Discovering Tut: the saga continues

The History of Ancient Egypt 18thDynasty Perhaps the height of Egyptian wealth and power

came between 1550 and1290 BC. The dynasty began with the expulsion of the Palestinian Hyksos rulers from the north of Egypt by King Ahmose I - an event that may have inspired the Biblical story of the Exodus.

Carrying forward The momentum of this act, subsequent rulers, in particular Thutmose III, established an empire of client states in Syria-Palestine, and dominions stretching towards the heart of Africa .War booty and lively international trade founded on Egypt's highly productive gold mines made Egypt a major world player

The eighteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt is perhaps the best known of all the dynasties of ancient Egypt. As well as boasting a number of Egypt's most famous pharaohs, it included Tutankhamun, the finding of whose tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 was a sensational archaeological discovery despite its having been twice disturbed by tomb robbers. The dynasty is sometimes known as the Thutmosid Dynasty because of the four pharaohs named Thutmosis.

After the death of Akhenaten, a mysterious ruler named Smenkhkare took over throne for short period.

After Smenkhkare, Turankhaten took the thorne- King Tut as he is widely known today.

Customs and Traditions Ancient Egypt was a land of elaborate

religious customs.

Egyptians believed that to reach the afterlife, bodies must be preserved or mummified .

It was thought that bodies must be protected in large tombs complete with all the necessities of life, including furniture, eating utensils, food, beverages and other items for use in the afterlife.

HOWARD CARTER AND THE DISCOVERY OF TUTANKHAMUN Carter took almost a decade to

carefully preserve and remove the treasures to Cairo

Howard Carter did a good job by discovering King Tut but he did not do good to mummy. During his investigations he damaged the mummy.

Howard Carter was an English archaeologist, Egyptologist and discoverer of KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt.

How a CT system works CT uses a computer and a rotating x-ray device to create detailed, cross-sectional images, or slices, of organs and body parts. A number of slices through the object can be reconstructed to provide a 3-D view of internal and external structural details. As shown below, the 3-D image can then be manipulated and sliced in various ways to provide thorough understanding of the structure.

Egyptian Mummy Project Zahi Hawass projects led to significant

findings, including the discovery in 2008 of an Old Kingdom pyramid at Ṣaqqārah that was determined to belong to a queen of Teti. He also initiated the Egyptian Mummy Project, which used modern forensic techniques such as CAT scans to study both royal and non royal mummies.

They reconstructed the face of the most famous Egypt's mummy Tutankhamun.

The reconstructed face of Tutankhamun Scientists have created the

first ever bust of the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun based on 3-D CT scans of his 3,300-year-old mummy.

The Egyptian team used the same CT scan data to construct a plastic skull model, and later overlaid it with clay features inspired in part by ancient portraits of Tut.

Tutankhamun's gold burial mask is an international icon, but we may never have more accurate portraits of the pharaoh than the new reconstructions.

The reconstruction of Pharaoh Tutankhamun's face is documented in the issue of National Geographic magazine and in an National Geographic Channel special, King Tuts Final Secret, airing in the U.S.

THE REASONS BEHIND KING TUT’S DEMISE More than 3,000 years after the death

of the young Pharaoh Tutankhamen, questions are still being asked about how he died. Was it a natural death or was he murdered?

If he were murdered, who did it? Was it Aye, Tutankhamen's

vizier who ascended to the throne after his death and married

his wife? Or was it Horernhab, the army officer

who became king after Aye’s short four-year rule?

SCIENTIFIC INTERVENTION TO UNEARTH BURIED MYSTERIES The scientific team concluded

that Tutankhamun was about 19 when he died. He was well-fed, and showed no signs of childhood diseases or malnutrition.

Death mask of Tutankhamun, was placed over the head and shoulders of his mummy.It is inlaid with blue glass and lapis lazuli.

The Golden Throne is by far the most spectacular of the six found in Tutankhamun's tomb. The wood frame was wrapped with sheets of gold and silver and then inlaid with an array of semiprecious stones, faience and colored glass, which together were worked into a wealth of symbolic and decorative elements.

Prepared By-Prachi & Shreya