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The Tomb |
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Fact 1 |
The Tomb of Tutankhamun (1334 BC
-1325 BC) is located in the Valley of the Kings on the West
Bank of Thebes (modern day Luxor) and has the reference of
KV62 |
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Fact 2 |
The tomb of King Tut was hastily
prepared due to the untimely death of the young pharaoh, it
is much smaller than the normal royal tombs consisting of
only 4 main chambers |
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Fact 3 |
The purpose of the tomb
of King Tut was as a dwelling place called The Eternal House of the
Dead. |
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Fact 4 |
The tomb was constructed in such
a way as to best promote the well-being, and ensure the preservation, of
the dead pharaoh and his Ka, Ba and Ahk. |
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Fact 5 |
The Ancient Egyptians
provided for their afterlives according to their
earthly means. When Tutankhamun died, his most most
precious possessions were locked into his tomb
to enable him to enjoy a wonderful existence in the
afterlife. |
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Fact 6 |
The number of artefacts
found in the Tomb of Tutankhamun numbered over 3500
and took Howard Carter 10 years to catalogue |
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Fact 7 |
The tomb of Tutankhamun was
discovered by the English Egyptologist Howard Carter
in November 1922 |
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Fact 8 |
Each wall of the tomb has a
specific theme. The East Wall depicts the Funeral
Procession, the West Wall contains text from the Amduat, the
South Wall depicts his arrival in the Underworld and the
North Wall of the tomb shows the arrival of Tutankhamun in
the Afterlife. |
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Fact 9 |
The tomb of Tutankhamun contained
four gilded shrines nested one inside the other in order of
decreasing size. The innermost shrine contained the red
quartzite sarcophagus of King Tut which protected three
anthropoid, or man-shaped, coffins. |
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Fact 10 |
The first two anthropoid coffins
were made of gilded wood but the final coffin was made of
solid gold. The solid gold coffin housed the mummy of King
Tut which was directly covered
by his fabulous golden death mask. |
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Fact 11 |
Royal death masks or burial masks such
as the fabulous golden mask of Tutankhamun, the boy King
Tut, were made of gold in the image of the deceased |
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Fact 12 |
The mask like many other objects in
the tomb is made of gold which is inlaid with semi-precious
stones, coloured glass paste and the eyes are made with
obsidian and quartz |
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Fact 13 |
The Treasure is made of priceless gold
and silver and encrusted with precious jewels |
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Fact 14 |
The 'Treasury' was guarded by the
magnificent statue of the god Anubis and contained jewel
chests containing priceless jewelry, model boats and the
golden shrine which contained the canopic jars which housed
the internal organs of King Tut. |
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Fact 15 |
Between the layers of bandages gold
amulets and jewelry were added to the mummy of Tutankhamun |
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Fact 16 |
No less than 143 separate items
were wrapped with the mummy of King Tut. |
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Fact 17 |
The mummy of Tutankhamun was laid
to rest in a priceless solid gold coffin |
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The Tomb |
