CBSE Class 11 English Discovering Tut The Saga Continues Worksheet

DISCOVERING TUT: THE SAGA CONTINUES

A.R. Williams

Summary 

This chapter is meant to show readers the beauty and mystery of ancient Egyptian culture and the science and wonder of archaeology. This chapter is actually a part of the book which goes with the same title as mentioned above and it has many chapters, rather than a short story; in fact, the book is an in-depth look at the circumstances of King Tut's death, as well as the general culture and lifestyle practiced during his lifetime. Fascinating and well-written this book has captured many people's interest, and it remains a popular choice for anyone interested in archaeology and ancient Egyptian culture.This is a living example of technology advancement. We accepted things and events attributing their cause to nature and her wrath. However, advancement and technology could give us a different picture. This way, it has become a habit with us to accept everything that history states and dictates.
On the process the modern world has found ways to offer a different view on it. In other words, the modern world has turn impossibilities to possibilities.William’s report gives an insight into this. A mummy scanned after a thousand years has opened new avenues regarding a cause of its death. The mummy referred to here is that of King Tut or Tutankhamen, meaning the living image of Amun. The earlier ruler, Amenhotep-IV has shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major God, smashing his images and closing all his temples. His family had ruled for centuries before the boy king, Tut took over. However, Tut ruled for nine years and then died both mysteriously and unexpectedly.
The scanning of Tut’s mummy also gave an insight as to how mummies were buried. Howard Carter, who scanned the body found it difficult to extract the mummy. The ritual resins had hardened thereby cementing Tut to the bottom of his solid gold coffin. Carter finally had to chisel the mummy away having no other option. Every major point was severed. Tut was buried with gold which was meant to guarantee the resurrection and was also buried with every day things he would need in his after-life. Tut also had things to take on his journey to the great beyond-glittering goods, precious collars, necklaces and sandals, all of pure gold. The computed Tomography scan couldn’t solve the mysterious death of Tut but gave us clues for sure. The Xrays and C.T.scan reveal a startling fact-the breast bone and the Pont ribs of Tut were missing.
Such a revelation would not have been possible without technological precision. This fact gives us a clue that Tut, in all likelihood did not die a natural death.
Technology hasn’t been able to give us a definite answer to Tut’s death.However, it has given us a direction to think and proceed. Maybe in future, technology would solve it for us. The whole excavation and the scan required scores of people. It was a gruelling job and the workers had a tough time.
After the pharaoh was rested in peace again, Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities said, “I didn’t sleep last night, not for a second. I was worried.
But now I think I will go and sleep.” It just proves how tough the whole process was. In other words, King Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned-in death as in life. He was famous when he was alive and his untimely death has raised the necessity to probe the lingering mysteries of this young ruler who died more than 3,300 years ago.

The mummy of King Tut

As the mummy of King Tut was glided for performing a CT scan, angry winds stirred and dark clouds covered the stars. His scan was being done to unearth the mysteries that had surrounded his death.

Tourists had lined to pay their respects to the ‘mummy’ of the famous Egyptian king Tutankhamun and made speculations about his untimely death.

“Funerary treasures”

The mummy was in a very bad state, according to Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. King Tut’s tomb was first discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, a British archaeologist. Tut was found buried with numerous “funerary treasures” in a coffin made of pure gold. The treasures found included precious collars, inlaid necklaces and bracelets, rings, amulets, a ceremonial apron, sandals and sheaths for his fingers and toes. These treasures are till date the richest royal collections ever found. Some everyday items considered to be needed in the afterlife, like board games, bronze razor, linen undergarments, cases of food and wine were also found. This revealed that the ancient Egyptians believed in the idea of resurrection and hoped to take their riches with them.

Carter’s investigations and the problems faced

Carter investigated the three nested coffins. In the first, a shroud adorned with garlands of willow and olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals and cornflowers were found. This gave vague evidence that the death might have taken place in the month of March or April.

Carter faced difficulty in extracting the mummy of the king out of the coffin. The ritual resins had hardened resulting in cementing of Tut to the bottom of the solid gold coffin. Though Carter unsuccessfully tried to use sun to loosen the resins, there was no other way left to separate the mummy from the adornments than to chisel it away. Its head had to be removed and the major joints had to be detached.

The only ground for Carter to defend himself for chiselling Tut was that thieves would have ripped the body apart to rob the gold, if he had not chiselled it.

Another revelation

As the archaeology changed with the advent of time, it focused more on details of life and mysteries of death than on treasures. Some 40 years after Carter’s discovery, in 1968 a startling fact was revealed, in the discovery of an anatomy professor who had X-rayed the mummy. He claimed that the breast-bone and the front ribs of the mummy were missing.

Tut’s family history

Amenhotep III (Tut’s father or grandfather) ruled for almost four decades during the 18th dynasty golden age. He was succeeded by his son Amenhotep IV who pioneered one of the odd periods in the history of ancient Egypt. He made some drastic and unpleasant changes. He promoted the worship of the Aten, the Sun disk, and changed his name to Akhenaten. He moved the religious capital to the new city of Akhetaten. He made some drastic unpleasant changes. He destroyed the images and temples of Amun, a major god. After his demise, a ruler named Smenkhkare reigned for a brief time. Finally, Tutankhaten (the name was later changed to Tutankhamun) took the throne and restored the old order destroyed by his predecessors. He reigned for about nine years.

The death of King Tut

Tutankhamun or King Tut as he’s widely known today died as a teenage pharaoh (ancient Egyptian king) and buried laden with gold. He was the last heir of the family of rulers who had ruled Egypt for centuries. His unexpected demise was a big event and the reasons for his death remained unclear. Two of the biggest questions are still unanswered about him – “how did he die, and how old was he at the time of his death?”

The CT scan

In the year 2005, (more than 3,300 years after his death), King Tut’s mummy became one of the first mummies to undergo a CT scan-“in death, as in life, moving regally ahead of his countrymen.” The CT scan was led by Zahi Hawass and done with a portable CT machine. The scan came up with new clues about his life and death. It provided precise data for an accurate forensic reconstruction of King Tut. Due to sand in the cooler fan of the CT machine, they had to use two plastic fans to complete the scanning process.

Tut’s body was examined over a computer screen with the help of the CT scan. It showed a grey head, neck vertebrae, a hand, several images of the rib cage and a transection of the skull. After collecting the data for scan, the Pharaoh is sent back to the place he belonged, i.e. his coffin. It was a relief for Zahi Hawass as “nothing had gone seriously wrong” with the mummy.

After their observations, when they left, the wind had stopped and the surrounding came to a deathly silence. In the sky, just above the entrance to Tut's tomb stood Orion, the constellation, also called by the Egyptians as the soul of Osiris, the God of afterlife, watching over the boy king.

True or false.

Question. In 2005 Tut’s body was removed from his tomb for CT Scan.
Answer: True

Question. The atmosphere was very fine at the time of removal of Tut’s body fromhis tomb.
Answer: False

Question. The ritual resins had become quite soft so it was melted under the sun.
Answer: False

Question. The CT scan revealed Neck Vertebrae.
Answer: True

Question. Tut’s body was buried in the month of January.
Answer: False

MCQs.

Question. King Tut was murdered at his
(a) Teens
(b) Adulthood
(c) Old age
(d) Childhood
Answer: A

Question. Tut’s grandfather was
(a) Tutankhamun
(b) Amun
(c) Amenhotep IV
(d) Carter
Answer: C

Question. Tut’s adornments were consisted of
(a) Precious collars, inlaid necklaces and bracelets.
(b) Knife, sword, arrow and bow.
(c) Bible,photographs and writing equipments.
(d) X- ray machine, CT scanner, Ultrasound machine etc.
Answer: A

Question. The constellation Orion is associated with the legend of ……………, the god of the afterlife.
(a) Osiris
(b) Cynthia
(c) Ate
(d) Helen
Answer: A

Question. A medical examination of the body of a dead person in order to find out how he died is known as
(a) MRI
(b) CT Scan
(c) Post mortem
(d) ECG
Answer: C

Fill in the blanks

Question. Howard Carter was a …………. Who discovered Tut’s tomb in 1922.
Answer: British archaeologist

Question. Among the three nested coffin in the first coffin there was garlands of …………. and ……………
Answer: willow, olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals.

Question. In 1968, an anatomy Professor X- rayed the mummy. He revealed a startling fact. Tut’s ……………. and …………… were missing beneath the resin.
Answer: breast bone, front ribs

Question. Two questions still remain unanswered. Those are …………and ……………. regarding death of king Tut.
Answer: how did he died, how old was he at the time death

Question. King Tut’s body was taken from tomb and lifted to the Scanner by a ……………
Answer: hydraulic lift

Question. Match A with B.
           A                        B
(a) Amenhotep IV    (i) Servant of Aten.
(b) Ray Johnson      (ii) British archaeologist.
(c) Carter                 (iii) A major God in Egypt.
(d) Amun                  (iv) The other name of Akhenaten.
(e) Akhenaten          (v) Director of the University of Chicago’s research centre in Luxor.
Answer: (a) iv, (b) v, (c) ii, (d) iii, (e) i

Who said this

Question. I didn’t sleep last night, not for a second. I was so worried. But now I think I’ll go and sleep.
Answer: Zahi Hawass

Question. The mummy is in very bad condition because of what Carter did in the 1920s.
Answer: ZahiHawass

Question. No amount of legitimate force could move them.
Answer: Carter

Question. The family that had ruled for centuries was coming to an end, and then Akhenaten went a little wacky.
Answer: Ray Johnson

Question. Tut’s scanning procedure is given disorderly. Arrange them in proper sequence.
(a) Workmen carried Tut’s body from the tomb.
(b) Rose on a hydraulic lift into the trailer.
(c) There was swirling sand outside.
(d) Put Tut’s body into the scanner.
(e) Due to sand swirling scanner stopped functioning.
(f) Eventually machine functioned and the scanning procedure completed
Answer: 1. (a) 2. (c) 3. (b) 4. (d) 5. (e) 6. (f)

Short Answer Questions:

Question. Who was Tut? Why was his mummy got scanned?
Answer: Tut was the last heir of a powerful family that ruled Egypt and its empire for centuries.
When he died, he was just a teenager. After his death his dynasty came to an end so that his mummy was scanned. A CT scan was done on his mummy to get new clues about his life and death.

Question. Why was Carter’s investigation resented?
Answer: Though Howard Carter was an archeologist, he did not use the scientific methods while excavating Tut’s mummy. It resulted in great damage to the mummy. Its breast bone and front ribs are still missing. Scientific intervention was not followed to unearth buried mysteries.

Question. what were things buried with Tut’s mummy? And Why?
Answer: It was buried with stunning artefacts in gold, also with the everyday things: board games, a bronze razor, linen undergarments cases of food and wine. It would guarantee resurrection. Egyptian ruler might believe in life after death.

Question. The boy king changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun. Do you think that it might be the reason of his death? Analyse the statement.
Answer: Yes, I think that his attempts to oversee a restoration that might have caused the sensation among the follower of Akhenaten who brought about the complete demolition of “Amun, a major god. As a result they might have murdered Tut.

Question. Why did Ray Johnson describe Akhenaten as ‘wacky’?
Answer: Ray Johnson described him as ‘wacky’ because of his eccentric nature and decisions. He moved the religious capital from the old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten, and he attacked Amun, a major god, smashing his images and closing his temples. It was his eccentric behaviour that caused turmoil in the kingdom.

Question. What were the results of the CT scan?
Answer: Tut’s neck vertebrae appeared very clearly.
- Other images showed a hand, several views of the rib cage and skull.

Question. What is the Pharao’s curse?
Answer: The Phararo’s curse is inscribed on the walls of the burial chambers of the Pharao inside the pyramids. It affirms of death or misfortune falling upon those who disturbs him.

Question. Who is Zahi Hawass?
Answer: Zahi Hawass is an archaeologist. He is the Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Question. Who is Howard Carter? What did he do that put King Tut’s mummy in a bad condition?
Answer: Howard Carter is the British archaeologist who had discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb and his mummy in the year 1922. Howard Carter had found out that the ritual resins which were used in the coffin had hardened cementing Tut to the bottom of his solid gold coffin and none was able to move the mummy with the use of simple force. Therefore, he put the coffin in the scorching sun of summertime Egypt with the idea that it would loosen the resin. But this idea was also unsuccessful. After that with no way out he had to use a chisel to separate the mummy from the coffin and this damaged the mummy to a large extent.

Question. Why were the Pharaohs buried with tremendous amount of wealth?
Answer: The ancient Egyptians believed that there is life after death. That is why the Pharaohs were buried with tremendous amount of wealth including things of daily use so that they could use them in the life after death.

Question. What was the nature of the wealth with which King Tut’s mummy was buried? What were the things of daily use which were buried with him?
Answer: The wealth with which King Tut was buried remains the richest royal collection ever found and this has become part of the pharaoh’s legend. The wealth basically contains different stunning artifacts of gold. Tut was also buried with everyday things which it was thought he would want in the afterlife and these things are:
a. board games,
b. a bronze razor,
c. linen undergarments
d. and cases of food and wine.

Question. How has archaeology changed over the years?
Answer: From the time of the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb back in the year 1922 to the present time the nature of archaeology has changed and thus it now focuses less on treasure and more on the fascinating details of life and the intriguing mysteries of death.

Question. What do you mean by a CT scan?
Answer: CT scan means Computed Tomography. It is a process by which hundreds of X-rays in cross section are put together like slices of bread to create a three dimensional virtual body.

Question. What are the two biggest questions still lingering about Tutankhamen?
Answer: The two biggest questions still lingering about Tutankhamen are how he had died and what his age was at the time of his death.