Question 1.
Do you think Carter was justified in removing the hardened ritual resin deposits on Hit’s mummy? Why/ Why not?
Question 2.
“The mummy is in very bad condition because of what Carter did in the 1920s,” said Zahi Hawaas, the expert on Egyptian antiquity. How far is the statement true? Discuss.
Question 3.
Who was King Tut? What do you know about him?
Question 4.
Imagine you are Howard Carter. You were fortunate to find King Tut’s tomb intact. Describe what you saw in the burial chamber. Describe King Hit’s coffins and their contents.
Question 5.
Discuss the suitability of the title, ‘Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues’.
Answers
Answer 1:
Carter was investigating the tomb of King Tut in 1922. Amazingly, the tomb’s contents were in fact in spite of having been ransacked in antiquity. Carter found king Tut’s Mummy in three nested coffins, the most important find of all. To Carter’s dismay he found he could not study the mummy as it was stuck to the bottom of the coffin due the hardening of the funerary raisins Carter tried ‘legitimate force’ but could not dislodge the mummy from its these in the coffin. So he cut the mummy in several parts, removed its head and severed almost all the joints. Carter’s action was highly condemnable as he nearly destroyed the mummy. His defence was that if not be robbers and vandals would have done the same. Historians, however, have not forgiven Carter for this disfigurement.
Answer 2:
The above statement is partially true. Carter easily opened two of the three nested coffins and established the time of burial by the presence of lotus petals and dried cornflowers. In the third coffin, the ritual resins had hardened, cementing the body to the bottom of the coffin.Placing the coffin in 149 degrees temperature was of no avail. Thus Carter cut the mummy free. To separate Tut from the ornaments he was covered with, Carter’s men severed the head and every major joint. They had reassembled them on a layer of sand and laid it back in a padded box, concealing the damage. Had thieves reached there ahead of Carter, they would have circumvented the guards and ripped apart the mummy to take away the gold. Also, archaeology in those times lacked sophisticated tools. Thus Carter’s actions were dictated by circumstances and not willful destruction.
Answer 3:
King Tut was the last heir of a powerful family that ruled Egypt for centuries. His funeral was the death rattle of a dynasty. Though his death remains a mystery, his funeral, even by royal standards, was a big event. His father or grandfather Amenhotep III was a powerful ruler, the son, King Amenhotep IV was an eccentric personality who initiated one of the strangest periods of Egyptian history. After his death, a mysterious ruler Smenkhkare, succeeded him, but exited without a trace. I Tutankhamen succeeded him, while still a boy. He changed his name to Tutankhamen,the living image of Amun. Tutankhamen restored the old ways. He reigned for nine years and died suddenly. He was buried with fabulous wealth in gold and jewellery. His tomb was first discovered by Howard Carter, a British archaeologist. His mummy is the first to be scanned by a portable CT Scanning machine donated by the National Geographic Society.
Answer 4:
I have searched for many years and today my search has come to a fruitful end. I have found the tomb of King Tut. The year 1922 has become historic in archaeology. The burial chamber is small, rock cut and 26 feet underground and has murals on the wall. King Tut’s outer coffin shows his features in a gilded and painted face. There are three nesting coffins. In the first, I found a shroud adorned with garlands of spring flowers. The innermost coffin contained the body of King Tut wearing gold collars, inlaid necklaces and bracelets, rings, amulets, a ceremonial apron, sandals, sheaths for his fingers and toes of pure gold and a painted mask of great beauty. Besides, in the burial chamber, there are articles of everyday needs like board games, a bronze razor, linen undergarments and cases of food and wine.
Answer 5:
The title is appropriate for describing the attempts to discover the truth about King Tut. The tomb had been raided in the remote past, but had remained largely intact till it was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter. King Tut had died young. The reason of his death remains a mystery even today. The possibility of murder has not been ruled out. Therefore, continuous efforts go on to unravel the mystery. In 1922, Carter had cut the mummy into pieces to remove it from its coffins. He had carefully examined the funerary treasures buried with King Tut. Sophisticated tools of archaeology including medical technology have been used since the 20th century to unravel King Tut’s mystery. In 1968, the mummy was X-rayed. In 2005, the mummy was brought out from its deep burial chamber for CT scan. The focus now is not on the treasures but on Tut’s life and his mysterious death. In the coming years, the attempt to discover the whole truth about Tut will continue.
Answer:
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