Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues by A. R. Williams

 Day 4: Super Seven-Super Eleven Qs Ans for Class XI

Q8. What things were found in Tut’s burial chamber?

Ans. By opening the first casket (box),  a shroud (a piece of cloth in which a dead body is wrapped) adorned (decorated) with garlands of willow (a kind of tree) and olive (a tree) leaves, wild (living and growing in natural conditions) celery (vegetables for salad), lotus petals and cornflowers were found. The base of the coffin was made up of gold and resins were spread to solidify the mummy to the

Q9. What trouble did Howard Carter run into when Tut’s coffin was being opened?

Ans. Howard Carter also ran into trouble when he finally reached the mummy. The raisins used for spreading on the bottom of the solid gold coffin to fix (cement) the mummy had hardened.

Q10. What efforts did Howard make to separate Tut’s mummy from the coffin?

Ans. First, he tried to melt or make the material that fixed the mummy soft by exposing it to the blazing heat of the sun. But the effort failed. Then he had to use a chisel to remove limbs and trunk apart from the head, the arms and the legs from the hardened material.  After that, the remains were removed.

Q11. What defence did Howard Carter put forward to counter the allegations made against him by Zahi Hawas?

Ans. Carter said that he had very little choice. If the mummy had not been removed that way, the thieves would have entered thereby befooling the guards, and ripped (removed quickly and violently) it apart to loot the treasure from there.

Q12. What was discovered by the professor of anatomy after 40 years in 1968 when Tut’s mummy was x-rayed?

Ans. It was discovered that Tut had not died of his natural death. It could have been a murder. It was discovered that his breastbone and front ribs were missing.

Q13. What valuables were put in the Tut’s coffin and chamber as gifts?

Ans. Tut was also gifted with several glittering (shining) goods (things) like precious collars, inlaid necklaces and bracelets, rings, amulets, a ceremonial apron, sandals, sheaths for his fingers and toes, and the new iconic (sacred) inner coffin and mask. Those were all made of pure gold.

 

Long Answer-type Questions

Q1. Describe Amenhotep III, maybe Tut’s father or grandfather.

Ans. He was a powerful pharaoh.  He ruled for almost four decades and the period was called ‘the eighteenth dynasty golden age.  After that, his son Amenhotep IV succeeded him. He caused the strangest changes in the history of ancient Egypt. He began worshipping Aten, the sun god. He also changed his name to ‘Akhenaten, which meant the servant of Aten, the son god. He also shifted the religious capital from Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten. It is known as Amarna. His strange activities did not stop there. He attacked a major god, Amun by smashing his images and closing his temples.