King Tutankhamun

King Tutankhamun

The discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb has greatly impacted Egyptian Archeology. Although King Tutankhamun was a young ruler, his tomb was well preserved. This factor is what caused the tomb to be such a find. It has also caused King Tutankhamun to become one of the most well known pharaohs of all time. His treasures are preserved in museums to this day.

The term Ancient Egypt represents a span of time about twenty-five hundred years. Ancient Egyptian culture was relatively isolated because of the location. This encouraged an inbred culture which is why Egyptian culture didn't change very much. Ancient Egypt stretched from The First Cataract in the south to the Mediterranean in the north. This distance is seven hundred miles. The total size of Egypt measured to be about ten thousand square miles. Egypt was very self-sufficient. They produced enough crops and surplus to create a complex economical and social structure. Egypt had an abundance of clay and good stone. Gold and copper were also found close by. The kings of Egypt Ancient civilization were considered to be "The Gods". To ensure the continuity of life after death, people paid homage to the gods. Being a ruler in Egypt was extremely prestigious. There would be several procedures for the deceased body to go through in Egypt. The procedures were even lengthier if the person was a

high official or a pharaoh. Egyptians would mummify people because they believed that their soul would return to their body after death. To prepare the deceased for the journey, the priests preformed a ceremony on the dead called "Opening of the Mouth". This elaborate ritual involved purification, burning incense, anointing, and incantations along with touching the mummy with ritual objects to restore the senses. The journey to the afterworld was considered very dangerous. Egyptians believed that the deceased would pass through the underworld which was full of serpents armed with long knives, fire-spitting dragons, and five-headed reptiles.

Egyptians also believed that the deceased had to pass through seven gates, reciting a magic spell at each stop. If the person was successful, they arrived at the place of judgment. This place was called "The Hall of Osiris". When the person arrived at the Hall of Osiris, the gods preformed a ceremony called "Weighing of the Heart". This ceremony was preformed to determine if the person's deeds were virtuous. This ceremony was overseen by the jackal-headed god named Aribes. The judgment was recorded by the God of Writing named Thoth. Ð'- "Life after Death"

King Tutankhamun was probably the most well known pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. He was the son of Akhenaten. Akhenaten was the heretic king of the eighteenth dynasty. His mother was most likely Queen Kiya. Queen Kiya was one of the king's secondary wives. King Tutankhamun changed his name from Tutankhamun after the second year of his reign. The name Tutankhamun means "Image of Aten". The name that he then changed to was Tutakhamen. This name means "Living image of Amen". King Tutankhamun came to rule at the age of nine. He married his older half sister, Ankaen Paten. He was set up with his wife by Neferiti. Neferiti was the woman that raised him. Ankaen Paten was Neferiti's daughter. He only ruled for a short number of years before he died. King Tutankhamun died at the young age of eighteen. His death was the year 1323 B.C. Ð'- (Life & Times).

Some people think that King Tutankhamun was murdered. Reasons to believe this was because of the state that his body was in. There was a mark on the back of his head, a possible cause of this mark may have been from a blow to the skull. Many people were eager to take King Tutankhamun's position, and would have had motive to kill him. King Tutankhamun was the only boy ruler and he couldn't properly rule until he was eighteen. His uncle, Ay, was his advisor and he took care of a majority of the affairs. Once King Tutankhamun turned eighteen, Ay lost all of his power. It is very possible that Ay killed King Tutankhamun because he didn't want to lose his power. The fact that King Tutankhamun was eighteen when he died only proves this point. Ay was the next in throne after King Tut's death. Ð'- (King Tutankhamun, was it murder? By Rachel Mason)

The man who found King Tutankhamun's tomb was Howard Carter. Howard Carter was born on May 9th, 1874. He was born in a small town of Kensington, London, England. His father was Samuel John Carter. His father was a painter; he mostly drew portraits of animals. Samuel trained young Howard in the fundamentals of painting and drawing. However, young Howard was not interested in painting. He was interested in ancient Egypt. When Howard was seventeen years old, he went to Alexandria, Egypt. He was able to go on the trip under the influence of Lady Amberst, a family acquaintance. In Egypt he started working with archeologists as a tracer. A tracer is a person who copies drawings and inscriptions on paper of further study. His first job in Egypt was at Bani Hasson. At Bani Hasson he recorded and copied all the scenes from the walls of the tombs of the princes of Middle Egypt. Howard was known for working diligently all day long, then sleeping in the tombs at night. The man who helped Howard grow as an archeologist was William Flinders Petrie. William was considered to be one of the best field archeologists of his time. William never believed the Howard would ever become a good archeologist. However, William still taught Howard to the best of his ability. Howard proved William wrong at El Armana when he found several important finds. Howard carter was also trained under Gaston Maspero. Gaston later became Director of the Egyptian Antiques Service. Carter was able to perfect his excavation and restoration techniques when he was appointed Egyptian Exploration Funds at Deir El Bahbri. During this period of time Howard was under the direction of Edward Naville. He did so well at this job that at age twenty five he became The First Inspector General of Monuments for Upper Egypt. This was a very important job, especially because Upper Egypt was in the Ancient Thebes area. Howard became responsible for supervising and controlling all archaeology along the upper Nile Valley. In 1905, Howard was forced to resign from the antique business because an incident occurred between a few drunken tourists and archaeology site guards. Howard allowed the site guards to defend themselves when the tourists got violent. The tourists