Summary of the chapter : Discovering Tut : The saga continues.
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Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues’ gives an insight into the mystery surrounding the life and death of Tutankhamun, the last teenage ruler of the powerful Pharaoh dynasty that had ruled Egypt for centuries. He was the last of his family’s line, and his funeral brought an end to this powerful dynasty. Not much is known about his family. Tut’s father or grandfather, Amenhotep III was a powerful pharaoh who ruled for about four decades during the dynasty’s golden age.
His son, Amenhotep IV shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major God, smashing his images and closing all his temples. He changed his name to Akhenaten and promoted the worship of Aten or the sun disk. After his death, a mysterious ruler, Smenkhkare appeared briefly and exited with hardly a trace. When Tut took over, he changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun and restored the old ways. However, Tut ruled for nine years and then died mysteriously and unexpectedly. In order to unravel the mystery of his death, King Tut’s mummy was scanned after a thousand years, thus opening new perceptions regarding the cause of his death. In 1922, his tomb was discovered by Howard Carter who used all kinds of means to remove Tut’s mummy from the coffin. 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 joint was severed. In 1968 an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy and revealed that Tut’s breastbone and front ribs 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. Tut’s mummy was scanned in 2005 under the supervision of Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. The Computed Tomography Scan couldn’t solve the mysterious death of Tut but gave us clues for sure.
The lesson also provides a comprehensive awareness of ancient Egyptian culture. The ancient Egyptians believed that there was life after death. That is why the Pharaohs were buried with the tremendous amount of wealth including things of daily use so that they could use them in their life after death. It was also believed that gold would guarantee their resurrection.
Tutankhamun was the last leader of the great Pharaoh Dynasty. He was young when he died. According to some people, his death was a murder. In the year 1922, his tomb was exposed by Howard Carter, an Archaeologist. After 80 years, he was taken for the CT scan to solve the mystery of his life and death through a forensic reconstruction.
His father or grandfather, Amenhotep III, was a very powerful Pharaoh ruler over a period of 40 years. Moreover, his son, Amenhotep IV, succeeded him and initiated the strangest period in the history of Egypt. His name changed to Akhenaten which means servant of Athens. He changed the religious capital from Thebes to Amarna. Later he attacked Amun, a god, ruined his images and shut his temples. Another mysterious ruler thrived him who died very soon. Tutankhamun sat on the power and ruled for 9 years.
When Tut’s mummified body was found, he had lots of gold and wealth. Carter got him after so many years. After conducting the research on the treasures, he planned to examine his 3 nested boxes. Many parts of the treasure in the tomb were already misplaced.
His tomb was found rock-cut, 26 feet under the ground, which also had some wall paintings. It reveals that he was suppressed in the months of March or April. One of the coffin put Carter into trouble. The gums used to paste Tut to the lowest of the solid gold. Coffin was toughening enough that made it impossible to displace. He put the box in the sun for numerous hours so that the resins lose up but that didn’t work.
At last, he removed the adhesive with the chisel and hammer. Carter sensed he didn’t have any other choice than cutting the mummy from limb to limb, thieves would have robbed the gold and the treasures. His men first removed the head of the mummy, then they cut off each and every joint. After the process of removing all the body parts, they placed it on the layer of sand. They kept the parts in a wooden box and placed it at the original place.
Later, in January 2009, the body was taken for a CT scan which takes hundreds of X-Rays and generates a 3D image. That night after the scan, the workmen passed his body from the tomb into a box. They went through the ramp and stairs and lifted the body on a hydraulic trailer that was holding the scanner. The scanner suddenly stopped working and the process of the CT scan stopped. After the use of a pair of spare fans, the scan was finally completed. After 3 hours, they transferred his body back to his tomb where his body is now resting in peace.