Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues Summary in English

Tutankhamun was the last leader of the great Pharaoh Dynasty. He was young when
he died. According to some people, his death was a murder. In the year 1922, his
tomb was exposed by Howard Carter, an Archaeologist. After 80 years, he was taken
for the CT scan to solve the mystery of his life and death through a forensic
reconstruction.

His father or grandfather, Amenhotep III, was a very powerful Pharaoh ruler over a
period of 40 years. Moreover, his son, Amenhotep IV, succeeded him and initiated
the strangest period in the history of Egypt. His name changed to Akhenaten which
means servant of Athens. He changed the religious capital from Thebes to Amarna.
Later he attacked Amun, a god, ruined his images and shut his temples. Another
mysterious ruler thrived him who died very soon. Tutankhamun sat on the power and
ruled for 9 years.

When Tut’s mummified body was found, he had lots of gold and wealth. Carter got
him after so many years. After conducting the research on the treasures, he planned
to examine his 3 nested boxes. Many parts of the treasure in the tomb were already
misplaced.

His tomb was found rock-cut, 26 feet under the ground, which also had some wall
paintings. It reveals that he was suppressed in the months of March or April. One of
the coffin put Carter into trouble. The gums used to paste Tut to the lowest of the
solid gold. Coffin was toughening enough that made it impossible to displace. He put
the box in the sun for numerous hours so that the resins lose up but that didn’t work.

At last, he removed the adhesive with the chisel and hammer. Carter sensed he didn’t
have any other choice than cutting the mummy from limb to limb, thieves would
have robbed the gold and the treasures. His men first removed the head of the
mummy, then they cut off each and every joint. After the process of removing all the
body parts, they placed it on the layer of sand. They kept the parts in a wooden box
and placed it at the original place.

Later, in January 2009, the body was taken for a CT scan which takes hundreds of X-
Rays and generates a 3D image. That night after the scan, the workmen passed his
body from the tomb into a box. They went through the ramp and stairs and lifted the
body on a hydraulic trailer that was holding the scanner. The scanner suddenly
stopped working and the process of the CT scan stopped. After the use of a pair of
spare fans, the scan was finally completed. After 3 hours, they transferred his body
back to his tomb where his body is now resting in peace.

Conclusion of Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues

To conclude, Discovering tut: the saga continues summary tells you that
Tutankhamun, also known as tut was a brave ruler who of the great Pharaoh Dynasty.
He died a mysterious death and is resting in peace in his tomb now.

Question 1:

Notice these expressions in the text. Infer their meaning from the context.

 forensic reconstruction
 scudded across
 casket grey
 Resurrection
 funerary treasures
 Circumvented
 computed tomography
 eerie detail
ANSWER:

 Forensic reconstruction- It refers to the process of creating a face on the skull and see how the
owner of the skull looked like. Here, it refers to the construction of the bust of King Tut based
on the data received from CT scan.
 Scudded across- It refers to moving quickly. The phrase is used with reference to the
movement of the ‘dark-bellied clouds’.
 Casket grey- The words point out to the covering of the stars by the‘dark-bellied clouds’, the
way jewels are kept in a casket (a jewel box).
 Resurrection- It refers to a new beginning for something which is old and long forgotten. Here,
it refers to the new life after death.
 Funerary treasures- The valuable things with which the king was buried were no less than
treasures as most of the items were made of pure gold. They are, thus, referred to as ‘funerary
treasures’.
 Circumvented- The thieves would easily bypass the guards with artfulness and rip the mummy
apart to remove the gold.
 Computed tomography- Also known as CT scan, it provides X-ray image of a body in cross
section. It is used for diagnostic purposes.
 Eerie detail- Uncanny description of the resulting image of the head of Tut visible through the
CT scan.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Who was Howard Carter? What was his discovery?
Ans. 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 at
the age of 19 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 involve every possibility of
murder.
Q2. Why did King Tut’s mummy have to undergo CT scan?
Ans. 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 the view this controversy,
King Tut’s body was ordered to be scanned to examine the delayed medical
mysteries about his life and death.
Q3. Which questions still linger about Tut?
Ans. 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.
Q4. Why was Tut’s dead body subjected to CT scrutiny?
Ans. Tut’s dead body was subjected to X-rays in 1968 and CT scan in 2005 to
ascertain the cause of his death.
Q5. In 1968 what was the startling fact revealed by a professor of
anatomy about king Tut?
Ans. 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 layers his chest, his breast-bone and front ribs are
missing. It startled everyone.
Q6. What did the tourists do at that time?
Ans. The tourists from around the world queued up as usual all afternoon into
the narrowed rock-cut tomb. 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 guidebook. Others stood silently peering at Tut’s gilded face.
Q7. Who did point out that the mummy was in a bad condition? Who
was held responsible for it?
Ans. 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 is in a very bad condition because of what Carter did in the 1920s.
It was in 1922, Carter discovered king Tut’s tomb.
Q8. What was the fate of the contents of Tut’s mummy?
Ans. For over 80 years after the discovery ofTut’s tomb in 1922, surprisingly
all its contents were complete. They remain the richest royal collection
everyfound till 2005. They have now become part of the pharaoh’s legend.
Q9. Why did the artifacts cause a sensation at the time of discovery?
Ans. The artifacts discovered surprised all present there. They were all made
of pure gold. Their shine was enteral and never fading. This eternal brilliance
of the artifacts meant to guarantee revival from grave.
Q10. What was king Tut’s demise a big event, even by royal standards?
Ans. 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 of the fact that he
died unexpectedly at young age. The particulars of his passing and its
aftermath are not clear.
Q11. Why did some people think the King Tut’s untimely death as the
Pharaoh’s curse?
Ans. After king Akhenaten’s death a mysterious ruler became the king for a
short while and died. Then a very young Tutankhaten took the throne. He
changed his name to Tutankhamun, “Living image of Amun.” He restored the
worship of Amun whose images were broken and temples closed by the
Pharaoh. Thus king Tut disturbed the Pharaoh. Akhenaten and his curse –
death Akhenaten had befallen on Tut causing his untimely death in his late
teens.
Q12. What problem did Carter face when he reached the mummy of
King Tut? How did he find a way out?
Ans: When Carter alongwith his men were working at the tomb of King Tut,
they found that the ritual resins had hardened. They had cemented and the
mummy of King Tut could not be taken out. The solidified material could be
removed through chisels. The mummy was cut free. His men removed Tut’s
head and severed every major joint. Then they were kept in a box on a layer of
sand. He defended his act lest the mummy should not fall into the hands of
thieves for getting gold.
Q13. List some adornments on Tut’s body. Why had the adornments
been buried along with the body?
Ans. 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.
Q14. How did Carter defend his action of cutting the mummy free?
Ans. 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.
Q15. How can C.T scan prove more effective than X-Rays?
Ans. 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.
Q16. How was Tut’s body carried to the C.T scanner?
Ans. On the night of the scan, workmen carried Tut from the tomb in his box.
Like pallbearers they climbed 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.
Q17. How was King Tut’s mummy scanned by the CT scanner?
Ans. In order to remove the mystery over 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.
Q18. What snag did the million dollar scanner develop? How was it set
right?
Ans. The million dollar scanner had developed a snag because of sand in a
cooler fan. Eventually substitute fans worked well enough to finish the
procedure.
Q19. Explain the statement, “King Tut is one of the first mummies to be
scanned – in death, as in life…”
Ans. It means that the mummy of King tut was the first one ever to be scanned.
The purpose was to reveal the mysteries relating to the period when he was
alive. Secondly, it also helped find out the cause of his death in mysterious
circumstances. The death occurred only nine years after his taking the throne.

Q20. List the deeds that led Ray Johnson to describe Akhenaten as
Wacky.
Ans. Akhenaten was a crazy and rash ruler. He attacked Amun – a major God,
broke his statues and closed his temples. He even shifted the religious capital
from the oddity of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten.
Q21. What did the CT scan of Tut’s mummy reveal?
Ans. CT scanning gave surprising as well as fascinating images of Tut’s body.
The image of a gray head appeared on the computer screen. Neck bones
appeared quite clearly. Other images of Tut’s body appeared on the screen.
They included a hand and several views of rib-cage and the skull.
Q22. “Curse of the Pharaoh”, joked a guard nervously. What is the curse
and why did the guard say so?
Ans. 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 the sand dust and stopped working during scanning of the mummy.
Then the guard jokingly said that it was the curse of the Pharaoh. Later
another pair of white plastic fans were arranged which worked well enough.
Long Answer Type Questions
Q1. Who was King Tut? Why was his mummy taken out for a C.T. Scan?
Ans. King Tut was last Pharaoh of his family line which 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, “living image of
Amun,” and restored the old ways of religious belief. He ruled for about nine
years and then died unexpectedly in 1322 B.C. 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 after happenings 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 iconic inner coffin and mask all of pure gold.
Carter discovered Tut’s tomb for more than 3300 years after his death 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 C.T, scanner was to look into the delayed medical
mysteries of this little understood young ruler about his life and death.
Q2. What problems did Howard Carter face with regard to Tut’s
mummy? How did he solve them?
Ans. Howard Carter, a British archaeologist, discovered King Tut’s tomb after
years of searching in 1922. He found fabulous treasure in the tomb, even
though it had been ransacked earlier. The treasure consisted of golden coffin,
gold ornaments and even petty things of everyday need.
Carter found three nested coffin. In the first, he found the garlands of leaves
and flowers. But when he reached the mummy, he ran into trouble. The resins
spread below Tut’s body had hardened. The coffin was of solid gold. Neither
human force nor the scorching sun could loosen the body. So Carter used
chisel and hammer to remove the resins. He had little choice. Tut’s mummy
also had to be removed part by part. Having taken .out the gold coffin, the body
parts were reassembled, put in a wooden box and placed in the tomb again.
Q3. Sum up the main events of the lesson ‘Discovering Tut …’
Ans. King Tut was just a teenager when he died. He was the last heir of a
powerful dynasty. His rule lasted for just nine years. The mystery of his early
and unexpected death is still unresolved. His tomb was discovered in 1922 by a
British archaeologist, Howard Carter. He found a big treasure in the form of
ornaments, gold coffin and other everyday things—all of pure gold. The
pharaohs or the Egyptian Kings believed that they would need gold as well as
things of daily need, food and wine in afterlife. So they got them buried along
with their mummies or dead bodies preserved with chemical pastes.
Tut’s untimely death in his late teens raised curiosity to know the cause. So 60
years later, his mummy was X-rayed. In 2005, this body was put to CT
scanning. But to this day the details of his death and aftermath are unclear.
Q4. In 1922 Tut’s tomb was discovered. Much of the treasure buried in
the tomb had already been plundered. Materialistic attitude of man
does not allow even the dead to sleep in peace. Will there be any end to
this attitude?
Ans. For a handful of gold man can go to any extent. Tut’s mummy was buried
deep with a lot of gold and other things believing that the dead pharaoh would
need those things in the afterlife. It was a matter of faith. When Tut’s tomb was
discovered, much of the treasure had already been looted. The thieves did it
being driven by the mad force of materialism. Materialistic attitude attaches no
importance to beliefs, religious sentiments and social rites and rituals. Ethics
and morals have no sanctity for them. Their aim is to get wealth by any means.
This materialistic attitude will never see its dawn. God Himself may advise man
to reject materialism and tell him that all paths lead to death and there is no
use to perpetuate ill deeds. This sermon will have no effect and materialistic
attitude will get sharpened day by day.