Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking. Login or Take a Tour!
- The 1922 discovery by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon of Tutankhamun's nearly intact tomb received worldwide press coverage. It sparked a renewed public interest in ancient Egypt, for which Tutankhamun's mask, now in the Egyptian Museum, remains the popular symbol. Exhibits of artifacts from his tomb have toured the world. In February 2010, the results of DNA tests confirmed that he was the son of Akhenaten (mummy KV55). His mother was Akhenaten's sister and wife (mummy KV35YL), whose name is unknown but whose remains are positively identified as "The Younger Lady" mummy found in KV35. The "mysterious" deaths of a few of those who excavated Tutankhamun's tomb has been popularly attributed to the curse of the pharaohs.
Happy Tutankhamun Day! I had no idea it was November 26. About this time last year I read a fantastic book about the origin of mummy myths, and it laid the blame for the mythology surrounding Tutankhamun's tomb squarely at Lord Carnarvon's feet. It wasn't that he died soon after the tomb was opened (though he did). It was that he'd struck up an exclusive coverage deal with one newspaper. That meant all the rest of the world's media were desperate for material, so when Carnarvon kicked the bucket they all ran the curse story because they had nothing else to print.