King Tut-Curse?

[Silverdawn2006]

I was just watching the news the other day and they were talking about someone finally taking the mask off King Tut. Thinking about what has been happening to people in history after messing with him, do you believe that there is a possibility that the curse of King Tut is real? Or do you believe it is just a very, very, very large coincidence?

Me personally, I do believe that there is a chance that there might be a curse. Especially if something happens to the team who took off his mask.

[Delving]

Several web sites out there discuss the idea of King Tut's tomb being cursed, and it doesn't seem to be a theory that's well supported by the facts. Although there were a couple of sensational deaths reported shortly after the tomb was opened, it is thought today that this may have been coincidence, or may have had to do with toxic spores released in the air when ancient mold was disturbed.

Of the 26 people present at the opening of the tomb, only 6 died within the next 10 years. Of the 22 people present at the sarcophagus opening, only 2 died within the next 10 years. Of the 10 people present at the mummy's unwrapping, none died within 10 years. (See http://www.mummytombs.com/egypt/kingtut.htm)

These don't sound like high numbers when you consider that if you take any group of 50 or so adults at random, some of them are going to die within a 10 year period.

Most of the people involved with the opening of the tomb lived to about their normal life expectancy. http://www.harpercollins.com.au/drstephenjuan/0301news.htm.


Sorry if this throws cold water on an otherwise exciting theory!

[EmperorStaleek]

I think I read somewhere about there possibly being some sort of poison in tombs, although if I remembr correctly they thought it was some unintentional effect.

[Delving]

I think I read somewhere about there possibly being some sort of poison in tombs, although if I remembr correctly they thought it was some unintentional effect.

Yeah, a couple of the web sites I looked at had speculation about toxic mold having developed in the tomb while it was sealed up for centuries, and then having been disturbed when the tomb was opened up. Apparently someone did a study about 15 years ago which suggested that as a possibility, but no one has proven it. Even if that is what was responsible for those few sensational deaths that led to the myth, I think that better evidence against the curse is the number of people involved who lived to a ripe old age.

[marauderlupin]

I don't know about a curse, but they're doing it for a good reason. They want to find out if King tut was murdered. There is a strong suspicion he was, because an x-ray showed a crack in his skull, and at that time there was a lot of political unrest so he probably was murdered. An MRI would give a better picture of how it happened and at what age. I can't wait for the results. I hope the curse isn't real because one of the egyptologists involved in the new tests is the most enthusiastic man on earth. I'd miss him and his interviews if he dropped dead :upset:

[Midnightsfire]

*shrugs*

Lord Carnarvon died within months of revealing the mummy.

(this link (http://www.unmuseum.org/mummy.htm) is more fun...)

[haha]

I found a cool site on this:
http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC00112/
It even had a lock/key game which is oK too...

Yeah, a couple of the web sites I looked at had speculation about toxic mold having developed in the tomb while it was sealed up for centuries, and then having been disturbed when the tomb was opened up. Apparently someone did a study about 15 years ago which suggested that as a possibility, but no one has proven it. Even if that is what was responsible for those few sensational deaths that led to the myth, I think that better evidence against the curse is the number of people involved who lived to a ripe old age.
Websites like this one which speculate that a lot of the deaths may be a result of scientific deaths rather than curses: http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/mummy.html
Quote from the above website:
Some say that the curse of the mummies is just another bad-luck story, like breaking a mirror, but A Moment of Science finds that there may be a basis for the early deaths of tomb raiders and explorers.
While the tombs of ancient Egyptian royalty do indeed bear curses calling down death and destruction on all who enter, tombs all over the world hold hidden perils for explorers, like Lord Carnarvon, who discovered King Tut's tomb only to die suddenly shortly afterward.

This "curse" is microscopic in nature. Tombs may hold spores of mold such as aspergillus. Dormant mold spores are protected by tough outer casings and last for hundreds and even thousands of years, until an unsuspecting explorer opens the tomb and is exposed. When these spores enter the body through the nose or mouth, they trigger severe and sometimes fatal illnesses of the lungs, organs and intestines.

Mold spores are not limited to Egyptian tombs either. When scientists opened a Polish royal tomb in 1973, ten of the twelve present died from toxic mold. Even caves can harbor these spores. Today, scientists wear protective gear when opening tombs and handling mummies, but the "curse" of the mold spores is still a threat to those who explore the dark corners of history.

[Begoli]

I believe he was murdered at around 13-15 years of age (maybe a little later). Tutankhamun was married young to Anaksanamun. I believe that the injury shows (from memory) that he was struck in the head with a blunt object and did not survive his injuries. I also recall attempts to poison him.

The odd thing is is that young Pharoahs usually were 'led' or 'advised' by elders and were never seen as the primary threat. Look at Thutmose III - Hatshepsut. She was really the Pharoah and attacks were aimed at her not Thutmose III. (I may be wrong!) The only reason to bump off a young Pharoah is the same for bumping off any monarch - who will go in their place?

I do believe the Egyptians used tricks and science to keep tomb robbers at bay. Alternative tombs, pits, pressured acid/salt I believe have all been used. Curses, I'm not sure. But I do believe that we have a habit of forgetting things and end up relearning them so I wont say no to the idea.

Did you know - Egyptians successfully performed brain surgery and amputations whilst afterwards successfully attaching prosthesis? Most people survived to die of natural causes not related to the original injury!

[Wab]

A study based on insurance company acturial tables of the time revealed nothing unusual in the rate of deaths of the people present.

[haha]

I do believe the Egyptians used tricks and science to keep tomb robbers at bay. Alternative tombs, pits, pressured acid/salt I believe have all been used. Curses, I'm not sure. But I do believe that we have a habit of forgetting things and end up relearning them so I wont say no to the idea.
Maybe, but the thing is that many times it wasn't very sucessful. Because Egyptians put in alot of the mummy's treasure with him in his tomb to take to the after-life, it was a perfect spot for robbers. However, there have been evidence of tombs that were disturbed and a lot of these reputed treasures that were meant to be there were missing. It's not very hard to guess who could have taken them.

[Begoli]

There was the case earlier in the 20th century where an Egyptian was pilfering from an unknown tomb. The Egyptian Museum caught wind and tracked the guy down who showed them the 'tomb'. It has a special name (I can't remember) but it was a hidden hole in the wall (literally).
It had some of the greatest Pharoahs in it including Thutmoses iv (?), Rameses ii and Seti i. They had been shifted sometime after their deaths but not long after as all of their treasure had been moved with them. Their bodies were usually replaced with nobles. (Courtesy of History Channel Doco).

So it is possible that more is lying around unawares to us. Maybe not a curse but definitely a demonstration of the concern shown for the well being of past Pharoahs.

So facinating!

[haha]

Is it called the Valley of the Kings? I'm not sure about if that's what you mean but i do know that there was an article written on how they found 6 new tombs, with three unknown ones. Here's an extract:
On each side of the burial chamber are two small chambers, in the first of which three unknown mummies were found, and the second originally contained nine royal mummies, belonging to Thutmosis IV, Amenhotep III, Siptah, Seti II, Rameses IV, V, and Rameses VII, II, which are now in the Cairo Museum," said the SCA's secretary-general, Gaballa Ali Gaballa.

For more detail just go here:

http://www.guardians.net/egypt/news4-99.htm

[Alastor D]

The Valley of the Kings (Biban el Muluk) is not the name of any specific tomb. It's the name of a valley on the Luxor west bank where about 60 royal tombs are located. Not far from there is another valley called the Valley of the Queens (Biban el Harim).

Somehow I don't exactly get it from the article you gave the link to, if those tombs were recently found and excavated or only reopened for tourists. The biggest almost recent news I know about is the tomb KV 5, burial place of 30 of Ramesses II's sons, excavated in the 1990ies. Seems I have to ask an Egyptologist.

[haha]

Somehow I don't exactly get it from the article you gave the link to, if those tombs were recently found and excavated or only reopened for tourists.
I think that it's to open more tombs to the public, not to show that they just found these recently.

[Alastor D]

Yes. Actually I found the evidense already in the morning without knowing it. The spelling of those names tend to change, and it's a bit difficult for laymen to remember them all.

My old Baedeker, 8th edition 1929 reprinted 1974, describes the tomb of Amenophis II almost exactly as your quote from that article. Three unknown mummies and nine royal ones, four of them mentioned by name. For sure it's the same grave.

[haha]

Sounds like the same grave, but in the link it named eight of the nine royals, so dou you think that's because the site is more up-to-date than the book :huh: The site said that it was last updated in 1999, so that's 25 years after the book was reprinted.

[Alastor D]

I think that the book, being a trawellers' guide, mentioned only the most famous ones by name. But there is a small chance that some of them have been identified later. This book is a faximile reprint, so there's actually 70 years between.

[haha]

Oh I see :agree: That makes sense :)