'May your ka live, may you spend millions of years, you, who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, your eyes beholding happiness...' From the Lotus Chalice from the tomb of Tutankhamun
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the geographical and historical context, including:
an overview of New Kingdom Egypt, the religious crisis and mystery of the pharaonic line at the time of Tutankhamun
discovery and excavation of the tomb by Howard Carter
the range of sources, including:
the structure and key features of Tutankhamun’s tomb
tomb paintings and artefacts
the condition of the human remains found in the tomb
burial customs at the time of Tutankhamun as revealed through the sources, including:
the evidence for funerary beliefs and practices: deities, afterlife, funeral procession
the nature of mummification
the limitations of the evidence for Tutankhamun’s life and reign
the methods and results of scientific analysis/forensic techniques: CT scans and DNA testing, new theories about Tutankhamun’s life and causes of death
21st-century archaeology and ethical issues in the preservation and examination of Tutankhamun’s remains
representations of Tutankhamun – ancient and/or modern, for example ‘Tutmania’ and the ‘mummy’s curse’
the geographical & historical context
An overview of New Kingdom Egypt, the religious crisis and mystery of the pharaonic line at the time of Tutankhamun
Discovery and excavation of the tomb by Howard Carter
Egypt has the oldest recorded history in Western civilisation, dating back 5,000 years. In early times, the desert provided protection against marauders, while the Nile River provided bread. Therefore, by 3400 BC the civilisation of Egypt was well developed. The country was united about 3100 BC by Menes (or Narmer), king of Upper Egypt, who conquered Lower Egypt and established the first of some 30 dynasties, ruled over by a divine king, or pharaoh. Menes created a centralised state; under his dynastic successors, trade flourished, and the hieroglyphic form of writing was perfected. During the so-called Old Kingdom, the pharaohs of the fourth dynasty (c.2613–2494 BC ), of whom Cheops (Khufu) was the most notable, began to build the great pyramids as royal tombs. The twelfth dynasty of the Middle Kingdom (c.1991–1786 BC ) built vast irrigation schemes and developed a thriving civilisation at Thebes; under their rule, a system of cursive writing was developed. After a century of domination by Semitic peoples known as the Hyksos, who introduced the horse-drawn chariot, ancient Egypt attained its apex during the eighteenth dynasty (c.1570–1320 BC ) of the New Kingdom, under pharaohs Thutmose III, who extended the empire into Asia as far as the Euphrates; Amenhotep III and his son, Amenhotep IV who, with his queen, Nefertiti, attempted forcibly to replace Egyptian polytheism with monotheistic worship of the sun god Aten, and the boy-king Tutankhamun.