Reading(1)：Thecurseofthemummy

When in November of 1922 Howard Carter discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank at Luxor the world was really very different then it is today It was not a time of instant live television coverage by investigative reporters Rather the world of media still belonged to newspapers and information traveled much more slowly and less reliably It was a more superstitious time and the media was fully adjusted to take advantage of the attribute to sell their publications It was a time when reporters often simply made up facts in order to sensationalize their stories and in print people believed them The treasures that Howard Carter discovered in Tutankhamun s tomb were factually sensational and so the media went into a frenzy covering the event and the world paid attention In late March of 1923 a novelist named Mari Corelli Mary Mackay published a warning that there would be dire consequences for anyone who had entered the sealed tomb Perhaps this revelation was inspired by the fact that on the day Howard Carter opened the tomb his pet canary was swallowed by a cobra Cobras as the goddess Wadjet were the protectors of the Pharaoh Lord Carnarvon financed Howard Carter s explorations He had been in poor health for over 20 years following a motoring accident When he died of pneumonia in Cairo on April 5th 1923 only a few weeks after Mari Corelli s warnings newspapers and other media throughout the world simply went crazy As often as not they made up the facts as they went along Even Conan Doyle the creator of Sherlock Holmes and himself a believer in the occult and at this time a very popular writer announced that Lord Carnarvon s death could have been the result of a Pharaoh s curse It was said that at the moment of Lord Carnarvon s death the lights went out in Cairo an event that is still not uncommon today and that back in England his dog susie howled and died in the same instant These reported events are difficult to prove or disprove However other facts were simply invented by the press One newspaper printed a curse reportedly found in the tomb They who enter this sacred tomb shall swift be visited by wings of death There was no such curse but there was one inscription found on an Anubis shrine that stated It is I who hinder the sand from choking the secret chamber I am for the protection of the deceased This was correctly reported to the public but one reporter added his won words to the inscription and I will kill all those who cross this threshold into the sacred precincts of the Royal King who lives forever In addition newspapers appear to have arbitrarily killed off many of the people surrounding the tomb s discovery According to one list 26 people associated with the find died within a decade of its discovery In reality only six people died during this first decade while many others lived to an old age For example the curse should have laid squarely on the shoulders of Howard Carter himself but he lived another 17 years dying just prior to his 65th birthday Yet he had spent about a decade working in the tomb Others likewise lived long and fruitful lives The following table provides the names and information of others involved in the discovery NameDiedAgeFunctionComment Adamson Richard1980 81 Guard who slept in tomb Benedite Georges192669Louvre representativeDied of heat stroke Bethell Richard1929 Carter s personal secretaryDied in London Breasted James H 193570 Univ of Chicago archaeologist Bruyere Bernard1965 80 Burton Harry1939 PhotographerHighly involved in project Callender A R 1939 Assistant to CarterPresent at all tomb procedures Capart Jean194770Belgian Archaeologist Derry Douglas196987Cairo University anatomistAnalyzed Tut s mummy Engelbach Reginald 194658Cairo Museum Gardiner Sir Alan196384Philologist Handled all written material in tomb Hall Lindsley F 1939 DraftsmanPresent at all tomb procedures Hauser Walter1939 DraftsmanPresent at all tomb procedures Herbert Lady Evelyn 198078Daughter of Lord CarnarvonEntered tomb when opened Kuentz Charles1939 Lacau Pierre196592Egyptologist Intimately involved all operations Lefebvre Gustave195778Cairo Museum Lucas Alfred1950 79 Chemist for Egypt Government Lythgoe A M 193466Metropolitan Museum NYC Mace Arthur C 1928 Metropolitan Museum NYC Winlock Herbert E 195066Metropolitan Museum NYC Sheikh Hussein199787 Origins of the Mummy s Curse As many might believe the mummy s curse did not originate with the discovery of Tutankhamun s tomb One researcher Dominic Montserrat believes that the tale of the mummy s curse actually originates during the 1820s with an English author and a bizarre theatrical striptease act where state mummies were unwrapped The show which took place near London s Piccadilly Circus in 1821 seems to have inspired a little known novelist named Jane Loudon Webb to write a fantasy book called The Mummy This book was set in the 22nd century and featured an angry vengeful mummy who came back to life and threatened to strangle the books hero Then in 1828 a children s book called The Fruits of Enterprise was published that had mummies set afire by explorers who used them as torches to explore a mysterious Egyptian pyramid Of course the mummies were portrayed as looking particularly vengeful In 1869 the concept of the mummy s curse became clearer when Louisa May Alcott the author of Little Women wrote a short story called Lost in a Pyramid The Mummy s Curse In this tale an explorer again uses a mummy as a torch to brighten the interior of a pyramid He discovers some seeds in the pyramid and carries them back to America His fiancee decides to plant the seeds which then grow into grotesque flowers Upon their wedding she wares one of the flowers and inhales their scent sending her into a coma as she becomes a living mummy Other novelists also developed stories along the lines of the mummies curse both in England and America over the next 30 years Even as late as the 1970 s the curse seems to have remained active While the exhibits were on tour and in San Francisco one policeman guarding Tutankhamun s gold funerary mask claimed he had a mild stroke because of the curse A judge dismissed this claim but visits around today s internet still provide some wildly inventive information Some web sites allude to the fact that by 1969 only two members of the original excavation team had avoided the curse Of course being some 46 years after the tomb s discovery even the youngest professional members of the team would have probably been in their seventies or beyond But then again We are well aware that dead bodies have the capacity to spawn infections that can be very dangerous for the living It is very possible that ancient grave robbers entering tombs shortly after the pharaoh s death may have been exposed to diseases and thus died from their crimes This indeed could very likely have lead to an ancient belief in the mummy s curse In fact the ancient pharaohs went to great lengths to protect their tombs and would have probably been happily inclined to help spread such beliefs Today archaeologists wear protective gear when unwrapping mummies In 1999 Gotthard Kramer a German microbiologist from the University of Leipzip suggested that there might be some truth to the mummies curse Studying 40 different mummies he identified several potentially