Hum 111: Assignment 1: the Mummy's Curse

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Assignment 1: The Mummy's Curse Professor Cynthia Creel Course Title: HUM 111: World Cultures I 27 July 2014 The image of the curse of the mummy instantly conjures up elaborate stories and fantastic discoveries made upon entry into the tomb of King Tutankhamen (King Tut). According to Sayre (2012) “King Tuts tomb was the only tomb discovered that was not destroyed and looted by grave robbers.” In 1922, Howard Carter (a renowned excavator) and his benefactor, the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon, were the first to enter the tomb. According to Luckhurst (2010), the tomb had been uncovered in Carter’s last-chance season of digging in the Valley of the Kings. No new tomb had been discovered for over a decade. In November 1922, they entered the antechamber and the news swept the world. In February 1923, they entered the burial chamber. A sequence of calamitous episodes occurred affecting the men who first entered the tomb. Some of the men became sick and some died. Also, some of their pets died. Some people were using these events to make claims that there was a curse associated with the opening of the tomb. According to Rompalske (2000), the story centered on Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter, and the hardships they suffered. The first conclusion is an inference that has to do with stories regarding the “curse”. At the opening of the tomb of King Tut, a clay tablet was unearthed in the antechamber, with a warning to keep out of the tomb or else experience a horrible death. According to Luckhurst (2010), the tablet had been destroyed by Carter and Carnarvon to keep fellahin (the Egyptian peasant workers), from deserting the archaeological site. The myth of the clay tablet spread throughout the camps, and the curse was established when people associated with the dig started to die inexplicitly. The second conclusion is a scientific discourse. In 1986,

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