Tutankhamun's Tomb Research Articles

EGYPTIAN REACTIONS TO THE DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION OF TUTANKHAMUN’S TOMB, 1922-1930

The discovery and excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon in 1922-1930 sparked Egyptian interest in Egyptology and archaeology learning, as well as effective participation in excavation missions in Egypt. Egyptians have worked hard to expand their role in Egyptology education and to increase their participation in excavation missions. This article focuses on how Egyptians reacted to the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb between 1922 and 1930. It traces the impact of such discoveries on Egyptian officials and intellectuals, who worked tirelessly to raise public awareness of archaeological discoveries and encourage Egyptology education for Egyptian students both at home and abroad. A descriptive analytical methodology will be used in this paper. However, there was hardly an Egyptian Contribution to Clearing and conserving the Tutankhamun Collection whose discovery was as a chock motivated the Egyptians to improve their position in the world of Archaeology.

COSMOPOLITAN CAIRO OF THE 1920S AND THE QUEEN OF THE "TARAB"1 MUNIRA AL-MAHDIYYA

The 1920s were full of drastic changes in Egypt's political, social and cultural life. On the one hand, the new anti-European movement formed in the wake of the 1919 uprising, and on the other hand, the vibrant nightlife of cosmopolitan Cairo, were the two main lines defining the character of this period. In the 1920s, Cairo was also part of the great international disturbance. After the World War I, many people left Europe and moved to Cairo in search of new opportunities. The search for a new life led many of them to Azbakiya (الأزبكية), the center of Cairo's nightlife at that time. In the 1920s, Cairo also proved to be a great place for some African American musicians. In 1923, in a letter published in the American newspaper The Chicago Defender, two African American residents of Azbakiya wrote how they were fascinated by the Cairo nightlife where they decided to stay. In December 1922, the news of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb was covered by the world press. Egypt was on the front pages of magazines and newspapers, which brought even more fame to Cairo and even more people headed to its theaters, cabarets and clubs. In 1905, an influential person from Cairo listened to the little girl singing in one of the villages of Al-Sharqiya and, attracted by her voice, offered her to move to Cairo and sing in his cafe. This is how Munira started her musical journey in Cairo.

LETTERS FROM ANASTASIA MANTSEVYCH TO MARIA VIAZMITINA

The paper gives the review of epistolary materials for the biography of two archaeologists — Dr. Anastasia Mantsevych from Leningrad (1899—1982) and Dr. Maria Viazmitina from Kyiv (1896—1994). The documents are retained in Maria Viazmitina’s personal fund (N 34) in the Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archaeology of NASU.
 Among 126 letters from A. Mantsevych to M. Viazmitina 43 are selected for fragmentary publishing. These letters show us the personality of Anastasiia Mantsevych during the time period from 1952 to 1982. Letters demonstrate what thoughts, ideas and reflections stayed behind her published papers, behind her confidence at the scientific conferences during public polemics. Letters discover a strong individual and a sensitive human being at the same time, making essential addition to her scientific portrait.
 Through the letters the article also gives a review of scientific life in the State Hermitage Museum (Leningrad) and in the Institute of Archaeology (Kyiv). Correspondents point and discuss the significant museum exhibitions and sensational archaeological discoveries, share their plans about visiting main scientific conferences and congresses. Among the discussed topics are «Treasures of Tutankhamun tomb» in Leningrad (1974) and in Kyiv (1975); exhibition exchange between British Museum and State Hermitage in 1979 («The Siberian Collection of Peter I» and «The Oxus treasure»); Dr. Yuri Boltryk’s excavations of Oguz tomb in 1980, Borys Mozolevski’s and Halyna Kovpanenko’s findings of that period, Oleksandr Leskov’s findings in the tombs of the North Caucasus. There are also reflections about Professor Manolis Andronikos’ findings — the tomb of Macedonian kings near Vergina settlement in Northern Greece and Viktor Sarianidi’s findings of «Bactrian Gold» in Afghanistan.

The third KV62 radar scan: Searching for hidden chambers adjacent to Tutankhamun's tomb

The existence of hidden chambers and corridors adjacent to Tutankhamun's tomb (code name KV62) has been long debated. In 2015 it was suggested that these chambers may host the as yet undiscovered burial of Nefertiti. In order to test this hypothesis, two Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys, conducted in 2015 and 2016 from inside KV62, were carried out, but gave contradictory results. To solve these uncertainties and obtain a more confident and conclusive response, a third GPR survey was conducted by our team in February 2018. The results of this third radar scan are reported in this article. Three GPR systems with multiple frequency bands (from 150 MHz to 3000 MHz) and very dense spatial sampling were adopted. After careful data processing, no evidence of marked discontinuities due to the passage from natural rock to artificial blocking walls were found in the radargrams. It is therefore concluded that there are no hidden chambers immediately adjacent to the Tomb of Tutankhamun.

Geophysical anomalies detected by electrical resistivity tomography in the area surrounding Tutankhamun's tomb

Abstract Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) of the area surrounding Tutankhamun's tomb (KV62) in the Valley of the Kings (Luxor, Egypt) reveals the presence of two anomalies located a few meters from Tutankhamun's funerary chamber. The strategy for ERT data acquisition and the adopted methods for data analysis are discussed in detail in this article, together with the possible archaeological significance of the detected anomalies.

Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology

Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology

Contesting antiquity in Egypt: archaeologies, museums, and the struggle for identities from World War I to Nasser

The sensational discovery in 1922 of Tutankhamun's tomb, close on the heels of Britain's declaration of Egyptian independence, accelerated the growth in Egypt of both Egyptology as a formal discipline and of 'pharaonism'-popular interest in ancient Egypt-as an inspiration in the struggle for full independence. Emphasizing the three decades from 1922 until Nasser's revolution in 1952, this compelling follow-up to Whose Pharaohs? looks at the ways in which Egypt developed its own archaeologies-Islamic, Coptic, and Greco-Roman, as well as the more dominant ancient Egyptian. Each of these four archaeologies had given birth to, and grown up around, a major antiquities museum in Egypt. Later, Cairo, Alexandria, and Ain Shams universities joined in shaping these fields. Contesting Antiquity in Egypt brings all four disciples, as well as the closely related history of tourism, together in a single engaging framework. Throughout this semi-colonial era, the British fought a prolonged rearguard action to retain control of the country while the French continued to dominate the Antiquities Service, as they had since 1858. Traditional accounts highlight the role of European and American archaeologists in discovering and interpreting Egypt's long past. Donald Reid redresses the balance by also paying close attention to the lives and careers of often-neglected Egyptian specialists. He draws attention not only to the contests between westerners and Egyptians over the control of antiquities, but also to passionate debates among Egyptians themselves over pharaonism in relation to Islam and Arabism during a critical period of nascent nationalism.Drawing on rich archival and published sources, extensive interviews, and material objects ranging from statues and murals to photographs and postage stamps, this comprehensive study by one of the leading scholars in the field will make fascinating reading for scholars and students of Middle East history, archaeology, politics, and museum and heritage studies, as well as for the interested lay reader.

Comparative Matters: The Renaissance of Comparative Constitutional Law. By Ran Hirschl. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. 320 pp. $45.00 cloth.

Comparative Matters: The Renaissance of Comparative Constitutional Law. By Ran Hirschl. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. 320 pp. $45.00 cloth.As the epigraph to one chapter in his impressive volume, Comparative Matters: The Renaissance of Comparative Constitutional Law, Ran Hirschl offers the following exchange between the archaeologist Howard Carter and his patron, Lord Carnarvon, on Carter's entry into Tutankhamun's tomb: Can you see anything? Yes, wonderful things! The epigraph might aptly frame the volume as whole. Hirschl's ambition is to seize pivotal moment in the development of constitutional scholarship and to help those engaged in the field to see more and better. There is tone of excitement and affection in the pages, born of the recent and rapid spread of constitutionalism and judicial review, which has been accompanied by marked growth in scholarly-and juridical- interest in constitutional study. Hirschl sees the scholarly possibilities attendant on such moment and regards the constitutional enterprise as poised to enrich our understanding of modern constitutional life.And yet this enthusiastic tone is accompanied by one of concern because, as Hirschl sees it, the field of constitutional study is currently afflicted by a fuzzy and rather incoherent epistemological and methodological matrix (5), shortfall in selfunderstanding that prevents the scholarly enterprise from realizing its potential. In particular, the range and variety of approaches that are collected under the mantle of constitutional study has deprived us of clear view of what the character of the comparative project is and ought to be, and of refined sense of what methods are well calibrated to its ends. In this volume, Hirschl seeks to address this weakness by drawing the reader through the intellectual history and contemporary quandaries of constitutional inquiry and by charting out kind of methodological desiderata for the field.Indeed, the heart of Comparative Matters is plea for constitutional study to be more energetically and resolutely interdisciplinary, engaging, in particular, with the social sciences and empirical methods. The latter half of Hirschl's book is dedicated to this methodological call, with Chapter 4 urging shift from constitutional law to constitutional signalling an enterprise more closely tied to the contextual focus of the social sciences and less anchored to conventional forms of legal analysis. One need not wholly concur with Hirschl that the style of constitutional reflection in the legal academy is quite so thin on such social and political framing to nevertheless profit from his account of why deeper engagement with the social sciences and its methods would enrich the field of constitutional study. In Chapters 5 and 6, Hirschl examines key methodological tensions that must be reckoned with for the field to continue to develop (the universal versus the particular and critiques from the global south) and offers set of principles and methodological rules. In these latter pages, Hirschl sets out principles of case selection in small-N studies and advocates for the greater use of large-N empirical studies. Hirschl is not overly sanguine about such studies, carefully noting the limits and risks involved. But he is insistent that research method must be calibrated to research aim and that if one aspires to meaningful causal claims or explanatory theories, such well-crafted studies are important arrows in the constitutionalist's quiver.The force of these methodological arguments rests, however, on the work that Hirschl does in the first half of the book. The first three chapters, each fascinating and erudite, appear vastly different in their focus and character. Chapter 1 addresses the currently salient issue of top courts citing the constitutional jurisprudence of foreign countries. …

Microbiological survey for analysis of the brown spots on the walls of the tomb of King Tutankhamun

This paper presents the preliminary findings from our investigation into the possible microbial origin of brown spots on the walls of Tutankhamun's tomb. GC/MS analysis of the brown spots indicated that they contained 16% (by weight) of malic acid, suggesting microbial involvement in their formation. However, no microbial structures associated with the brown spots were detected using scanning electron microscopy. Our observations indicate that the organism that created the spots is not active. We undertook an investigation of the current microbial communities on the walls in Tutankhamun's tomb and two other nearby tombs. There were no significant differences in the numbers or types of culturable microorganisms among the three tombs sampled. Using pyrosequencing, no statistically significant differences in community composition and structure were observed. Fungal communities were composed primarily of Penicillium whereas the abundant bacterial taxa were members of the Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes phyla. Penicillium chrysogenum isolated in this study produced malic acid in vitro, suggesting that they or other microorganisms may be responsible for the malic acid detected in the brown spots. Findings from this study were compared to those from previous studies, and a possible scenario for the formation of the brown spots was developed.

Art Deco Worlds in a Tomb: Reanimating Egypt in Modern(ist) Visual Culture

"Art Deco Worlds in a Tomb: Reanimating Egypt in Modern(ist) Visual Culture": This article explores a particular strand of artistic modernism by considering a range of decoratively ornate Egyptian revival works of art and architecture. Fuelled by Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, the field of modern archaeology was able to bring back the ancient past in ways that created an uncanny telescoping of time. Inspired by this event, many Egyptian revival art deco artifacts seemed highly performative in ways that at once revived late nineteenth-century decadent tendencies and participated in some of the more fantastic aspects of the early twentieth-century mass media and entertainment industries. The objects considered include: Egyptian costumes designed by Sonia Delaunay, the "Nile Nights Idea" of Fanchon and Marco, a Cartier vanity case, a Huntley and Palmer biscuit tin, and Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles. Such art deco Egyptian objects appear to have functioned much like stage props, conjuring up imaginary mises-en-scène that enabled their users to indulge in temporal and spatial flights of fancy, including some limited forms of role-playing. While leading modernist ideologues such as Le Corbusier and Michael Fried have dismissed historical revival styles and theatrical tendencies as retrogressive, this article argues that they generated a heterotopian spatial and temporal compression and a visual mobility that have more recently been recognized as key components of western cultural modernity. Seen in this light, the paradigm of "the world in a tomb" seems to have at least as much cultural resonance as Le Corbusier's "white ripolin walls".

Tutankhamun's tomb: the thrill of discovery

This richly illustrated book of vintage photographs commemorates one of the most memorable episodes in the history of archaeology: the discovery and exploration in 1922 of the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun (Dynasty 18, ruled ca. 1336--1327 B.C.). These photographs, documenting every stage in the process of discovery, were taken by the renowned archaeological photographer Harry Burton. Burton was a staff member of the Metropolitan Museum Egyptian Expedition when he was lent to Howard Carter, the famed excavator of Tutankhamun's tomb. From the rock-cut steps leading down to the entrance passage, to the opening of the sealed chambers inside, to the first view of the contents of the tomb and the removal of the objects, Burton's beautiful black-and-white photographs show thousands of the richly made and decorated objects found in the tomb. Carefully reproduced from Burton's original prints, the photographs are accompanied by new descriptive text written by two prominent Egyptologists with extensive knowledge of the history of Tutankhamun and the contents of his tomb.

First evidence of white wine in ancient Egypt from Tutankhamun's tomb

Wine has been considered to be mainly red in ancient Egypt linked with the blood of Osiris, the God of resurrection. No text that refers to white wines from the Dynastic Period (3150–332 BC) exists. The first white wine from ancient Egypt was made near Alexandria during the third century AD. To investigate the presence of white wine in ancient Egypt, dry residue samples from King Tutankhamun's amphorae are studied in this article using the LC/MS/MS method for wine markers. This investigation into the existence of white wines in Tutankhamun's tomb allows us to shed new light on the symbolism of white wine in ancient Egypt.

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs

Asense of eager anticipation has descended over the line of people waiting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in a decor of plywood pillars and flowing drapes. Heavy black curtains part and a group of approximately forty people is herded into a dark room, illuminated sparsely with scorpion shaped wall lights. A screen above our heads shows moving images of Egypt, the tomb of Tutankhamun and Zahi Hawass, Egypt's highest antiquities official, lovingly bending over the king's mummy as if to assure him that CT scanners don't hurt. The voice of Omar Sharif welcomes the visitor in a two-minute introduction. Then a second set of curtains opens and the visitor stands eye-to-eye with the very lifelike wooden torso from Tutankhamun's tomb, a curiously painted figure without arms or legs, perhaps once used as a dress model or a mannequin.

Stomatal Density Responses of Egyptian Olea europaea L. Leaves to CO2 Change Since 1327 BC

We have attempted to separate the effects of CO2 and temperature change on stomatal density by examining ancient leaf material of Olea europaea L. The distribution of this species is confined to a Mediterranean type climate, so that O. europaea leaves of different ages will have formed under similar temperatures but different CO2 levels over the last 3000 years. Stomatal density measurements have been made upon leaves of O. europaea originating from King Tutankhamun's tomb dating from 1327 BC, and have been compared with values obtained from Egyptian O. europaea material dating from pre-332 BC, 1818 and 1978 AD. Together, the four dates provide a record of how the plant has responded to increases in atmospheric CO2 concentration during that time. The results demonstrate that in accordance with similar studies examining the stomatal density response of plants over three time scales (hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of years) stomatal density falls as CO2 levels increase. Since we have examined a natural system with leaves developing under similar environmental temperatures the results confirm observations from experimental studies in which plants were grown under the same temperature but different CO2 regimes.

Model Boats from the Tomb of Tutankhamun

The 35 wooden model boats found in Tutankhamun's tomb are important in that they represent the last large group of model boats which has survived from Ancient Egypt and are the only complete group to have survived from the 18th Dynasty. They are, therefore, our main evidence 'in the round' for vessels of that period. They supplement the information provided by reliefs and paintings and supply important information on many aspects of Ancient Egyptian boat design and development of the period. This book brings together for the first time all the unpublished information contained in the index cards, notes and sketches of Carter, Mace and Lucas, and in Burton's photographs. The book also contains a study of eleven magical oars discovered in the burial chamber.

Howard Carter and the Discovery of Tuttankhamun, H.V.F. Winstone, Constable, London, 1991

This is a fascinating book dealing with a memorable character. To really understand all the trials and tribulations associated with the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. one must read this book more than once. This book should be read first as a character study of a complex individual who rose from humble beginnings in Norfolk, En­gland, to perhaps the most famous archaeologist of this century. Howard Carter was a gifted child whose drawings of antiquities attracted the attention of Lord and Lady Amherst who sponsored his first trip to Egypt as an assistant draughtsman under the supervision of Flinders Petrie. Petrie had already established a reputation for himself as an Egyptologist and unless one had the eye and skills as exhibited by Carter, there would have been little or no chance for such a job or assignment.

The Death of Niphururiya and its Aftermath

The identity of the pharaoh called Niphururiya (or Nibhururiya) in the Hittite document commonly known as the ‘Deeds’ of Suppiluliuma is re-examined. Opinion is still largely divided between two candidates—Akhenaten and Tutankhamun; Smenkhkare has recently been suggested as a third possibility. The paper concentrates on three main factors: (1) important revisions to the chronology of Suppiluliuma's reign; (2) a re-examination of the identity of the pharaoh called Huriya in the Amarna letter EA41; (3) a consideration of the fragmentary document KUB XIX 20, a letter written by Suppiluliuma to Niphururiya's successor. These factors establish beyond doubt that Niphururiya was Tutankhamun. While it is clear from the Hittite records that Niphururiya/Tutankhamun died in late summer, evidence from Tutankhamun's tomb indicates that the pharaoh was not buried until the following spring. Thus, an unusually long delay between death and burial, considerably beyond the traditional 70-day period, is indicated. The paper concludes with a discussion of the reasons for this delay.

Corrections in the Identifications of the Alabaster Ibexes in Tutankhamun's Treasures

Observations made in European zoos lead to the conclusion that the facial markings on the ‘bleating ibex’ and the ibexes on the alabaster boat from Tutankhamun's tomb are representative of the wild bezoar goat or Syrian ibex, Capra aegagrus. Previous arguments that the markings represented those of the dorcas gazelle or an artist's confusion between facial patterns of domestic goats and gazelles are abandoned.

African Art at the Horniman Museum, London

When Mr. Frederick Horniman returned from a tour in Canada and the United States in November 1884, his wife arranged an At Home to mark the occasion. There was much to delight and interest the two hundred guests assembled at Surrey House that evening. Apart from the tropical plants massed in conservatories hung with Japanese lanterns and the electric light recently installed to illuminate the spacious saloons in the house, there was their host's museum. A reporter from the local newspaper described the contents in some detail: the cabinets of birds and butterflies, Egyptian and classical antiquities, coins and manuscripts, armor, porcelain, and glass. There was also an ethnographic section that appears to have been largely oriental in character. Mr. Horniman, M.P., was a wealthy tea importer who is thought to have become a collector at the time of the second International Exhibition held in London in 1862. Among the earliest acquisitions from Africa were Zulu weapons and beadwork that had been exhibited in the Natal Court at the Indian and Colonial Exhibition in 1886, supplemented a few years later by collections made in West and South Africa by the Organizing Secretary of the Imperial Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies and India. While Mr. Horniman himself traveled widely in the East, his visits to Africa were confined to Egypt where in 1896 the young Howard Carter, later to discover Tutankhamun's tomb, showed him the temples of Luxor and Karnak, and the Administrator of the Ghizeh Museum in Cairo advised him on the purchase of mummies and other antiquities. The first examples of art from sub-Saharan Africa to reach the museum were two ivory bracelets from Benin, which were on exhibition only two months after Benin City was destroyed in 1897. Mr. Horniman had opened his museum to the public in 1890 (Fig. 6) and at the turn of the century gave his considerable collection, now housed in a museum in the Art Nouveau style, to the London County Council for the recreation, instruction, and enjoyment of the people of London. Well aware of the educational potential of the museum, the Council invited Dr. A. C. Haddon, distinguished both as biologist and ethnologist, to serve as Advisory Curator, and appointed as Resident Curator Dr. H. S. Harrison, who had also approached ethnology by way of biology. Haddon had recently visited the United States, where he was much impressed by the educational role of museums and by the work of W. H. Holmes in particular. Soon after his appointment, he gave the first of many series of lectures on natural history and ethnology, including a number on decorative art. Using examples taken from his book Evolution in Art: As Illustrated by the Life-Histories of Designs, he prepared an exhibition that included, among other things, material showing the influence of textiles on design, and croco5. FIGURE. IBIBIO, NIGERIA. WOOD, PIGMENT 91 5cm.

Genetics of the Eighteenth Dynasty-Reply

In Reply.— Dr Timmon's elegant ABO/MN analysis appears to me correct. If the mummy now thought to be Tiye does not prove to be A2N or ON, then she probably is not Tutankhamun's mommy's mummy. If she is A2N or ON, she may have been, but so might have been Sitamun. Clear? That the two mummified fetuses found in one of the chambers of Tutankhamun's tomb were his progeny is disputed. They are also considered to have been put there as ritual objects, symbols to help his rebirth to an afterlife. Unfortunately, they have disappeared and are no longer available for any kind of new examination. Whether or not Akhnaten, Smenkhkare, or Tutankhamun produced any offspring at all, much less a total of ten daughters, is also disputed. The frescos showing Akhnaten grieving for his daughter Maketaten include a figure holding a baby, sex indeterminate, which suggests to