Hornbill Chapter-3

Chapter – 3

Discovering King Tut: The Saga continues.....

Summary:

This chapter is meant to show readers the beauty and mystery of ancient Egyptian culture and the science and wonder of archaeology. This chapter is actually a part of the book which goes with the same title as mentioned above and it has many chapters, rather than a short story; in fact, the book is an in-depth look at the circumstances of King Tut's death, as well as the general culture and lifestyle practised during his lifetime. Fascinating and well-written this book has captured many people's interest, and it remains a popular choice for anyone interested in archaeology and ancient Egyptian culture. This is a living example of technology advancement. We accepted things and events attributing their cause to nature and her wrath. However, advancement and technology could give us a different picture. This way, it has become a habit with us to accept everything that history states and dictates.

On the process the modern world has found ways to offer a different view on it. In other words, the modern world has turn impossibilities to possibilities. William’s report gives an insight into this. A mummy scanned after a thousand years has opened new avenues regarding a cause of its death. The mummy referred to here is that of King Tut or Tutankhamen, meaning the living image of Amun.

Howard Carter examining the tomb

The earlier ruler, Amenhotep-IV has shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major God, smashing his images and closing all his temples. His family had ruled for centuries before the boy king, Tut took over. However, Tut ruled for nine years and then died both mysteriously and unexpectedly.

The scanning of Tut’s mummy also gave an insight as to how mummies were buried. Howard Carter, who scanned the body found it difficult to extract the mummy. The ritual resins had hardened thereby cementing Tut to the bottom of his solid gold coffin. Carter finally had to chisel the mummy away having no other option. Every major point was severed. Tut was buried with gold which was meant to guarantee the resurrection and was also buried with every day things he would need in his after-life. Tut also had things to take on his journey to the great beyond-glittering goods, precious collars, necklaces and sandals, all of pure gold. The computed Tomography scan couldn’t solve the mysterious death of Tut but gave us clues for sure. The X-rays and C.T. scan reveal a startling fact-the breast bone and the front ribs of Tut were missing. Such a revelation would not have been possible without technological precision. This fact gives us a clue that Tut, in all likelihood did not die a natural death.

Technology hasn’t been able to give us a definite answer to Tut’s death. However, it has given us a direction to think and proceed. Maybe in future, technology would solve it for us. The whole excavation and the scan required scores of people. It was a gruelling job and the workers had a tough time. After the pharaoh was rested in peace again, Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities said, “I didn’t sleep last night, not for a second. I was worried. But now I think I will go and sleep.” It just proves how tough the whole process was.

In other words, King Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned-in death as in life. He was famous when he was alive and his untimely death has raised the necessity to probe the lingering mysteries of this young ruler who died more than 3,300 years ago. 

Forensic Reconstruction

 

Examination Style Questions

1. Who was Tutankhamun? What is the common opinion regarding his death?
   Tut or Tutankhamun was the third last Pharaoh of the mighty eighteenth dynasty in ancient Egypt. He died around 1300 BC, but the causes of his death are still not revealed to the scientific world.
2. Where is Tut’s body buried?
   King Tut’s body is buried inside an enormous pyramid in the royal cemetery called the Valley of Kings in Egypt.
3. Why did ancient Egyptians bury their dead along with enormous riches?
   The ancient Egyptians believed in life after death. Because they believed that the dead would one day return to life and that they would therefore need riches in gold and diamonds, the relatives of the dead buried as much gold and other valuables as that allowed them to bury.
4. How did Tut’s family keep tomb raiders and thieves away from his eternal resting place?
   In order to keep tomb raiders from stealing the enormous riches deposited in Tut’s tomb, his family spread fear among people. They warned anyone who approached the tomb and disturbed Tut’s peaceful sleep with death.
5. Why does the writer present the account in an eerie manner? How does he do that?
   An angry wind stirred up ghostly dust devils as King Tut was taken from his resting place in the ancient Egyptian cemetery known as the Valley of the Kings*. Dark-bellied clouds had scudded across the desert sky all day and now were veiling the stars in casket grey. Some visitors read from guidebooks in a whisper. Others stood silently, perhaps pondering Tut’s untimely death in his late teens, or wondering with a shiver if the pharaoh’s curse — death or misfortune falling upon those who disturbed him — was really true.
6. What happened in Tutankhamun’s saga on 5th January, 2005?
   King Tut was CT Scanned the first time in history on this day and became the first mummy to be scanned. The world’s most famous mummy glided head first into a CT scanner brought here to probe the lingering medical mysteries of this little understood young ruler who died more than 3,300 years ago.
7. Who was Amenhotep? Why his reign was considered as the strangest period in the history of Egypt?
   Ans: Amenhotep 4 succeeded Amenhotep 3(who was Tut's father or grandfather). His reign was the strangest period in history because he promoted worship of Aten, the sun disk, he changed his name to Akhenaten or the 'servant of Aten' and moved the religious capital from Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten, known as Amarna. He further shocked the country by destroying all the temples and statues of Amun who was a major god of Egypt.
8. What was the condition of Tut’s mummy when it was discovered by Howard Carter?
   The most of the antiquities of the tomb were surprisingly complete. They remain the richest royal collection ever found and have become part of the pharaoh’s legend. Stunning artifacts in gold, their eternal brilliance meant to guarantee resurrection, caused a sensation at the time of the discovery. But Tut was also buried with everyday things he’d want in the afterlife: board games, a bronze razor, linen undergarments, cases of food and wine.
9. Give reason why king Tut's body has been subjected to repeated scrutiny.
   Ans: It is to obtain clues and facts about his life and death. It was one such scan which helped find that beneath the resin that took his chest, his breast-bone and front ribs were missing. The main potential and objective behind the scrutiny is to answer two of the biggest questions lingering about him-how did he die, and how old was he at the time of his death? (Murder being the most extreme possibility).
10. Why did carter had to chisel away the solidified raisin to raise the king Tut's remains?
    Ans: Carter found that ritual resin which was used as a polish has hardened. The result was that mummy was cemented to the solid gold base of the coffin. Neither the strongest force could move the mummy nor the blazing sun .
11. Why was Howard Carter's investigation resented?
    Ans: Howard Carter's investigation was resented because he used unscientific methods to cut the body away from the wooden base. He also focused more on the discovery of gold rather that magnificent details of Tut's life and mysteries of his death.
12. Why was Howard Carter so much curious about opening Tut’s tomb against all the warnings?
    Howard Carter was a die-hard archaeologist. When his team located Tut’s burial place and spotted the mummy, the locals warned them of the ancient curse of the pharaoh – death for anyone who dared to approach the tomb. In spite of the warnings, Howard Carter proceeded to open the tomb because discovering Tutankhamun was his long-cherished dream and there was nothing stopping him from getting Tut’s remains for his experiments.
13. Why did Howard Carter amputate Tut’s body when he finally spotted his tomb?
    OR
    Why does Zahi Hawas blame Howard Carter?
    When Howard Carter tried to lift Tut’s mummy, he found that the mummy had got cemented to the coffin. It was because of the resins that was buried along with the mummy for preservation. Although Carter made a number of attempts to separate the mummy from the coffin, the mummy remained cemented to the coffin. To save the mummy from the tomb-raiders and the locals, Carter had to amputate it.
14. How did archaeologists find out that Tut’s body was buried in March?
    When Howard Carter opened the first nested coffin, he saw shrouds, olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals, etc. which suggested the possibility.
15. Why did ancient Egyptians bury enormous treasures along with their dead?Ancient Egyptians believed in life after death. Foreseeing this, they left valuable articles like gold and day-today necessities like garments in the coffin of the dead.
16. What startling mystery did the x-raying of Tut’s body in 1968 reveal?
    When Tut’s body was x-rayed by a doctor in 1968, he found out that some of his rib bones were missing.
17. How was Tut different from his ancestor?
    Tut’s father, Amenhotep IV, was a worshipper of Aten, a prominent God in Egypt. He promoted the worship of Aten (Sun disk) and changed his name to Akhenaten (Servant of Aten). He also shifted the religious capital from the old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten (now known as Amarana). He further attacked God Amun by smashing images and closing temples.
    Tutankhaten – Tutankhamun – Tut changed his name to Tutankhamun (Living image of Amun). He restored all the old ways. He was a very popular king and reigned for nine years and died unexpectedly at a very young age of 19.
18. How did science influence Archaeology in the recent years?
    With the progress of science in forensic imaging, study of the past has become easier and more accurate. With the invention of Computed Tomography (CT) Scanning machines, fossils can be now better studied. A CT Scanner takes hundreds of x-Rays in cross section and puts them together like slices of bread to create a 3D virtual body. With scientific research gaining more importance that treasure hunting, archaeologists now focus more on the fascinating details of life and intriguing mysteries of death of the ancients.
19. The Saga Continues – Which Saga is being referred to?
    The sage or tradition that is referred to here is the ancient saga of the mysterious pharaoh Tutankhamun. It has been a lingering saga because archaeology has not drafted any final answer to the questions regarding king Tutankhamun’s death.
20. How did archaeology change since Tutankhamun’s mummy was discovered in 1921?
    Archaeology has changed substantially in the intervening decades, focusing less on treasure and more on the fascinating details of life and intriguing mysteries of death. It also uses more sophisticated tools, including medical technology. Today diagnostic imaging can be done with computed tomography, or CT, by which hundreds of X-rays in cross section are put together like slices of bread to create a three-dimensional virtual body.
21. What did the anatomy professor reveal about Tutankhamun’s remains in 1968?
    In 1968, more than 40 years after Carter’s discovery, an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy and revealed a startling fact: beneath the resin that cakes his chest, his breast-bone and front ribs are missing.
22. What are the two questions still lingering about Tutankhamun?
    The two lingering questions about Tutankhamun are – how did he die, and how old was he at the time of his death.
23. King Tut’s demise was a big event, even by royal standards. Explain.
    King Tut was the last of his family’s line, and his funeral was the death rattle of a dynasty. But the particulars of his passing away and its aftermath are unclear.
24. What do you know about Amenhotep III?
    Amenhotep III was Tut’s grandfather. He was a powerful pharaoh (king) who ruled for almost four decades (40 years) at the height of the eighteenth dynasty’s golden age.

25. What does Ray Johnson report about ancient Egypt at the time of Amenhotep IV?
    Ray Johnson, director of the University of Chicago’s research centre in Luxor, gives a vivid account of ancient Egypt at the time of Amenhotep IV. According to him, king Amenhotep’s time must have been a horrific one. The family that had ruled for centuries was coming to an end.

26. Discuss the appropriateness of the title “Discovering Tut : the saga continues”.
    Ans: This chapter is an example of technology advancement. We accepted things and events attributing their cause to nature and her wrath. However, advancement and technology could give us a different picture. This way, it has become a habit with us to accept everything that history states and dictates. On the process the modern world has found ways to offer a different view on it. In other words, the modern world has turn impossibilities to possibilities. William’s report gives an insight into this. A mummy scanned after a thousand years has opened new avenues regarding a cause of it’s’ death. The mummy referred to here is that of King Tut or Tutankhamen, meaning the living image of Amun. The earlier ruler, Amenhotep-IV has shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major God, smashing his images and closing all his temples. His family had ruled for centuries before the boy king, Tut took over. However, Tut ruled for nine years and then died both mysteriously and unexpectedly.