CBSE Class 11 — Notes, Chapters & Practice Quizzes

Chapter 3: Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues

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A.R. Williams's National Geographic article describes how modern science continues to investigate the mummy of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun, who died in his late teens over 3,300 years ago. Discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings, Tut's tomb held the richest royal collection ever found, but Carter's rough handling damaged the mummy: to free it from hardened resins and remove the gold adornments, his men severed the body at major joints. The article explains that archaeology has since shifted from treasure-hunting to studying the details of life and death using medical technology. On 5 January 2005 the mummy was taken from its tomb for a CT scan, creating 1,700 cross-sectional X-ray images to probe how Tut died and how old he was. The piece sketches Tut's dynasty: his father or grandfather Amenhotep III, the "wacky" Akhenaten who promoted worship of the sun-disk Aten and attacked the god Amun, the brief ruler Smenkhkare, and finally Tut, who restored the old ways and reigned about nine years. The scan is interrupted by a malfunction jokingly blamed on the "curse of the pharaoh," but is completed. The article blends history, archaeology, mystery and the power of modern forensic science to question the past.

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