7) Who is Howard Carter? What did he do that put King Tut?s mummy in a bad condition?
Dear Student
Howard Carter was the British archaeologist who in 1922 discovered Tut's tomb after years of futile searching. However,its contents were hastily ransacked. Carter encountered a problem when he reached the mummy, the ritual resins had hardened cementing Tut to the bottom of his solid gold coffin and no amount of legitimate force could move them. Since the Egyptian sun could beat down like a hammer in the far south of Egypt, Carter decided to leave the mummy out in the blazing sunshine to loosen the resins but to no avail. So he had chisel away the consolidated material from beneath the limbs and the trunk before it was possible to raise the king's remains. This was required otherwise thieves would have run off with the riches. Carter's men, in order to separate Tut from his adornments, removed the mummy's head and severed nearly every major joint. Once they had finished, they reassembled the remains on a layer of sand in a wooden box with padding to conceal the damage done.
Regards
Howard Carter was the British archaeologist who in 1922 discovered Tut's tomb after years of futile searching. However,its contents were hastily ransacked. Carter encountered a problem when he reached the mummy, the ritual resins had hardened cementing Tut to the bottom of his solid gold coffin and no amount of legitimate force could move them. Since the Egyptian sun could beat down like a hammer in the far south of Egypt, Carter decided to leave the mummy out in the blazing sunshine to loosen the resins but to no avail. So he had chisel away the consolidated material from beneath the limbs and the trunk before it was possible to raise the king's remains. This was required otherwise thieves would have run off with the riches. Carter's men, in order to separate Tut from his adornments, removed the mummy's head and severed nearly every major joint. Once they had finished, they reassembled the remains on a layer of sand in a wooden box with padding to conceal the damage done.
Regards