Short Answer Type Questions:

1. Who was Howard Carter? What was his discovery?

Howard Carter was a British archaeologist. After years of searching, he discovered King Tut’s tomb
in
1922 over 3300 years after his death. Tut died when he was a teenager but his death was a mystery
for
all. He was the last ruler of his powerful family that ruled Egypt for centuries. People believed that
the
king died in mysterious circumstances and his death may have involved every possibility of murder.
2. Why did King Tut’s mummy have to undergo a CT scan?
The mummy of King Tut has earned worldwide fame for the riches it was buried with. Further, there
arose a great controversy about the manner of his death and his age at the time of death. Keeping in
view this controversy, King Tut’s body was ordered to be scanned to examine the delayed medical
mysteries about his life and death.
3. Which questions still linger about Tut?
The two biggest questions that still linger about Tut are- how did he die and how old was he at the
time of his death? He was the last of his family’s line, and his funeral was the death rattle of a
dynasty
but the particulars of his passing away and its aftermath were unclear.
4. Why was Tut’s dead body subjected to CT scrutiny?
Tut’s dead body was subjected to X-rays in 1968 and a CT scan in 2005 to ascertain the cause of his
death.
5. In 1968 what was the startling fact revealed by a professor of anatomy about King
Tut?
In 1968, more than 40 years after Carter’s discovery of King Tut’s tomb, a professor of anatomy X-
rayed Tut’s mummy. He revealed an astonishing fact that beneath the resin that cakes his chest, his
breastbone and front ribs are missing. It startled everyone.
6. What did the tourists do at that time?
Tourists from around the world queued up, as usual, all afternoon into the narrowed rock-cut tomb
some 26 feet underground to pay their respects. They lined up to pay their homage to King Tut. They
watched the murals on the walls of the burial chamber. Some visitors read from the guidebook.
Others
stood silently peering at Tut’s gilded face and pondering Tut’s untimely death in his late teens.
7. Who did point out that the mummy was in a bad condition? Who was held
responsible for it?
Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, bent over the mummy
and watched it very carefully. Then he said the mummy was in a very bad condition because of what
Carter did in the 1920s. It was in 1922, that Carter discovered King Tut’s tomb.
8. What was the fate of the contents of Tut’s mummy?
For over 80 years after the discovery of Tut’s tomb in 1922, surprisingly all its contents were
complete. They remain the richest royal collection ever found till 2005. They have now become part
of
the pharaoh’s legend.
9. Why did the artifacts cause a sensation at the time of discovery?
The artifacts discovered surprised all present there. They were all made of pure gold. Their shine was
enteral and never faded. This eternal brilliance of the artifacts is meant to guarantee revival from the
grave.
10. What was King Tut’s demise a big event, even by royal standards?
King Tut’s death was of course a big event. Even by royal standards, he was the last ruler in his
family
line. His funeral was the death bell of a dynasty that ruled in Egypt for centuries. The big event is
because he died unexpectedly at a young age. The particulars of his passing and its
aftermath are not clear.
11. List some adornments on Tut’s body. Why have the adornments been buried
along with the
body?
The Mummy of Tut was decorated with precious collars, inlaid necklaces, rings, bracelets, amulets
and
a ceremonial apron. There were sandals, sheaths for fingers and toes, and the inner golden coffin and
mask. All of them were made of pure gold. According to the beliefs, it was thought that they could
take
their riches with them to the great beyond.
12. How did Carter defend his action of cutting the mummy free?
Carter in his defense wrote later that if he hadn’t cut the mummy free, thieves would have avoided
the
guards and ripped it apart to remove all the gold. The mummy had been kept with a lot of wealth, in
the form of gold ornaments, etc.
13. How can a CT scan prove more effective than X-rays?
C.T scan can prove more effective than X-rays because it produces hundreds of X-rays in cross--
section which are put together like slices of bread to create a three-dimensional virtual body.
14. How was Tut’s body carried to the CT scanner?
On the night of the scan, workmen carried Tut from the tomb in his box. Like pallbearers, they
climbed
a ramp and a flight of stairs into the swirling sand outside. Then they rose on a hydraulic lift into the
trailer that held the scanner.
15. How was King Tut’s mummy scanned by the CT scanner?
To remove the mystery of the death of King Tut, a portable CT scanner was taken in a trailer
to the sandy area near Tut’s tomb. His body was carried there from his tomb in a box. The CT
machine
scanned the mummy from head to toe, creating 1700 digital X-ray images in cross-section. His entire
body was scanned in 0.62 millimetre slices.
16. Explain the statement, “King Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned – in
death, as in
life…”
King Tut was a prominent figure as a boy king when alive. He made bold decisions and maintained
his
rule for long nine years. Just as Tut was a prominent king when alive, he remains even in his death by
being the first mummy to be scanned, to come in contact with such advanced technology.
17. What did the CT scan of Tut’s mummy reveal?
CT scanning gave surprising as well as fascinating images of Tut’s body. The image of a grey head
appeared on the computer screen. Neck vertebrae appeared quite clearly. Other images of Tut’s body
appeared on the screen. They included a hand several views of the rib cage and a transection of the
skull.
18. “Curse of the Pharaoh”, joked a guard nervously. What is the curse and why did
the guard
say so?
The curse of the Pharaoh – death or misfortune falling upon those who disturbed him, is considered
to
be true. The fans of the CT scan machine got stuck with sand dust and stopped working during
the scanning of the mummy. Then the guard jokingly said that it was the curse of the Pharaoh. Later
another pair of white plastic fans was arranged which worked well enough.
Long Answer Type Questions:
1. Who was King Tut? Why was his mummy taken out for a C.T. Scan?
King Tut was the last Pharaoh of his family line who ruled Egypt for centuries. He was a very young
boy when he took the throne of Egypt in 1332 B.C. The boy king soon changed his name to
Tutankhamun, the “living image of Amun,” and restored the old ways of religious belief. He ruled for
about nine years and then died unexpectedly. King Tut’s death was a big event. He was the last
Pharaoh of his family line. His funeral was the death bell of his dynasty. But the particulars of his
death and the afterhappenings are not clear.
King Tut was buried in the ancient Egyptian cemetery known as the Valley of the Kings. Tut was
loaded with glittering goods: precious neckbands, engraved necklaces and bracelets, rings, amulets,
apron, sandals, sheaths for fingers and toes, and an iconic inner coffin and mask all of pure gold.
Carter
discovered Tut’s tomb for more than 3300 years after he died in 1922 and in 2005 his mummy was
taken out of the tomb for the first time for his C.T. scan. The probe by the CT scanner was to look
into the delayed medical mysteries of this little-understood young ruler about his life and death.
2. “He was the last of his family line.” What do you learn about Tut’s dynasty from the
extract
‘Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues’?
Tut’s grandfather, Amenhotep III, was a powerful Pharaoh who ruled for almost four decades at the
height of the dynasty’s golden age. His son Amenhotep IV succeeded him and promoted the worship
of the Aten, the sun disc. He changed his name to Ak heating, or “Servant of the Aten”. He moved
the
religious capital from the old city Thebes of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten. He further shocked
the country by attacking Amun, a major god, breaking his images and closing his temples. Thus the
wacky king started one of the strangest periods in the history of ancient Egypt. After Akhenaten’s
death, a mysterious ruler named Smenkhkare appeared briefly and departed without leaving any sign.
Then a very young Tutankhaten took the throne. He is widely known today as King Tut. The boy
king
soon changed his name to Tutankhamun, a ‘living image of Amun’. He supervised the restoration of
the
old ways. Tutankhamun ruled for about nine years and then died unexpectedly. The details of his
passing away are not available. The modern world has speculated about what happened to him. How
did he die and how old was he at the time of his death?” are two unanswered questions.