Ancient Egypt and King Tut
Background
http://www.timewarptrio.com/teachers-parents/lessons/pdf/twt-lesson-egypt.pdf
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Ancient Egypt was the longest-lasting civilization of the ancient world. It began about 3100
B.C.E., along the banks of the Nile River in Africa, when it is believed that King Narmer, one of the
first pharaohs, unified Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. The word pharaoh meant “great house,”
originally referring to the royal palace. Great pyramids were built as burial grounds for the
pharaohs.
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Ancient Egypt was a sophisticated culture, creating great art and architecture, as well as
pioneering concepts of government, agriculture, medicine, astronomy, and religion. It was also one
of the earliest societies to develop a system of writing. Hieroglyphics (a Greek word meaning “holy
signs”) were made up of 750 picture signs, which were written left to right, right to left, or in
columns. This type of script was used for about 3,500 years.
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Religion was an extremely important part of the civilization. Ancient Egyptians worshipped
perhaps as many as 2,000 gods and goddesses. They built temples and statues of the deities, who
reigned over different aspects of life and death. Since ancient Egyptians believed in life after death,
they were buried with things they would need in the afterlife. Their bodies were also preserved by
mummification, an embalming process that would insure that the body would remain intact and
ready for an eternal existence.
The Boy King
http://www.guardians.net/egypt/tut1.htm
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Ironically, our greatest royal treasure from ancient Egypt comes from a short lived boy king.
King Tutankhamen was not even in the same category of achievement as the great Egyptian kings
such as Khufu (builder of the Great Pyramid), Amenhotep III (prolific builder of temples and
statuary throughout Egypt), or Ramses II (prolific builder and usurper), in terms of the length of his
reign or the depth of his accomplishments.
B
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In 1922, a British archaeologist made history by unearthing the first Egyptian pharaoh’s
tomb that still contained most of its treasures. This tomb also yielded something else that had never
been found in modern history - the pristine mummy of an Egyptian king, lying intact in his original
burial furniture.
Howard Carter
http://archaeology.mrdonn.org/howard-carter.html
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In ancient Egypt, many tombs were built like houses, with dried clay brick and stone.
Anybody could build a tomb for themselves and their family. Long before they died, the ancient
Egyptians began making items to place inside their tomb. These items were called grave goods.
C
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People loved making grave goods. It was a family activity. They made grave goods their
whole life. They made dolls and baskets and jewelry and little statues of workers and all kinds of
things. Then, as a family outing, they would visit their tomb, and place the grave goods they had
made locked safely inside. The next time they visited their tomb, they would bring more grave
goods. By the time they died, their tomb was full of wonderful memories of their life in Egypt,
along with miniature sized things they might need in the afterlife. That was the ancient Egyptian
way.
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Pharaohs, of course, were special. They also had tombs, really big ones. They also had grave
goods, really beautiful ones, made of gold and silver by the finest craftsmen in the land. As well,
people from all over Egypt brought gifts to include in the pharaoh's tomb. Artists painted the walls.
Pharaohs’ tombs were splendid things. By the time a pharaoh died, his (or her) tomb had been under
construction for decades, and it was loaded with treasure. Every time a new pharaoh came to power,
work started immediately on building their tomb.
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As modern archaeologists opened the tombs of the ancient pharaohs, they found that many
of them had been robbed and their treasures removed. In ancient Egypt, the worse crime of all was
grave robbing. Grave robbers faced horrible deaths if they were caught. Still, the thought of all that
treasure overrode their fear of being caught. Tombs were plundered for centuries.
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One day, the archaeologist named Howard Carter was working in Egypt. He found a really
small tomb. He didn't think much about it because it was so small. He figured it was the tomb of a
commoner. You can imagine his excitement when he opened the door and realized he had found the
tomb of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, a tomb so small that it had been overlooked for thousands of
years!
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From the hieroglyphic writing on the walls, Howard Carter knew who was buried in the
tomb. It was a young pharaoh named King Tunkhannock, King Tut for short. Today, we know what
King Tut looked like because Howard Carter found a solid gold mask inside the tomb, designed like
the pharaoh's face. King Tut was only nine years old when he became Pharaoh. He was only 18
years old when he died. King Tut's tomb was very small compared to the tombs of other pharaohs
because the people did not have a lot of time to build it.
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The artifacts in Tut's tomb told archaeologists and scientists a great deal about ancient
Egyptian daily life. The discovery of a tomb full of treasure stirred the imagination of people all
over the world. Many people became interested in learning more about ancient Egypt and other
ancient civilizations because of Howard Carter's incredible discovery - King Tut's Tomb.