Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues
By A.R. Williams • Investigating the Secrets of the Boy King
Tutankhamun (King Tut) was the last heir of a powerful family that ruled Egypt for centuries. He died unexpectedly in his late teens, after ruling for about nine years. His death was a mystery that archaeological science is still trying to decode.
Transformation: He changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun ("living image of Amun") and restored the old ways of worshiping the god Amun.
Howard Carter: The British archaeologist who discovered Tut’s tomb in 1922. Though the tomb had been ransacked in antiquity, its "funerary treasures" were still the richest royal collection ever found.
The Error: Carter used chisels to hack away the hardened ritual resins that cemented the mummy to the gold coffin, causing significant damage to the body.
Under Zahi Hawass (Secretary General of Egypt's Council of Antiquities), Tut’s
mummy was the first to undergo a CT scan to answer two questions:
1. How did he die?
2. How old
was he at the time of death?
- Amenhotep III: A powerful pharaoh during the dynasty's golden age.
- Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten): The "wacky" king who attacked Amun, promoted the sun disk Aten, and moved the capital to Akhetaten.
- Tutankhamun: Restored the traditional order but died young, ending the family line.
Archeology has changed from a focus on treasure to a focus on the fascinating details of life and mysteries of death, using tools like CT scans and DNA testing rather than just picks and shovels.
Extract Qs - The Pharaoh's Mystery
[ HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION & FORENSICS ]
Ancient Egyptians believed in the and the possibility of "resurrection." They buried their royalty with treasures and everyday items (clothes, food, wine) to ensure they lacked nothing in the world beyond.
The author suggests that Carter's actions, while destructive, was a Necessity. The ritual resins were so hard that the mummy was inseparable from the coffin. Without Carter's intervention, tomb raiders would have destroyed the mummy much more violently to steal the solid gold artifacts.
Carter used chisels and heat (up to 149°F) to loosen the resins. When heat failed, he cut the mummy at the neck and major joints to extract it. This caused the damage that Hawass refers to in the 2005 examination.
It was a belief that death or misfortune would fall upon those who disturbed the resting place of the Pharaoh. During the CT scan, when the machine stopped due to sand, a guard nervously joked about it, though it was just a technical glitch.
He was Tut's predecessor who shifted focus from the major god Amun to the sun disk Aten. He destroyed Amun's idols and temples, which was considered eccentric and scandalous at the time.
In 1922 by Howard Carter.
1,700 digital X-ray images, showing details of the neck vertebrae, hand, and rib cage.
Archeological Glossary & Facts
The Saga of Tutankhamun