A Burnt Tutankhamun

There is a show coming out about the mummy of Tutankhamun and scientists who present their findings on the king's mummy and have asserted that Tutankhamun combusted shortly after burial because of the ointments used on the mummy.

The show portrays that the mummy looks burned because of the actions of the chemicals used to preserve the boy king. I must admit that I consider this finding as improbable if not impossible, considering that combustion requires oxygen, of which there would have been very little inside his sealed gold coffin, which was sealed inside two more coffins and a stone sarcophagus.

It must also be considered that Tut's mask appears to be unaffected by this fire, which also left the various objects on his mummy unaffected. Most likely, the charring which has occurred to the wrappings was caused by corrosion of the chemicals in question and certainly not by a fire inside the king's gold coffin.

If the mummy had been burnt, it would more than likely have happened after Howard Carter opened the king's gold coffin, though I know of no reports of fire or heat coming from the mummy at that time. Sounds like a ridiculous premise to base credible research on, but hey, as long as it gets you on TV.

Photo Credit: AFP/Ben Curtis

Mummy Gets Her Name

 

Here we have the Perth Museums mummy acquired by the museum in 1936 and believed to come from ancient Egypt's 25th-26th dynasties. The lady named on the lid has the name of Takherheb and is in very nice condition.

The mummy and coffin are being studied by researchers from the University of Manchester with the hope of learning more about the lady, possibly from Akhmim, as the coffin has been determined to likely be from there.

The kind people at Perth sent this wonderful link.

Photo Credit: BBC

Gaurding the temple of Wadi Al-Sebua

Armed guards have been deployed to protect the remote temple built by Ramses II at the Wadi Al-Sebua near Aswan. The lovely temple was among the buildings moved during the raising of the high dam in the 1960s.

The Minister of State for Antiquities, Mohamed Ibrahim, says that the only damage to the temple is the theft of cables and the lights used to light up the temple.

Erosion on the Giza Plateau

This image shows a block of stone, reportedly 3 tons in weight, that has fallen off a mastaba near the Great Pyramid on the Giza plateau. The fallen limestone block rests near Khufu's boat museum, and its collapse is the result of natural erosion.

The boulder will be restored to its original position starting this week.

Source: Luxor Times