3.Discovering Tut : the saga Continues

Lesson-3

Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues

By A.R.Williams

Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues Introduction

This chapter, written by A.R. Williams, is about Tutankhamun, the last heir of the powerful Pharaoh Dynasty, who died as a teenager after ruling for nine years. He died in a mysterious way, and this chapter sheds light on all of the possible mysteries – the curse, the place of his tomb, his life, and, ultimately, death. Egyptians believe that there is life after death, which is why the Pharaohs were buried with wealth and everyday items.

Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues Summary

Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues is a chapter that gives insight into the life of Tutankhamun, the last ruler of Egypt's powerful Pharaoh Dynasty. He was a teenager when he died, and the cause of his death was unknown. Some speculated that he was murdered. For centuries, he ruled Egypt and its empire. Howard Carter, a British archaeologist, discovered his tomb in 1922. He was taken from his resting place after 80 years to undergo a CT scan, which promises to solve the mystery of his life and death by creating a forensic reconstruction.

Amenhotep III, Tut's father or grandfather, was a powerful Pharaoh who ruled for forty years. His son, Amenhotep IV, succeeded him and began the strangest period in Egyptian history. He promoted Aten worship (the sun disk). He changed his name to Akhenaten, which means "servant of Atens." He also relocated the religious capital from Thebes to Akhenaten's new city of Amarna. He also attacked Amun, a god, smashing his images and closing his temples. He was succeeded by another mysterious ruler, who died soon after. Tutankhamun, also known as Tut, then ascended to the throne and ruled for nine years. He worshipped Amun in the traditional manner. He did, however, die mysteriously.

Tut's mummified body was discovered with a large amount of gold, wealth, and everyday items such as a bronze razor, games, clothes, and cases of food and wine. Carter discovered him after years of searching. He decided to investigate his three nested coffins after researching the treasures. Some of Tut's treasures in the tomb have already been looted. His tomb was 26 feet underground and rock-cut, with wall paintings. Tut's face was gilded on the outer coffin. He found garlands of olives, lotus petals, and cornflowers in the first coffin. It indicated that he was buried in March or April. Carter got into trouble with the third and final coffin. The resins used to cement Tut to the bottom of the solid gold coffin had hardened to the point where it could not be moved. He left the coffin in the sun for several hours in the hopes of loosening the resins, but it didn't work. Finally, he used a chisel and hammer to remove the resins.

Carter felt he had no choice because thieves would have looted the gold if he hadn't cut the mummy from head to toe. His men removed his head first, then cut off every joint. After removing the body parts, they placed them in a wooden box on a layer of sand and restored them to their original place. An anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy in 1968, revealing only a few facts – his breast bone and front ribs were missing. Tut was later taken for a CT (Computed Tomography) scan on January 5, 2009, which takes hundreds of X-Rays and creates a three-dimensional image. Workmen carried his body from the tomb in a box the night of the scan. They climbed a ramp and stairs before lifting it onto a hydraulic trailer containing the scanner. The procedure was halted when the scanner stopped working. The scan was finally completed after a pair of spare fans were used. After three hours, his body was taken back to his tomb, where he now rests in peace

Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues Lesson Explanation

He was just a teenager when he died. The last heir of a powerful family that had ruled Egypt and its empire for centuries, he was laid to rest laden with gold and eventually forgotten. Since the discovery of his tomb in 1922, the modern world has speculated about what happened to him, with murder being the most extreme possibility. Now, leaving his tomb for the first time in almost 80 years, Tut has undergone a CT scan that offers new clues about his life and death — and provides precise data for an accurate forensic reconstruction of the boyish pharaoh.

• Heir – Inheritor, successor
• Laden – loaded
• Speculated- form a theory without evidence
• Tomb- an enclosure to bury the dead
• Forensic Reconstruction – the process of recreating the face of an individual
• Pharaoh- a ruler in ancient Egypt

Tutankhamun, also known as Tut, died as a teenager. He was the last descendant of Egypt's powerful Pharaoh Dynasty, which ruled Egypt and its empire for centuries. He was laid to rest, his body heavily laden with gold. When his tomb was discovered in 1922, the world began to wonder what had happened to him and whether he had been murdered. His body was about to undergo a CT scan after nearly 80 years, which would provide new information and clues about his life and death. His face would be recreated using a technique known as forensic reconstruction.

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. It was 6 p.m. on 5 January 2005. 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.

• Stirred – move or cause to move slightly
• Ghostly – eerie and unnatural; unreal
• Resting place- here, the grave
• Cemetery- a large burial ground
• Dark-bellied – dark in colour
• Scudded across – moving quickly; it refers to the movement of the dark-bellied clouds
• Veiling – to cover something
• Casket- a small ornamental box or chest for holding jewels, letters, or other valued objects.
• Casket grey – It means that the grey clouds were like a grey coloured casket which contained the stars. The stars are like jewels which are kept in a casket.
• Glided – quite, continuous motion
• Probe – to investigate, find out
• Lingering – long-lasting

As King Tut's body was being removed from his grave in the 'Valleys of the Kings,' an ancient Egyptian cemetery, a fast, strange, and unnatural wind blew (The location of the Valley of the KIngs is given in the image). Throughout the day, dark clouds moved quickly across the desert, eventually covering the stars. On January 5, 2005, at 6 p.m., King Tut's mummy, the world's most famous mummy, was placed in a CT scanner to investigate the mystery surrounding his death more than 3300 years ago.

All afternoon the usual line of tourists from around the world had descended into the cramped, rock-cut tomb some 26 feet underground to pay their respects. They gazed at the murals on the walls of the burial chamber and peered at Tut’s gilded face, the most striking feature of his mummy-shaped outer coffin lid. 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.

• Descended – moved or gathered
• Cramped – very small to fit into
• Rock-cut – made in a rock by cutting it
• Gazed – to look in surprise or in admiration
• Murals – a painting or other artwork executed directly on the wall
• Gilded – covered with a thin sheet or coating of gold
• Striking- prominent
• Whisper- to speak in a low voice
• Pondering – think about something carefully

Tourists paid their respects to the king by visiting the underground rock-cut tomb, which was 26 feet deep. Many people crammed into the small tomb, admiring the murals on the chamber's walls and peering at Tut's gold-painted face. Some stood silently, wondering about his untimely death in his teen years, as visitors read the guidebooks in hushed tones. They may also be wondering if the pharaoh's curse, which causes misfortune to descend on those who disturb him, is true.

“The mummy is in very bad condition because of what Carter did in the 1920s,” said Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, as he leaned over the body for a long first look. Carter—Howard Carter, that is — was the British archaeologist who in 1922 discovered Tut’s tomb after years of futile searching. Its contents, though hastily ransacked in antiquity, were surprisingly complete. They remain the richest royal collection ever found and have become part of the pharaoh’s legend. Stunning artefacts in gold, their eternal brilliance meant to guarantee resurrection, caused a sensation at the time of the discovery — and still get the most attention. 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.

• Futile – pointless; incapable of producing the result of something
• Hastily – fast; swiftly
• Ransacked – raid; go through a place to steal or damage something
• Antiquity – age, oldness
• Resurrection – restoration to life
• Afterlife-  life after death, based on the belief that the essential part of an individual’s identity  continues to the next life after the death of the physical body

As Egypt's Secretary General, Zahi Hawass, leaned over the body to inspect it, he stated that the mummy was in very bad condition due to what British archaeologist Howard Carter did to it in the 1920s. After a long search, he discovered King Tut's tomb in 1922. Tut's valuable treasures had also been explored previously, but surprisingly, they were complete. The treasure found at Tut's tomb is the richest ever discovered and has become known as the Pharaoh's legend. It has gold artefacts that are eternally beautiful and as good as new. Such artefacts continue to grab people's interest. Tut was buried with items of daily use such as a bronze razor, games, linen undergarments, and boxes of food and wine that he could use in the afterlife.

After months of carefully recording the pharaoh’s funerary treasures, Carter began investigating his three nested coffins. Opening the first, he found a shroud adorned with garlands of willow and olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals, and cornflowers, the faded evidence of a burial in March or April. When he finally reached the mummy, though, he ran into trouble. The ritual resins had hardened, cementing Tut to the bottom of his solid gold coffin. “No amount of legitimate force could move them,” Carter wrote later. “What was to be done?”

• Funerary Treasures – the valuable things with which the king was buried
  three nested coffin- three cofins placed one in another in order of decreasing size. The innermost coffin houses the body of the deceased.
• Shroud – a length of cloth in which a dead person is wrapped
• Adorned – decorated
• Garlands of willow – a wreath of flowers and leaves
• Mummy-  a body of a human being or animal that has been ceremonially preserved by removal of the internal organs, treatment with natron and resin, and wrapping in bandages.
• Ritual – here, the resins used in the ceremony of mummification
• Resins – a sticky flammable substance that is insoluble in water
• Legitimate – reasonable

Carter spent several months documenting the treasures found in Tut's tomb. Then he started looking into his three coffins, which were nested one inside the other. He found a piece of cloth with garlands of willow, olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals, and cornflower in the first coffin, indicating that he was buried in March or April. He was in big trouble when he got to the third coffin. The body had hardened due to the resins that had cemented it, and it had stuck to the bottom of the gold-plated coffin. Carter was at a loss for what to do next because no amount of force could separate them.

The sun can beat down like a hammer this far south in Egypt, and Carter tried to use it to loosen the resins. For several hours he set the mummy outside in blazing sunshine that heated it to 149 degrees Fahrenheit. Nothing budged. He reported with scientific detachment that “the consolidated material had to be chiselled away from beneath the limbs and trunk before it was possible to raise the king’s remains.”

• Blazing – very hot
• Budged – moved or shifted; a slight movement
• Chiselled away – to cut something with a chisel

Carter tried to loosen the resins by exposing the body to direct sunlight. He kept the mummy in 149-degree heat for several hours, but it remained stuck. He claimed that a chisel could be used to cut the mummy from the limbs and trunk, allowing Tut's body to be taken out from the coffin.

In his defence, Carter really had little choice. If he hadn’t cut the mummy free, thieves most certainly would have circumvented the guards and ripped it apart to remove the gold. In Tut’s time the royals were fabulously wealthy, and they thought — or hoped — they could take their riches with them. For his journey to the great beyond, King Tut was lavished with glittering goods: precious collars, inlaid necklaces and bracelets, rings, amulets, a ceremonial apron, sandals, sheaths for his fingers and toes, and the now iconic inner coffin and mask — all of pure gold. To separate Tut from his adornments, Carter’s men removed the mummy’s head and severed nearly every major joint. Once they had finished, they reassembled the remains on a layer of sand in a wooden box with padding that concealed the damage, the bed where Tut now rests.

• Circumvented – find a way around; thieves would have found a way to tackle the guards and remove the gold from the tomb
• Inlaid – a decorative pattern on a surface
• Amulet – an ornament or small piece of jewellery thought to give protection against evil, danger, or disease.
• Apron – a protective garment worn over the front of one’s clothes and tied at the back.
• Sheaths – a close-fitting cover
• Iconic – something or someone who is a symbol or it represents some other thing
• Adornments – ornaments
• Concealed- hid

Carter stated that he had no choice but to cut the mummy. He was convinced that if he hadn't done so, thieves would have removed the gold from the tomb and looted it. The royal people were very wealthy during Tut's time, and they believed that after death, they could take their wealth with them. He was given precious collars, necklaces with decorative patterns, bracelets, rings, amulets, ceremonial aprons, sandals, sheaths for fingers and toes, and now, an iconic inner coffin and a mask for his life after death. His men removed his head as well as every joint in his body. After that, they reassembled the remains in a wooden box with padding and a layer of sand to hide the damage. It had become his new resting place.

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. 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.

• Intervening – occur in the time between events
• Intriguing – to arouse one’s curiosity
• Startling – unexpected or surprising

Archaeology has changed over the last few decades, with a greater emphasis on the finer details of life and the mysteries of death. Previously, it was all about focusing on the treasure. It now conducts research with more advanced medical technologies and tools. An anatomy professor X-rayed King Tut's mummy in 1968 and found that the front limbs and breast bone were missing.

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. What more would a CT scan reveal of Tut than the X-ray? And could it answer two of the biggest questions still lingering about him — how did he die, and how old was he at the time of his death?
King Tut’s demise was a big event, even by royal standards. He was the last of his family’s line, and his funeral was the death rattle of a dynasty. But the particulars of his passing aay and its aftermath are unclear.

• Computed Tomography – Also called a CT scan, it is a three-dimensional scan of a body with the help of hundreds of X-Rays in cross-section together
• Demise – death
• death rattle – the gurgling sound produced in the throat of a person who is about to die
• Aftermath – after-effects of an unpleasant event

With technological advancements, CT scans or Computed Tomography can now provide a virtual image of the entire body. This technology would be used to scan King Tut's body in order to answer two questions: how he died and how old he was at the time of his death. His death came as a surprise to the royals as well, as he was the last member of his family to die, and his funeral led to the end of his dynasty. What happened after his death, however, is still unknown.

Amenhotep III — Tut’s father or grandfather — was a powerful pharaoh who ruled for almost four decades at the height of the eighteenth dynasty’s golden age. His son Amenhotep IV succeeded him and initiated one of the strangest periods in the history of ancient Egypt. The new pharaoh promoted the worship of the Aten, the sun disk, changed his name to Akhenaten, or ‘servant of the Aten,’ and moved the religious capital from the old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten, known now as Amarna. He further shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major god, smashing his images and closing his temples. “It must have been a horrific time,” said Ray Johnson, director of the University of Chicago’s research centre in Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes. “The family that had ruled for centuries was coming to an end, and then Akhenaten went a little wacky.”

• Wacky –amusing in a slightly odd way

 

Amenhotep III, Tut's father or grandfather, was a powerful Pharaoh who ruled for forty years. Amenhotep IV, his son, succeeded him and began the strangest period in Egyptian history. He promoted Aten worship (the sun disk). He changed his name to Akhenaten, which means "servant of Atens." He also relocated the religious capital from Thebes to Akhenaten's new city of Amarna. He also attacked Amun, a god, destroying his images and closing his temples. According to Ray Johnson, director of the University of Chicago, it must have been a difficult time for the empire as the family that had ruled for centuries came to an end and Akhenaten took an unexpected turn.

After Akhenaten’s death, a mysterious ruler named Smenkhkare appeared briefly and exited with hardly a trace. And then a very young Tutankhaten took the throne — King Tut as he’s widely known today. The boy king soon changed his name to Tutankhamun, ‘living image of Amun,’ and oversaw a restoration of the old ways. He reigned for about nine years — and then died unexpectedly.
Regardless of his fame and the speculations about his fate, Tut is one mummy among many in Egypt. How many? No one knows. The Egyptian Mummy Project, which began an inventory in late 2003, has recorded almost 600 so far and is still counting. The next phase: scanning the mummies with a portable CT machine donated by the National Geographic Society and Siemens, its manufacturer. King Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned — in death, as in life, moving regally ahead of his countrymen.

Smenkhhare, another mysterious ruler, succeeded him and died soon after. Tutankhamun, also known as Tut, then ascended to the throne and ruled for nine years. He worshipped Amun in the traditional manner. He did, however, die mysteriously.

Tut is one of Egypt's mummies. Until now, nearly 600 mummies have been recorded with the help of the Egyptian Mummy Project, which began in 2003. The next phase of scanning the mummies with the machine donated by the National Geographic Society and Siemens began with King Tut's mummy being scanned by CT.

A CT machine scanned the mummy head to toe, creating 1,700 digital X-ray images in cross-section. Tut’s head, scanned in 0.62-millimetre slices to register its intricate structures, takes on eerie detail in the resulting image. With Tut’s entire body similarly recorded, a team of specialists in radiology, forensics, and anatomy began to probe the secrets that the winged goddesses of a gilded burial shrine protected for so long.

• Eerie detail – strange image of Tut’s head as visible with the help of CT scan
• Forensics – the application of the scientific method to investigate a crime
• Anatomy – the branch of science which deals with the bodily structure of humans, animals or other living beings
• Burial – burying the dead
• Shrine – holy place

The CT scanner scanned the body by producing 1700 digital X-ray cross-sections. Tut's head was scanned in 0.62 mm slices to capture the littlest of details. The resulting image was strange. A team of Radiology, Forensics, and Anatomy experts began investigating the secrets of the grave, which had been guarded for a long time by flying goddesses.

The night of the scan, workmen carried Tut from the tomb in his box. Like pallbearers they climbed a ramp and a flight of stairs into the swirling sand outside, then rose on a hydraulic lift into the trailer that held the scanner. Twenty minutes later two men emerged, sprinted for an office nearby, and returned with a pair of white plastic fans. The million-dollar scanner had quit because of sand in a cooler fan. “Curse of the pharaoh,” joked a guard nervously.

Eventually the substitute fans worked well enough to finish the procedure. After checking that no data had been lost, the technicians turned Tut over to the workmen, who carried him back to his tomb. Less than three hours after he was removed from his coffin, the pharaoh again rested in peace where the funerary priests had laid him so long ago.

• Pallbearers – a person who helps to escort a coffin at a funeral
• Swirling – to spin or twist
• Hydraulic lift – a lift that uses a machine to lift or move heavy objects with a pressure
• Sprinted – ran at a high speed

Throughout the night, workers climbed the ramp and the flight of stairs to carry the body from the tomb to the spinning sand outside. They hoisted the body onto a hydraulic lift, then into a trailer containing the scanner. After twenty minutes, two men dashed to a nearby office to bring two fans. The scanner was not working because sand had gotten into a cooler fan. The guard joked that it was because of the pharaoh's curse that they had removed his body.

The procedure was completed once the fans started working. The data was checked for errors, and the body was returned to the pallbearers, who carried him back to his tomb. He was resting in less than three hours at the same spot where the priests had laid him many years before.

Back in the trailer a technician pulled up astonishing images of Tut on a computer screen. A grey head took shape from a scattering of pixels, and the technician spun and tilted it in every direction. Neck vertebrae appeared as clearly as in an anatomy class. Other images revealed a hand, several views of the rib cage, and a transection of the skull. But for now the pressure was off. Sitting back in his chair, Zahi Hawass smiled, visibly relieved that nothing had gone seriously wrong. “I didn’t sleep last night, not for a second,” he said. “I was so worried. But now I think I will go and sleep.”

By the time we left the trailer, descending metal stairs to the sandy ground, the wind had stopped. The winter air lay cold and still, like death itself, in this valley of the departed. Just above the entrance to Tut’s tomb

• stood Orion — the constellation that the ancient Egyptians knew as the soul of Osiris, the
• god of the afterlife — watching over the boy king.
• Astonishing – amazing
• Pixels – a pixel is a single point in a graphic image
• Spun – to turn around
• Vertebrae – series of small bones which form a backbone

The technician in the trailer displayed a beautiful image of Tut on a computer screen. He showed the grey head, which was pixelated, and spun it around. The vertebrae, hand, rib cage, and transection of his skull were then displayed. As soon as the work was completed, Zahi Hawass's shoulders were relieved of the burden. He smiled and said, while sitting in his chair, that he was relieved that nothing went wrong. He hadn't slept the night before, and now that the work was done, he was going to sleep.

The wind had stopped away by the time they left the trailer, and the winter air was as death itself. The Orion constellation shone in the night sky just above the tomb, keeping watch over the boy king.

About the Author

A.R. Williams developed a love of reading at a young age, and when assigned to write their own works of fiction in fourth grade, it occurred to him that he, too, could craft tales for others to enjoy. Although A.R. did not immediately pursue this desire, he continued to have a voracious appetite for reading, from the amazing comics of Spider-Man, The X-Men, and Elf Quest to the fantasy stories of Weiss and Hickman in "Dragonlance." A.R. was writing more at this point, but he wasn't submitting his work to markets. A.R. entered the field in a serious attempt to become a published author with the advancement of the internet and the ability to find new markets from sites such as Ralan's and Duotrope's Digest.