A new archaeological discovery is seen in Luxor, Egypt.
Credit: © Zahi Hawass Center for Egyptology

In early April 2021, Egyptian archaeologists announced their discovery of a previously unknown ancient city that had been buried largely intact for thousands of years. The city, given the name Aten or The Rise of Aten, was built around 3,500 years ago near Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, a narrow gorge that was used as a cemetery by the pharaohs (kings) of ancient Egypt.

Egyptologists (scholars who study ancient Egypt) compared the importance of the discovery of Aten to the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun (sometimes called King Tut) in 1922. Others compare this site to Pompeii, an ancient city in Italy that disappeared after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Like Pompeii, Aten promises to give scholars a rare and relatively complete view of the daily life of ancient Egyptian commoners. Most other important discoveries in Egyptology involve tombs of pharaohs and other wealthy Egyptians.

The remarkable site of Aten preserves the ruins of many homes built of mud brick walls about 9 feet (3 meters) high. Archaeologists also found the remains of tools and other utensils used in the daily life of ancient Egyptians along with jewelry, scarab charms, pottery, and tools for making bread, yarn, cloth, and glass. The number of homes and workshops at the site shows that the city had a large population. The archaeologists have discovered a number of burials that preserve the skeletons of some of the city residents. Unlike wealthy people in ancient Egypt, the burials of these commoners were not preserved as mummies.

Pottery found at the site bore an inscription that allowed scholars to determine it was manufactured during the reign of the pharaoh Akhenaten. He ruled ancient Egypt from about 1353 to 1336 B.C. His wife, Queen Nefertiti, was famous for her great beauty and her dedication to her husband’s teachings. Akhenaten was originally known as Amenhotep IV. He was the son of Amenhotep III, one of the most powerful pharaohs of ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom period (1539-1075 B.C.). During the New Kingdom, Egypt became the largest and strongest empire in the ancient world.

As pharaoh, Amenhotep IV was a religious reformer. He chose Aten as the only god of Egypt and dismissed the many gods and goddesses of the ancient Egyptian pantheon. Aten had been a little-known sun god worshiped mainly in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. Amenhotep was so devoted to the worship of Aten that he changed his own name to Akhenaten, meaning servant of Aten. Akhenaten’s religious reforms, known as the Amarna Revolution, led to an outpouring of art and sculpture that glorified the Aten. But the changes angered many Egyptians who wished to continue worshipping the old gods.

After the death of Akhenaten, his successor Tutankhaten removed -aten from his name and became Tutankhamun. He restored the old state religion, allowing the worship of the many old gods as well as Aten. Later pharaohs destroyed or removed all monuments built by or in honor of Tutankhamun and others who had accepted Aten as Egypt’s chief god. The city of Aten was abandoned and eventually became buried in the desert sand for more than 3,000 years until its rediscovery this year.

June 2, 2016

A new study conducted by Italian and Egyptian scientists found that an iron-bladed dagger from the tomb of Tutankhamun, ancient Egypt’s most famous pharaoh (king), had an extraterrestrial origin. An analysis of the metal blade found that the iron most likely came from a meteorite. This rare source of iron was highly prized by the ancient Egyptians. A special hieroglyphic describes such iron as “metal from heaven.”

Archaeologist Howard Carter works with Tutankhamun’s mummy in 1922. Among the many riches from Tut’s tomb was a rare iron-bladed dagger probably made from the metal of a meteorite.
CREDIT: © Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the long-hidden tomb of Tutankhamun (often called “King Tut”) in 1922. The discovery was a great sensation. King Tut served as ruler of Egypt from about 1332 B.C. until his death around 1322 B.C. The tomb had not been opened since ancient times. It still contained many of its treasures. It is the only tomb of an ancient Egyptian king to be discovered almost completely undamaged. Tut’s four-room tomb contained more than 5,000 objects, including many beautiful carved and gold-covered items. The dagger, found nestled in the wrappings of the pharaoh’s mummy, was finely crafted with a gold and crystal handle and a richly decorated sheath. But scientists found the blade of the dagger most intriguing. It was made of iron, a metal that was virtually unknown in ancient Egypt.

Although people in the ancient world worked copper, bronze, and gold beginning about 4,000 B.C., iron working developed much later. Historians generally mark the beginning of the Iron Age at 1,200 B.C., long after Tutankhamun’s death. Iron deposits are also uncommon in and around Egypt, and iron tools or weapons from ancient Egypt are very rare. Scholars have long suspected that the iron used to fashion precious objects found in ancient Egyptian tombs may have come from meteorites. Scholars believe ancient Egyptians might have regarded meteorites as gifts from the gods suitable only for kings. However, this theory has been difficult to prove.

In the latest study, scientists analyzed the dagger using a technique called x-ray fluorescence spectrometry to determine the composition of the blade. Fluorescence is a process by which substances give off light or another form of electromagnetic radiation when they absorb energy. Using this technique, scientists aimed a beam of high energy x-rays at the blade. By measuring the radiation emitted, they determined the types and abundances of various elements that made up the blade. They found that the blade was composed of iron, nickel, and cobalt. The relative amounts of these elements in the dagger were remarkably similar to those found in iron-rich meteorites. They then compared the chemical makeup of the dagger to meteorite samples obtained from sites within about 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) of Cairo, Egypt’s capital. One particular sample, known as the Kharga meteorite, had a composition of iron, nickel, and cobalt nearly identical to Tut’s dagger, strongly supporting its extraterrestrial origin.

October 22, 2014

The first “virtual autopsy” of King Tutankhamun, one of the most famous pharaohs of ancient Egypt, has produced surprising findings about his appearance as well as cast doubt on a recent popular theory about his death. The virtual autopsy is actually a three-dimensional, life-sized image of the king based on some 2,000 CT scans of his mummy. An international team of researchers found that in life Tut had a clubfoot, a severe overbite (often called buck teeth), and a girlish body. The researchers also concluded that it is highly unlikely that Tut died in a chariot accident, as some scientists have recently suggested.

Tut ruled Egypt from about 1332 B.C. until his sudden death at about age 19 in around 1322 B.C. He was actually a fairly unimportant king. But he became an international sensation in 1922, after the British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered his tomb. The four-room tomb, the only tomb of an ancient Egyptian king to be discovered almost completely undamaged, still contained most of its treasures. Inside were more than 5,000 objects, including many beautiful carved and gold-covered items. The death, five months later, of Carter’s patron Lord Carnarvon inspired the legend that a deadly curse protected the tomb.

Gold funerary mask of Tutankhamun (© SuperStock)

The autopsy team reported that Tut, like some of his male ancestors, had wide hips and enlarged breasts, possibly due to an inherited hormonal imbalance. The autopsy also confirmed earlier genetic findings that Tut’s parents were siblings. Marriage between royal family members was common in ancient Egypt as a way to keep the bloodline pure. However, the practice contributed to physical weakness and illnesses.

The scientists also discovered that Tut had been born with a severely deformed left foot and had developed a rare and painful bone disease called Kohler’s disease in adolescence. In fact, some 130 walking sticks were found in Tut’s tomb. Some scientists had theorized that the sticks were symbols of the king’s power.

Also confirmed were earlier discoveries that Tut had suffered from malaria and had broken a leg before he died. The badly broken leg showed no signs of healing and may possibly have contributed to his death.

The new findings challenge the idea that Tut died in a chariot accident. “The evaluation of the CT scans clearly points out that it is highly unlikely that he was riding a chariot due to his foot disease and his general bad health,” Albert Zink of the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Bolzano, Italy, told HuffPost. “Therefore it is unlikely that he had an accident while riding the chariot.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Pyramid
• Valley of the Kings
• Back in Time (Archaeology 1923)

April 9, 2013

If you believe in curses, one began 90 years ago, on April 5, 1923, when Britain’s 5th Lord Carnarvon died in Cairo, Egypt. Carnarvon (1866-1923) was an amateur Egyptologist who sponsored an expedition led by archeologist Howard Carter. Carnarvon and Carter began their search in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings in 1917.

In November 1922, they entered what they believed to be a tomb. Carnarvon asked Carter, who had entered first holding a  candle, “Can you see anything?” Carter’s reply, “Yes, wonderful things” has become legendary. The men had found the tomb of a little-known boy-king, Tutankhamun (meaning living image of Amun). Tutankhamun, or King Tut, as he is affectionately known, came to the throne of Egypt in 1332 B.C., when he was about 9. He died in 1322 B.C. Because of religious disputes, later rulers destroyed or removed all monuments built by or in honor of Tutankhamun. Because of that, his was the only tomb of an ancient Egyptian king to be discovered almost completely undamaged. Tutankhamun’s four-room tomb contained more than 5,000 objects, including many beautiful carved and gold-covered items. A magnificent gold mask of Tutankhamun covered the head and shoulders of the royal mummy.

Gold funerary mask of Tutankhamun (© SuperStock)

When Carnarvon died in Egypt only five months after the opening of Tut’s tomb, the idea began to circulate that there was a curse placed on the tomb for any who dared to open it. Soon, anytime any elderly person who was even remotely connected with King Tut’s tomb died, newspapers gave intensive coverage to the story of the curse. In reality, Carnarvon died of an infected insect bite, nothing remarkable in the era before antibiotic drugs. Most of the other people said to have died of the curse were in their late 60′s or 70′s. Still, newspapers had a good reason to try to cover the story from this angle. The expedition had signed an agreement with a London newspaper, The Times, that gave exclusive coverage of the finds on the site to them. All other newspapers were trying hard to find something interesting to say about the newly discovered tomb. The curse became more widely known because of several films starring the American actor Lon Chaney, Jr., The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), The Mummy’s Ghost (1944), and The Mummy’s Curse (1944).

In 2009, the current and 8th Lord Carnarvon opened a small museum at Highclere Castle, the ancestral home of the Carnarvon family. Most of the treasures brought home from Egypt by the 5th earl had been sold to New York’s Metropolitan Museum to pay death duties (inheritance taxes) levied at the earl’s death. Still, what remains is a fine collection of Egyptian antiquities. Highclere Castle may be better known to many Americans than you may realize. The castle–which according to the current Lady Carnarvon has “200 or 300 rooms,” give or take–is the setting for the wildly popular British television program “Downton Abbey.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Egypt, Ancient
• Tutankhamun

The rediscovery of the process used by the ancient Egyptians to produce mummies more than 3,000 years ago was announced by British scientists on October 20, 2011. Chemist Stephen Buckley of the University of York in the United Kingdom reported that he and his co-workers had preserved the body of British taxi driver Alan Billis using the same techniques used to mummify the body of Tutankhamun (King Tut) and the bodies of other pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Buckley has spent nearly 20 years researching the mummification process used by the ancient Egyptians. Billis volunteered for the project after learning that he was dying of lung cancer.

Egyptian mummies were wound tightly with linen and then laid out in coffins. In some periods of Egyptian history, the coffins were painted. The Field Museum, Chicago.

Like ancient Egyptian embalmers, Buckley and his co-workers removed the lungs and intestines from Billis’s body through an opening cut in the left side of the abdomen.  The cavity in his body was filled with linen. The researchers then soaked the body in a bath of natron, a powdery mixture that includes a harsh kind of salt, for three months. The natron dehydrated (removed all moisture from) the body. The researchers protected Billis’s skin with oils. They also wrapped the body in linen to protect it from light and insects.

British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun's undamaged tomb in 1922. A magnificent lifelike gold mask of Tutankhamun covered the head and shoulders of the royal mummy, shown here as it is cleaned by Carter and an Egyptian assistant. © Getty Images.

In addition to reconstructing the mummification process in ancient Egypt, the project may help scientists develop preservation processes that do not use formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is the active ingredient in a solution used for embalming and for preserving insects and other biological specimens. Laboratory tests have shown that formaldehyde probably causes cancer.

Additional World Book articles:

• Anubis
• Pyramid
• Valley of the Kings
• Back in Time (Archaeology 1923)