TUTANKAMÓN Tomb essay
When talking about ancient Egypt, one cannot avoid thinking about the magnificent pyramids that were built with great work and dedication, their art, their mythology, their funeral rites and their pharaohs are remembered so characteristically surrounded by wealth even even in his death. The ancient Egypt is one of the best known civilizations and its great diffusion is due to the enormous amount of films and books that talk about it as if it were something fantastic and another world;In a sense, it is, however, exaggeration and fantasy must be avoided to be able to understand what this great civilization was and how our days has impacted.
This essay addresses the story of one of the best known Egyptian pharaohs: Tutankhamun. But beyond the importance of this ruler, the main theme of this essay is the discovery of his grave;How was discovered and studied, the objects found inside, all the mysticism that surrounds them and even the belief of a curse that falls on those who dare to bother the pharaoh.
The reign of Tutankhamon lasted little due to his early death, however, his story remains told to this day. Tut-Anj-Atón, his name before he changed to Tutankhamun, was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. Born approximately in 1341 to.C. It is believed that his father was foreign and is unknown who his mother was.
When Pharaoh Akenatón died, the succession of the throne belonged to his sons, but having no offspring, the throne was given to their son -in -law Semenkera and Tutankhamun. He was 12 years old when he rose to the throne and married one of his sisters. During his reign he repaired damage and rebuilt temples that had been damaged during the reign of his predecessor and transferred the capital. He left the city of Amarna and settled in Thebes, where he changed his name to the most recognized, Tutankhamun.
He died at age 18 and was buried along with great treasures and a large amount of food as he used to help people reach the other life. It is not really known what the cause of his death was, before it was thought that he could have been killed since he was found in his mummified head, although the theory was denied when they found that it was a damage caused with the discovery of his grave.
Nicholas Reeves speculated that the size of his grave was smaller than the one for a pharaoh, which led him to the theory that it was a grave inside a grave previously made for a queen, possibly Nefertiti, but with the prompt death ofTutankhamun had to bury in that and make certain fast adjustments. Reeves also thought that Nefertiti’s remains were on the wall on the other side of Pharaoh’s sarcophagus. Despite searches, these remains have never been found.
There is no doubt that the finding of this grave has been very important for historians because it was the first tomb intact of a pharaoh. No one had never found it before and that’s why he hadn’t been looted. All other tombs found have missing treasures and are somewhat damaged thanks to the thefts that have suffered, however, this tomb is the exception and therefore it is so attractive to historians.
The English archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter was the one who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun on November 4, 1922 in the Valley of the Kings. In that valley a ceramic glass was found with the name of Tutankhamun and a wooden box broken with the name of the pharaoh and his wife. These discoveries led Howard Carter to think that the tomb of Tutankhamun must be located not far from the center of the valley.
After years of having this suspicion the excavations began. On November 4, a carved step was discovered, the cut was of the type of entrance with underground staircase, something common in the valley and until November 5 in the afternoon it was possible to remove the mass of rubble that covered the cut and could be unmotableThe upper cuts of the stairs.
"It was an exciting moment for an excavator. After years of rather unproductive work, I was completely alone, except for my native workers, on the threshold of what could be a fantastic discovery. On the other side of the passage, anything could be literally found and I needed all my willpower not to open the door and try to find out at the same time."
Before the discovery of his grave, little was known about the young pharaoh. With this discovery we could have a huge amount of information about him and his civilization in general. Carter mentions that thanks to the objects found, you can now know the affection that Tutankhamon had to his wife, evidence of his great love of sport and his passion for hunting, which reconstructs a more human identity of what he had about him.
Among the objects that were found is the guardian of Tutankhamun, which is a statue with the “khat” headdress and another equal to the Names handkerchief, a natural size that guarded the entrance to the funeral chamber. In a Carter corner, he tells having found a wooden reliquary coated with gold bread decorated with reliefs that show Tutankhamun scenes and his wife stating the importance that his relationship had for him. A gold fan was also found where the King’s passion is portrayed for hunting, he is in his car hunting ostriches next to his hunting dog. In addition to being found relics that gave a better explanation to the life of Tutankhamun.
Tutankhamun was not the only mummy found in his grave, two mummified fetuses were also found and when the news was disseminated, the speculation about the origin of the small creatures. Some people attributed their small size to an extraterrestrial origin, feeding the idea that Egypt was strongly influenced by beings from another world. However, Robert Conolly was in charge of studying the largest mummy of the two. He compared the blood of the little creature with that of Tutankhamun and could verify that they were related, thus confirming that the greatest fetus was the daughter of the Pharaoh. Then it was found that the two fetuses were twins, daughters of Tutankhamun, which did not be born and were buried along with their father.
However, the discovery that caused the most controversy for being thought of extraterrestrial origin was that of the daggers found within the envelope of the pharaoh’s mummy. One of them is made of iron, which baffled archaeologists because the blacksmith’s black.
Iron dagger with golden handle interested many people because it was made of a material only found in a meteorite. Thanks to a study conducted in 1970, it was known that the origin of the dagger material came from a meteorite due to the large number of Nickel that made it up.
It was no coincidence that the dagger material has been obtained from a meteorite, “the people of ancient Egypt knew and were able to describe fleeting stars, meteorites, rain of stars and comets. They were also aware of the extraterrestrial origin of meteorites, including iron meteorites."
The appearance of this material in the tomb of a pharaoh shows that the ancient Egyptians knew that this type of material was different from the others, it was as valuable as gold or silver. However, they still did not know that this metal could be obtained by melting the iron ore, this was discovered until much later. Iron today is not so attractive, but at that time, the Egyptians noticed that meteorites fell from heaven, a religious connotation to iron was given because it was something from the gods.
The reason why they found so much extraterrestrial material is because in the mountain of Gebel Kalim, in Egypt, a meteorite left an impact crater of 40 meters wide, where more than 5,000 iron meteorites were found that date from the beginning ofEgyptian civilization. Despite the enormous amount of iron at your disposal, they may not use it for daily life because they saw their offspring of heaven as something magical and divine, something that could only be used for people in the upper class.
Finally, a belief that has encouraged more to the mysticism of ancient Egypt is the famous curse of the pharaoh who punishes the researchers who dared to bother Tutankhamun. It is believed that the curse began with the death of Lord Carnarvon, who was present when Howard Carter opened the grave. Carnarvon died in March 1923, four months after opening the grave. It is also said that at the time of his death, Susie, his dog, howled and fell dead in London. At the same time in Cairo there was a great blackout that left the entire city without light, moments later he returned and the electricity company could not give explanation to the strange phenomenon. However, there is no documentary proof of the subject.
After Carnarvon’s death, several more followed him. His brother Audrey Herbert was present at the opening of the royal chamber and died inexplicably when he returned to London;Arthur Mace, who gave the last blow to the wall of the camera died shortly after without any explanation;Douglas Reid, radiographed the mummy of Tutankhamun, became ill and died;Carter’s secretary died of a heart attack and his father suicide when he learned about what happened, was included in the curse although he was not related to the discovery of the grave. Also, a Canadian professor died who had studied the grave along with Carter died when he returned to Cairo and many other deaths attributed to the curse.
The newspapers in the 30’s attributed up to thirty deaths to the Pharaoh curse. It could be said that they were mere exaggerations, but many people believed that there was a great chance of the number of deaths related to the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.
As expected, it was tried to explain the phenomenon in a more rational way, to which Brian Handwerk mentions that Lord Carnarvon and those who were in contact with the grave could have died due to exposure to former toxic pathogens. Egyptian tombs not only contained mummies, but there were also food, insects, bacteria and other things trapped there for years. These toxins are especially harmful to people with a low immune system and Carnarvon had a precarious health history.
However, the health situation in Egypt during the time of the investigations was not very good, so it is believed that the death of Lord Carnarvon could well have been caused by something out of the grave as much as something inside it. At that time there were no antibiotics and people could die of any disease but there is no doubt that harmful substances could have accumulated in a tomb of seniority.
In conclusion, the tomb of Tutankhamun has impressed both historians and society in general. He has raised beliefs feared in mortal curses and beliefs in contact of aliens with the ancient Egyptian civilization, which although it is not a contact with alien beings as some people believe it, there were contact with extraterrestrial objects. Regardless of the veracity of the news regarding the tomb of Tutankhamon people have been interested and helped to disseminate the ancient Egyptian culture in general.
Much has been rescued from this intact grave, it has been very well preserved and the numerous objects that contribute have contributed to the information about the life of Tutankhamun and on ancient Egypt in its entirety. Although its discovery was in 1922, research is still open and in recent years new hypotheses such as Reeves in 2015 have come out in 2015. Something that proves that an event will never be known completely and will continue to come to light new things to analyze.
References
- Brian Handwerk. (2005). Egypt’s ‘King Tut Curs’ Caused By Tomb Toxens? 11/10/19, by National Geographic Website: https: // www.National Geographic.com/science/2005/05/news-tankhamun-carnarvon-mold-bacteria-toxics/
- Bjorkman j. K. (1973). Meteors and Meteorites in the Ancient Near East. Meteoritics (vol. 8)
- Carter, h., & Mace, to. C. (1923). The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen: Discovered by the Late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter (Vol. two). Cambridge University Press.
- María Santiago. (2019). Biography of Tutankhamun, mystery in life and death. 10/09/19, Network History Website: https: // redhistory.com/Tutankamon-Mysterium-in-Vida-Y-death/
- Reeves, n. (2015). The Burial of Nefertiti. In Amarna Royal Tombs Project, Occasional Paper no. 1.
- The University of Manchester. (2008). Manchester Conference Told: Tutankhamen Fathered Twins. 11/10/19, from The University of Manchester Website: https: // www.Manchester.AC.UK/Discover/News/ARTICLE/?id = 3906
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