Preview

Explain the Archaeological/Written Evidence of the Uniqueness of Tutankhamun’s Tomb in the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1274 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Explain the Archaeological/Written Evidence of the Uniqueness of Tutankhamun’s Tomb in the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Explain the archaeological/written evidence of the uniqueness of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Tutankhamun was an Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh whose legacy extends to the present, and currently one of the best-known ancient Egyptians of all-time. The “Boy King” inherited the throne at the age of nine, his reign lasting only ten years before his sudden unexpected death. The traditional burial customs and funeral processions were carried out upon him, but the tomb he was laid to rest in was unique from the typical Eighteenth Dynasty tombs characterised by their lavish style and large scale. This uniqueness has been evidenced in a variety of archaeological and written sources, which express the tomb’s historical significance.

Discovered in the Valley of the Kings by Howard Carter and his sponsor Lord Carnarvon in 1922, Tutankhamun’s tomb was presumably intended for use by a nobleman and then promptly modified for the pharaoh’s use after his unexpected death. The tomb differs from the customary Eighteenth Dynasty tombs in size, decoration, structure and location. When compared to typical royal tombs of the time it is evidently unique as it is of extremely smaller scale and contradicts the design of other Eighteenth Dynasty pharaonic burials. The tomb consists of descending steps, a descending passage, antechamber, annex, burial chamber and treasury. This is in sharp contrast to traditional royal tombs, many of which additionally consisted of multiple lengthy corridors, chambers of large dimensions and sizable storerooms. It was imperative for the body to be stored in the tomb promptly, in the interest of preservation and success in the afterlife, and consequently a smaller tomb representing a typical Eighteenth Dynasty tomb was utilised. The fact that Tutankhamun was a relatively minor king with a short reign likely contributed to the small scale of his tomb. The tomb’s location was also not usually associated with royal burials.

The decoration

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Howard Cater

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The tomb of King Tutankhamun was discovered by Howard Cater in 1922. It was the summer in 1922, Lord Carnarvon was disappointed about the lack of success that the team had worked on, he decided to let Howard Cater’s team finish the season and pull out. However the amazing dramatically news sent from Howard Cater to Lord Carnarvon, their team found the stairs (the entrance) of the tomb. These stairs leaded to the descending passage which the other end was The antechamber, they found furniture, boxes, and many other objects inside the room, but as well as two doors that contained other rooms, the small one went to the annex, the big one with two live-size of the king in black were the entrance of the burial chamber, there was another, the last room in the tomb, which was the treasury, this room was the most valuable one, it was guarded by a statue of Anubis. The team could not wait till the official opening, they went into the room the night before and were surprise about these, they found couches, wall paintings, valuable treasures, games that Tutankhamun used to play, chariots, throne, canopic chest and shrine, Anubis, and the sarcophagus! These contents were important because they told us about Ancient Egyptian society.…

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This paragraph however is not explicitly about what is in his tomb but instead what farmers found in Xi’an on March 29th, 1974 whilst digging a well. They happened to uncover many terracotta pottery pieces. It wasn’t until a few months later that word had traveled far enough that excavators and archaeologists began working at the site. Not long after the excavation began, a head of a terracotta soldier had been found and then it was realized what lay underneath about 1.5 kilometers away from the tomb and 32 meters underground. An army of approximately 8,000 life size warriors along with horses and even war chariots, some of which made of gold, were found buried and in pieces underground. The soldiers were built to guard the first emperor in his after life; each soldier different from the next. Different ranks declared height and armor. Each had different facial expressions, hairstyles and stances although most are standing upright. Each soldier was carrying a weapon but due to early on tomb robbery or just time the weapons are no longer there. Since these soldiers were all discovered in pieces, they’ve been slowly reconstructed by archaeologists to resemble what was once built. However the reconstruction has been halted because in addition to all these soldiers being built, they were…

    • 1846 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ancient Egypt, a magnificent civilization, but just how did they treat their dead kings? This essay will explain what and why pharaohs became mummified, and how they did.…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    King Tut Research Paper

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages

    King Tutankhamun is commonly known as King Tut. King Tut became Pharaoh at age 9. He reined for 8 years, and died at the age of 17. King Tut died at such a young age that he didn't recieve his own pyramid. He, instead, got a tomb. His death mask was extremely rare. It was made of pure gold. After the discovery of King Tut's tomb, many terrible events occured. Many supersticious people believed it was "The Curse Of The Mummy." This "curse" began because Lord Carnarvon, the man who discovered King Tuts tomb, died shortly after. He became ill because a mosiquito bit him on the cheek and it was broke open and shortly after became infected. At the exact moment he had passed away, all the lights in Cairo went out. Media claimed that King Tut wanted revenge for…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Egyptian Museum is the place where the mask of King Tutankhamen lives since his UN timely death at the age 18. When he was alive he lived as the son of Akhenaten. As prince he was also known as Tutankhamen. At age 9 he ascended to the throne name Nebkheperure. After some time of becoming king he married his hale sister where they were pregnant with 2 daughters but they both were still born babies.…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is a part of the ancient city of Thebes (Dorman, Peter). The Valley of the Kings is a burial site of almost all the pharaohs from 1539-1075 BCE (Dorman, Peter). The pharaohs from that time period feared for the safety of their rich burials. They chose to conceal their tombs in a valley in the western hills behind Dayr al-Bahri (Dorman, Peter). The tombs have descending corridor with deep shafts and pillared chambers to confuse robbers (Dorman, Peter). The cases were covered with “sculptured and painted scenes” of the pharaohs with god and goddess. There were also magical texts to help the pharaohs on their journey in the afterlife (Dorman, Peter). All tombs were cleared out in the 21st dynasty to protect the mummies and to recycle the treasures back into the royal treasury. Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered in 1922 under pile of rock chippings. The treasures in his tomb indicated “how rich the burial of a great pharaoh” must have been during that time (Dorman,…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On November 4, 1922, english archaeologist Howard Carter made one of the most important discoverys of modern times. While on an expedition to Egypt, Carter discovered the tomb of king Tutankhamen. King Tut had became Egypts ruler when he was 9 years old he died just a few years later. Discovered 3,000 years after Tuts's death, the tomb contained many priceless treasures that are now display in a Museum in the city of Cairo.…

    • 74 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    There are the much different architecture of tombs ,for example, here are king tuts tomb and Queen Hatshepsut tomb which are designed differently.…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This translates to the fact that some mausoleums consisted of multiple tomb chambers and had explicit architectural design. However, anthropologists have revealed that the Han society gave emperors and generals a dignified send off. One way of expressing such dignity was through the accompaniment of warriors and horses in the mausoleum. This finding is very relevant because archeological studies have only unearthed royal mausoleums7. The inscriptions on the mausoleums provide evidence of royalty. Consequently, this implies that royal tombs were the detailed expressions of the architectural designs of the Han dynasty…

    • 2602 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The king is someone who is seen as an intermediary between the people of Egypt and the gods. The offering is made through the king for this reason. The one interesting aspect of the king’s formula is that during the Middle Kingdom it constantly changes. However, it is possible to distinguish between the formula of the eleventh and twelfth dynasties. The king’s formula in this tomb can…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    King Tut was a very young Egyptian Pharaoh and died when he was only eighteen years old. So many people would ask what is so significant about him then. People are so amazed with King Tut because of his mysterious death at such a young age. Many people back in this time died at young age compared to today but when King Tut passed away at the age of eighteen it was very rare to see. Many people argue about the way that he died but the most support theory is that he injured his leg when he was riding and that ended up getting infected which in turn led to his death with such bad medical care back then. King Tut was buried in the Valley of the Kings and when his tomb was discovered it was still very much intact. Many people notice King Tut for his burial mask which is widely known and if you type it in you are sure to probably of seen it somewhere or another. Many of the artifacts he was buried with were still there when the tomb was discovered and this was rare considering the amount of tomb raiders there have been. Also, when they found his coffin it was enclosed inside two other ones and the last one that King Tut was in was an all gold coffin. These helped preserve his body over the years and his mummification which allowed us to examine King Tut and figure out a lot about this…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    King Tut Research Paper

    • 2084 Words
    • 9 Pages

    King Tutankhamun had over 3,000 treasures in his tomb when it was found in 1922. The walls of his tomb were filled with painted scenes of his voyage to the after life. The chamber king Tutankhamun was in contained four gilded shrines. Inside the gilded shrines there was a red quartzite sarcophagus containing three nesting coffins. King Tutankhamen's tomb was made of solid gold. It weighed 242.9 pounds. Over his face there was an exquisite gold mask. The main treasure was a gilded canopic chest. Inside the canopic chest were four mini coffins. These coffins contained king Tutankhamun's liver, lungs, intestines and stomach. The main canopic chest was surrounded by four goddesses. King Tutankhamun had 34 statues symbolizing what he would be doing in his after life. One of the statues was him as a harpooner. It took the archeologists six years to catalogue, identify and remove all the artifacts from the tomb. (Pharaoh's of Egypt page…

    • 2084 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Death of King Tut

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Tutankhamun’s tomb is the only royal tomb in Egypt to have escaped the discovery of looters and was discovered by archeologist Howard Carter. The death of Tutankhamun was a sudden tragedy that til this day has yet to be solved. The cause of the famous teenage king’s death has been a long drawn out mystery with a range of theories as to how he met his end. There are no historical records explaining the cause or circumstances of his death, nor is there no positive evidence to suggest how he died. However, there are several theories and many of which have changed over the years.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Many pharaohs and other nobility during the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt were buried in the rocky cliffs of the valley for protection against tomb raiders. They had seen what became of the tombs and pyramids of the Old Kingdom and wanted to try to hide their burials so they could be safe in the afterlife. Instead of building up from flat ground, these burial sites were dug into the sides of the mountains and were kept secret from the rest of the world. A main temple would be erected instead in a more public place where people could come to pay their respects to the dead. This method of burial did not stop tomb raiders completely from finding the locations of the burials, but it made it far more difficult. The tomb of King Tutankhamun is most well-known for being completely untouched and ignored by tomb raiders. Everything that the pharaoh was buried with was still intact, which led modern day historians to extrapolate information about how other burials would have been set up. A pharaoh was buried with everything that they would need in life under the assumption that they could take it with them and use it in the afterlife. The more wealth a pharaoh had, the more could be buried with them and the more luxuries they would have for the rest of eternity. From what could be seen in the tomb of Tutankhamun, the quantity of goods was more important than how they were organized in the…

    • 2091 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    King Tutankhamun

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages

    King Tut was an Egyptian Pharaoh that ruled between 1332 to 1323 BCE, during the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom. He is commonly known as the “The Boy King” because he started ruling at age 10 and unfortunately he died at the young age of 19. It was first believed that he was murdered since his mummified body showed a blow to his head. Later it was recognized that he suffered a fracture to his leg that became fatally infected. To understand King Tutankhamun it is important to understand what preceded him. It is unclear whether Tutankhamen ruled immediately right after his father Akhenaten, Some archeologist believe that there was at least two other king pharaohs between Tutankhamen and Akhenaten, one of them being Tutankhamen possible mother Nefertiti. But most importantly King Tutankhamun was known for the restoration of the traditional religion and worship of the God Amun. King Tutankhamun was originally named by Akhenaten as “Tutankhaten” which means the “living image of Aten”. Akhenaten caused social chaos when he forced people to worship the God Aten and made it the official religion. When King Tut took power he restored the traditional god Amun and changed his name to King Tutankhamen. King Tutankhamun's short lived reign did not accomplish more than restoring the original religion therefore, King…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics