Discovering Tut: the saga continues.

- A R WILLAIMS

CHARACTERS:
KING TUTANKHAMEN- rose to throne after smenkhkare. Changed name from TUTANKHATEN to

TUTANKHAMUN, LIVING IMAGE OF AMUN and oversaw a restoration of old ways. Reigned about
nine ways, and then died unexpectedly.

AMENHOTEP III- Tut’s DAD OR GRANDDAD.

A wonderful pharaoh, ruled for almost 4 decades at height of 18th dynasty’s golden age.

AMENHOTEP later called AS AKHENATEN IV- son of predecessor:

Initiated a strangest period in history of ancient Egypt.
Promoted worship of ATEN- SUN DISK.
Servant of Aten- name meaning
Moved religious capital from old city OF THEBES TO NEW CITY OF AKHETATEN , AMARNA.
Shocked country by ATTACKING AMUN- MAJOR GOD by SMASHING HIS PHOTOS and CLOSING HIS TEMPLES.

SMENKHKARE- mysterious ruler who appeared briefly and exited with hardly a trace
HOWARD CARTER-British Archaeologist, who in 1922 discovered Tut’s tomb after years of futile search,
ZAHI HAWASS- Secretary General Of Egypt’s Supreme Council Of Antiquities.
RAY JOHNSON- Director of University of Chicago Research Centre of Luxor, the site OF ANCIENT THEBES
describes the time of Akhenaten as horrific time.
Added the time ruled for centuries coming and end and Akhenaten as wacky.

INTRODUCTION: KING TUT-

Just teenager when died, LAST HEIR of powerful family that rule Egypt for centuries.
Laid to rest, laden with gold.
DISCOVERY OF HIS TOMB- 1922, 26 feet underground.
TIME OF DEATH: MORE THAN 3,300 years ago
MODERN WORLD SPECULATIONS: what killed him? Murder being most extreme possibility.
His tomb after 80 years underwent CT scan, offering new clues about his life and death.
CT scanning also provides precise data for an accurate forensic reconstruction of the boyish pharaoh.
King Tut's demise was a big event even by royal standards.
He was last of his family line; his funeral was death, rattle of a dynasty.
But particulars of his death unclear.

NOTES.
80 YEARS LATER: THE FIRST CT SCANNING:

THE SETTING: environment

Angry wind stirred up ghostly dust devils as king tut taken from his resting place
RESTING PLACE- ancient Egypt cemetery known as VALLEY OF THE KINGS.
DARK BELLIED COULD SCUDDED across the desert sky all day
Now yelling the stars in casket grey.

5 JANUARY 2006, 6PM

The world’s most famous and first mummy glided head into ct scanners to probe medical mysteries of
the young ruler.

GOOFY AH TOURISTS:
All around the world, usual line descended into the cramped, rock cut tomb to pay respects.
Gazed a wall i.e. murals, few peered at Tut’s face.
Some read from guidebooks in whisper
Others stood silently pondering his death in late teens.
Wondering with shiver is pharaoh’s curse’s reality.

THE NIGHT OF SCAN:

workmen carried TUT from tomb in his box
Like Pall bearers climbed a ramp and flight of stairs into swirling sand outside.
Rose on hydraulic lift into the trails that held the scanner,
20 min later two men emerged,
Sprinted near an office and returned a pair white plastic fans.
The million dollar scanner quit because of pharaoh’s curse.
Joking said by a guard.
Substitute fans did the job well.
No ways was lost, and TUT CARRIED BACK.

THE DATA COLLECTED:

Back in trailers a technician pilled up astonishing images of TUT on comp screen.
A GREY HEAD took shape from scattering of pixels,
Techno spun and tilted it every directions
Neck vertebrate appears clearly in anatomy class
And other images revealed a hand, views or rib cage and transection of skull

FEATURES OF TOMB:
Murals on walls of burial chamber.
Its contents were hastily ransacked in antiquity but complete , remained richest royal collection, and
part of pharaoh’s legend.
Resurrection: stunning artifacts of gold, their eternal brilliance meant to guarantee resurrections.
Tut buried with everyday things like he’d want in after life.
Board games, borne razor, linen garments, cases of food and wine.
Tut’s time, royals were fabulously rich, and thought they could take their riches with them.
Tut’s afterlife goods include: glittering goods: precious collars, inlaid necklaces, bracelets,
rings, amulets, ceremonial, apron, sandals, sheaths for fingers and toes, iconic inner coffin
and mask – all of pure gold. Carter carefully recorded the pharaoh’s funerary treasures.

THE THREE NESTED COFFIN’S INVESTIGATIONS:

First- shroud adorned with willow, olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals, cornflowers- this
faded evidence of burials in APRIL/MARCH.
When reached the mummy ran into the problem.

MUMMY’S BAD CONDITION:

Cause: carter’s actions in 1920s
Problem: Rituals Resin hardened and cemented Tut to bottom of his solid gold coffin.
Said no amount of legitimate force could move them.
Sun can beat down like matter this far south in Egypt, Carter used it to loosen resin.
For hours set mummy outside blazing sunshine and heated to 149 degrees F and NOTHING BUDGED
Reported scientific detachment that the consolidated material had to be chiseled away from beneath
the limbs and trunk before it was possible to raise the king’s remains.
Cater’s men removed mummy’s head and severed nearly every major joint and one finished laid in on
sand on wooden box with padding the concealed the damage.

JUSTIFICATIONS OF CUTTING MUMMY:

Thieves would certainly circumvented guards and ripped it apart go remove gold.

ARCHAEOLOGY’S MAIN FOCUS:

Changed substantially over year, main focus on fascinating details of life and intriguing mysteries of
death over treasure.
Uses sophisticated tools, including medical technology.
1968 an anatomy professor x rayed mummy, a revealed a startling fact.
Breast bone, front ribs missing.
Today diagnostic imagine can be done WITH COMPUTING TOMOGRAPHY OR CT by which hundred of x rays
in cross sections are put together to create 3d virtual body.

EGYPTIAN MUMMY PROJECT:

Egyptian mummy project which began an inventory in late 2003 has recorded almost 600 so far and is
still counting. The next phase is to scan these mummies with portable ct machine donated by nation
geographic society and Siemens, its manufacturer.

THE END BOHOO:

By time author left the trailer, the descending metal stairs to sandy ground the win had stopped,
The winter air lay cold and still like death itself, in VALLEY OF DEPARTED.

OSIRIS: Just entrance to tomb stood Orion constellation that ancient Egyptians knew a soul of Osiris,
the gold of afterlife.