King Tut Analysis

Great Essays
The discovery of King Tut's tomb, was the greatest archaeological find of the twentieth century, due to its relative completeness and lack of looting. In Carter gives a very detailed account of how the he and his team went about finding, preserving, and cataloging all of the wonderful treasures found in the tomb. He begins with describing the initial process of preserving any fragile pieces first, and then photographing everything for later reference. Carter then goes on to describe how they moved larger pieces out of the tomb, and where they would be placed. Finally carter describes the condition of the tomb in relation to looting and its damages.
When one thinks of King Tut's tomb, and all the riches that were recovered from inside it, they
…show more content…
The tomb was in fact looted, but not the kind of looting most people would think. What makes King Tut's tomb the greatest archaeological find in the world, is because of its relative completeness. Many other tombs in the Valley of the Kings had been looted and in some cases burned, so the looters could collect the gold leaf of the boxes and such. Many of these tombs had been looted later in history, while king tut was looted soon after the burial. Now this is very surprising, because the egyptians were very religious people who strongly believed in the afterlife and curses. Curses that could be brought upon those who disturbed the eternal resting place of their god kings, like king tut. Carter explains how the looters had ransacked the first chamber causing all kinds of havoc, but must have been interrupted in their deplorable deed, because the inner chambers were relatively undisturbed, and many items were left behind, like a cloth filled with gold rings. This means that the robbers retreated fast for some unknown reason. Carter also describes how the tomb was cleaned up after the looting, but in a haphazard way, which is also interesting because one would think that superstition would have driven them to make their former king happy by doing a good job at clean up. After the tomb was cleaned up the holes made by the looters were resealed, and the entrance …show more content…
In the example of the copper axe, copper was no easy thing to find, smelt, and cast. This made it a very valuable material, the kind of thing the common person in america would not have. This means that it was reserved for the wealthy or was a sign of once importance in that society. A copper axe, was a tool, it's technomic purpose, but it was also a status symbol. To own a copper tool, meant that that person was above others for some reason and was of higher status than the common people who didn't own a copper tool. This can be compared to the samuri sword of feudal japan. Only the samurai were permitted to carry the sword, which was a tool, but it was also a status symbol. This is supported by the evidence that copper tools found in america tend to be found in graves, meaning that they held a purpose other than utilitarian. This leads into Binfords third concept of ideotechnic importance of an artifact.
Ideotechnic refers to an items religious or ideological importance. These copper tools being found in graves means that they also had religious aspects to them. Meaning that the tool also embodied the owners own personality or spirit if you will. This leads to the conclusion that so few copper tools are found, because they were not passed down to later generations, because they held a spiritual tie to the original owner and were either destroyed upon the owner's death or buried with

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    King Tut In Ancient Egypt

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Inside the tomb were, small carvings of animals or supernatural figures. There were also, amulets and charms. Charms were made from genuine gems and metals. The team found fine clothes, weapons, food, and couches with animal heads, stools, boxes, jars, and caskets. With all these treasures, King Tut’s tomb managed to be sealed for 3, 245 years!…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    King Tut's Curse

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Undisturbed for centuries, it still contained all of the king’s possessions which allowed Carter to present the world with the first intact burial tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh. It was a novelist by the name of Marie Corelli, who first claimed to discover the curse in an ancient book but again was nowhere to be found in or near the burial site itself. The Curse stated according to Corelli “Death comes on the wings to he who enters the tomb of the pharaoh”. Nothing in that “curse” directly links itself to King Tut, so how do we know it’s not linked to the great pharaoh Khufu or…

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To go back in time, to stand in the footsteps of Howard Carter, would be a moment of ecstasy. I can only imagine the anticipation that would fill my soul, as my conscience reminded me that I must remain calm, as many eyes stood by watching my every move. A seven year journey that I had embarked upon and finally my treasure, King Tutankhamen treasures for his eternity have been discovered or had they been pillaged. Finding myself a bit reluctant, I imagine I would begin to shake as it came time to pass through the entrance of the tomb. Everything within myself longing to see what King Tut had truly valued, knowing that the things he held of great worth would be the very things he would seek to carry into his afterlife.…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Egyptian kings and queens were buried, in the Deir- el bahri located in the west bank of the Nile. Among the pharaohs were a few mummies, which could not be identified and was aside letter of the alphabets to them. The coffin in which unknown man E was buried into was examined once he was removed. The coffin appeared to have wood shaving inside, which in tells that coffin was enlarge to accommodate the body of unknown man E. This discovery clearly shows that this coffin was not intended for him as it did not accommodate his body size, as adjustment can be seen in the shoulder area and foot end.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hatshepsut The Great Essay

    • 1316 Words
    • 6 Pages

    From Ahmose, the man who removed the Hyksos from the land of Egypt, to Tutankamun, the boy king, the beautiful Queen Nefertiti, and the well known Rameses ‘The Great’, it becomes clear the Egypt had amazing leaders, however the focus of this essay is one exceptional Pharaoh, whom we are about to learn about. It was the year 1903 when archeologist Howard Cater entered tomb known as KV20. It was empty apart from for three empty sarcophagus for a pharaoh. The scholars had no idea at the time where the king’s mummy was or who the tomb belonged to. It was in a nearby quarry where they found the destroyed statues of a Pharaoh.…

    • 1316 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It has been found that the bodies of the pharaohs were mummified and placed deep inside the pyramid along with funerary materials (@). Even more information has been revealed about the pharaohs themselves from searching through the pyramids. For example, after King Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered, materials were found that gave insight into his life. Over five thousand artifacts and several other mummies were found inside his tomb. The cause of Tutankhamun’s death was also determined to be malaria (*).…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Death of pharaoh To this day arguments are still made surrounding the death of a young pharaoh, this young pharaoh is known as Tutankhamen. Whether the death of this young pharaoh was triggered by organic disease or as a result of a carefully plotted murder, the question still rattles and thrills the cognizance of anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, and many other scholars. The young pharaoh’s death still remains a mystery to date, but multitudes of research has been completed and as a result numerous theories have been developed to warrant the real reasoning behind the death. In this respect it must be stated That some scholars believe Tutankhamen’s death was the result of him falling from his chariot while other scholars consider that his death was the result of severe illness.…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Qin Shi Tomb

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages

    With Tutankhamun tomb it was very detailed and packed with many artifacts from the decade. Just like the Qin Shi Huang army, Tutankhamun death mask had extreme detail with such vibrate color, such detail of the two snake heads lunging out of the forehead. A wooden boost of a boy was also found in the tomb with such great detail, even down to the eyebrows. Over five thousand artifacts were found in the tomb from a solid gold coffin to food. According to Nicholas Reeves, “almost 80% of Tutankhamun's burial equipment originated from the female pharaoh Neferneferuaten's funerary goods including his famous gold mask, middle coffin, canopic coffinettes, several of the gilded shrine panels, the shabti-figures, the boxes and chests, the royal jewelry.”…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    King Tut Research Paper

    • 198 Words
    • 1 Pages

    King Tut was a big discovery of the 19th century. His tomb was found in the Valley of the Kings. He was discovered by Howard Carter on January 3, 1924. King Tut was given the throne at a young age. He was about eight or nine.…

    • 198 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She starts off by looking at Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt and the work his savants took on as they documented the great monuments of Europe. She then goes off to talk about Jean-Francois Champollion and Giovanni Belzoni whose work have both increased in the understanding of Ancient Egypt but have also had negative effects on its preservation. The author finishes the chapter by looking at the politics of possession, using Nefertiti’s bust as a prime example…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Burial traditions vary across time and space. Looking at societies in similar stages of development, trends in how individuals of various statuses are buried become visible. In looking at a few of the Mississippian cultures and the famous tombs of King Tutankhamen and The Death Pit at Ur, one can explore how these trends and differences appear. Additionally, these case studies can be used to examine larger issues within the field of archeology -- such as looting and preservation -- and to explore missteps in previous excavations in order to prevent those mistakes in the future. Mississippian burials are very modest in comparison to the graves found in Ur and in Egypt, representative of how the Mississippians were at a different stage…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Viking Road Research Paper

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Nanjing Road (Tourist Entertainment) The Nanjing Road is going to be one of my first visits in China. It’s about 3.4 miles long and runs east to west. It’s a major shopping street with large attractions for fashion-seeking people. According to Nanjing Road by Travel China Guide, the Nanjing Road began “Importing large quantities of foreign goods, it became the earliest shopping street of the city.”…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The next thing that I am going to tell about is how he died everyone had said that he had died because a broken leg and they had also said that he had died from a naturally death too. The people that found king Tut’s tomb were British archaeologists,…

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ramesses Vi's Tomb Analysis

    • 2355 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The textual description of the tomb begins with a history of Horemheb and how he ascended to the royal throne. The analysis of the tomb decoration is brief, since the decoration was not finished when the tomb was abandoned. However, it is addressed in conjunction with the tomb layout and structure. Frank Teichmann authors a chapter dedicated to what we can learn about tomb construction from the abandoned tomb, which shows various stages of completion. Lastly, objects found in the tomb are presented, most importantly the sarcophagus that was found…

    • 2355 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    King Tut Research Paper

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages

    King Tutankhamen was a pharaoh who died at a young age and is rumored to have a cursed tomb. Tut was a young boy when he came into power in Egypt in 1332 BC. His decade long rule was relatively insignificant in Egyptian history, but the discovery of his tomb in 1922 was among the most remarkable events of time. Discovered by British Archaeologist, Howard Carter, King Tut’s tomb was the first tomb to be found almost entirely intact. Since the discovery of his tomb in 1922, Tutankhamun has awe-struck the world.…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays