Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues.......Note-Making.

 

NOTE-MAKING

King Tut’s Death-A Mystery

 Death of King Tut

• King Tut just a teenager at time of death
•  Last heir of powerful family that ruled Egypt and its empire for centuries
•  Buried and forgotten over years
•  Discovery of his tomb in 1922 made world wonder about cause of
•     untimely death
•   Brought out of tomb, CT scan done to ascertain reason of death

 

CT Scan of King Tut’s mummy

• King Tut’s mummy taken out from burial tomb on 5 January, 2005 at 6 p.m.
•  scan done to unearth medical mysteries surdng untimely death
•  rock- cut tomb lay 26 feet underground in Egyptian cemetery ‘Valley of the Kings’
•   angry winds stirred, dark clouds covered the stars when mummy put into scanner for CT scan
• overcast weather entire day, night sky covered by dark-bellied clouds
• tourists from around the world visited tomb to pay respect
•  murals on walls of burial chamber and King Tut’s gilded face on lid of outer coffin
•   visitors curious, thoughtful; feared pharaoh’s curse would befall those who disturbed him
• Hawass-blamed Howard Carter- bad condition of mummy

 

Howard Carter and his findings

• Tut’s tomb disrd by British archaeologist Howard Carter in1922
• tomb laden with gold; contents- richest royal collection ever found
• dazzling works of art in gold caused sensation then and even today
• Tut buried with everyday things- board games, bronze razor, linen undergarments, cases of food, wine etc. needed in life after death
•  three nested coffins investigated by Carter
• contents of first coffin- shroud decorated with garlands of willow and olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals, cornflowers- burial took place in March or April
• ritual resins hardened, cementing mummy to bottom of solid gold coffin

 

 

 

King Tut’s mummy chiseled out by Howard Carter

• Carter faced difclt  extracting mummy out of coffin
•  ritual resins hardened, mummy cemented to bottom of coffin
• Carter tried to loosen resins-put mummy outside in sun for hours – mummy heated to149 degrees Fahrenheit- nothing happened
•  cut hardened material from under limbs and trunk to free Tut’s remains
• all this done to protect treasure- precious collars, inlaid necklaces, bracelets, rings, amulets, ceremonial apron, sandals, sheaths for fingers and toe, inner coffin and mask- all of pure gold, from thieves
•  removed mummy’s head and cut off nearly every major joint to separate king from ornaments
•  reassembled remains of body on layer of sand in wooden box with padding to conceal damage King

 

 

Tut’s mummy x-rayed

•  archlg undergone changes -focuses more on details of life and death than treasures; uses more sophisticated tools
• anatomy professor x-rayed mummy in 1968, more than 40 years after Howard Carter’s discovery; revealed astonishing fact
• Tut’s breast bone and front ribs found missing beneath resins that caked Tut’s chest
• mystery of Tut’s death still unsolved

 

King Tut and his ancestors

• King Tut’s father or grandfather, Amenhotep III- powerful King, ruled for almost four decades.
•  son Amenhotep IV succeeded; very strange King
• Amenhotep IV promoted worship of Aten, the sun disk; changed his name to Akhenaten (servant of Aten)
•  moved religious capital from Thebes to Akhetaten, now known as Amarna
•  shocked country- attacked major god ‘Amun’, broke images, closed down temples
•  Ray Johnson, Director of the University of Chicago’s research centre in Luxor, called it horrific time.
•   after Akhenaten’s death mysterious ruler Smenkhkare- ruled for brief period, departed with hardly any sign
•   young King Tutankhaten took over throne; soon changed name to Tutankhamun, known as King Tut
•  Tut oversaw revival of old ways, ruled for nine years, then died unexpectedly
  
  

CT Scanning of King Tut’s mummy

•  King Tut’s mummy-one among many in Egypt
• The Egyptian Mummy Project- recorded almost six hundred mummies, still counting
• King Tut’s mummy- first to be CT scanned to ascertain secret of death
• scanned by portable scanner donated by National Geographic Society and Siemens, its manufacturer
•  team of specialists in radiology, forensics and anatomy worked upon Tut
• on night of scan, workmen carried mummy its box, from tomb, rose it on hydraulic lift into a trailer that held scanner
• Initially scanner could not function properly due to sand in cooler fan- plastic fans brought as subtt
•  king returned to coffin to rest in peace after scan
•  scan showed image of Tut’s entire body clearly- grey head, neck vertebrae, a hand, several images of rib cage and a section of skull
•  Zahi Hawass relieved- nothing had seriously gone wrong- nothing lost
•   after observations, team left, wind stopped, complete silence
• technicians saw Orion consln, known to ancient Egyptians as soul of Osiris, the God of afterlife, above entrance to tomb
• felt as if God was watching over the boy king

 

Abbreviations & Full Forms

1.   subtt: substitute

2.   archlg: archaeology

3.   difclt: difficulty

4.   disrd: Discovered

5.   surdng: surrounding

6.   consln: constellation

 

 

 

 

                                                                Arun Thakare