.
Read the following piece of information from The Encyclopedia of Language by David Crystal.
Egyptian is now extinct: its history dates from before the third millennium B.C., preserved in many hieroglyphic inscriptions and papyrus manuscripts. Around the second century A.D., it developed into a language known as Coptic. Coptic may still have been used as late as the early nineteenth century and is still used as a religious language by Monophysite Christians in Egypt.
1. What do you think are the reasons for the extinction of languages?
2. Do you think it is important to preserve languages?
3. In what ways do you think we could help prevent the extinction of languages and dialects?
Sponsor Area
Sponsor Area