DISCOVERING TUT: THE SAGA CONTINUES... - CBSE Class 11 English - Hornbill Book Chapter ( Questions and Answers)(#class11English)(#eduvictors)

DISCOVERING TUT: THE SAGA CONTINUES...

Questions and Answers

CBSE Class 11 English - Hornbill Book Chapter

Question 1: Why is 5th January2005 significant in Tutankhamun’s saga?

Answer: On this date, for the first time Tutankhamun's body was removed from his tomb and taken to a C.T. scanner brought there to probe the lingering

mysteries surrounding this young ruler.

Question 2: How was the atmosphere when Tut's body was taken for C.T. scan?

Answer: Violent wind raised ghost-like shapes of dust. Bulging clouds moved quickly across the desert sky and hid the stars in the grey sky.

Question 3: How did the visitors to Tut’s grave pay their respects to him?

Answer: They gazed at the murals on the walls and peered at Tut's gilded face. on his mummy-shaped outer coffin lid. Some visitors read from guide

book in a whisper. Others stood silently.

Question 4: What according to A.R. Williams were the thoughts of the visitors who stood silently near Tut’s grave?

Answer: Perhaps some of them were thinking deeply over Tut’s untimely death in his teens. Others might be trembling with fear and wondering if the Pharaoh’s curse was really true.

Question 5: What was Pharaoh's curse? Who refers to it and in what context?

Answer:  The pharaoh’s curse was that death or misfortune would fall upon those who disturbed him. The silent visitors are the first to refer to it.

Later on, a guard joked nervously when the million-dollar scanner stopped functioning because of sand in a cooling fan.

Question 6: “The mummy is in very bad condition because of what Carter did in the 1920s.” Who was Carter? What did he do to the mummy?

Answer: Howard Carter was a British archaeologist. He discovered Tut’s tomb in 1922 after many years of futile searching. Carter's men removed the mummy's head and cut off almost every major joint to remove the golden adornments.

Question 7: What problem did Carter face when he reached the mummy? How did he find a way out?

Answer: Carter found that the ritual resins had become quite hard. These had fixed Tut to the bottom of his solid gold coffin. The heat of the sun could not melt it. So the solid resins had to be chiselled away to free the King’s remains from the box.

Question 8: How did Carter defend his action of cutting the mummy free?

Answer: Carter said that if he hadn’t cut the mummy free, thieves would certainly have found a way of avoiding the guards. Then they would have tom apart everything forcibly to remove the gold.

Question 9: List some of the adornments and golden objects on Tut's body.

Answer: Precious collars, inlaid necklaces and bracelets, rings, amulets, a ceremonial apron, sandals, sheaths for fingers and toes and the inner coffin and mask. All of them were made of pure gold. His coffin was of solid gold.

Question 10: Why do you think the royals carried so much gold to the grave?

Answer: There were two reasons: first, the royals were extremely wealthy. Secondly, they thought or hoped that they could take their riches with them to the great beyond.

Question 11: What is so special about the contents of Tut's tomb?

Answer: Stunning artefacts in gold found in Tut’s tomb remain the richest royal collection ever found. These caused a sensation at the time of the discovery. Even now they get the most attention.

Question 12: Which evidence proves the burial of Tut in March or April?

Answer: Tut's shroud was found adorned with faded garlands of willow and olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals and cornflowers. Since some of them are available only at the end of the winter season, Tut must have been buried in March or April.

Question 13: How did Carter's men treat Tut's body while removing gold?

Answer: They removed the mummy's head and cut off every joint to remove the golden adornments. Then they reassembled the remains on a layer of sand in a wooden box and filled it with soft material to hide the damage caused by chiselling.

Question 14: What startling fact came to light in 1968 through X-ray?

Answer: In 1968, an anatomy Professor X-rayed the mummy. He revealed a startling fact. Tut's breast-bone and front ribs were missing beneath the resin that covers his chest with a thick layer.

Question 15: How can CT scan prove more effective than the X-ray?

Answer: In a CT scan, hundreds of X-rays in cross-section are put together like slices of bread to create a three-dimensional virtual body. X-ray provides only a two-dimensional image.

Question 16: Which two questions still linger about Tut?

Answer: Two questions still remain unanswered. The first is: “How did Tut die?’ The second one is, “How old was he at the time of death?”

Question 17: How has Archaeology undergone change in the twentieth century?

Answer: The change is in two ways: approach and techniques. Now Archaeology focuses less on treasure and more on the fascinating details of life and interesting mysteries of death. Secondly, it uses more sophisticated tools including medical technology.

Question 18: How was Tut's body carried to the C.T Scanner?

Answer: Workmen carried Tut from the tomb in his wooden box. They climbed a ramp and a flight of stairs in the sand outside. Then they rose on a hydraulic lift and went into the trailer that held the scanner.

Question 19: What snag did the million-dollar scanner develop? How was it set right?

Answer: The million-dollar scanner had stopped functioning because of sand in a cooling fan. Two men ran to an office nearby and brought a pair of white plastic fans. These substitute fans worked well enough for the scanner to work.

Question 20: Why do you think Zahi Hawass smiled and felt relieved?

Answer: Clear images of C.T. scan revealed that the head, neck vertebrae and ribcage were in proper order. Zahi Hawass smiled and felt relieved that nothing had gone seriously wrong. Evidently, the curse of the Pharaoh had not hindered the work of the technicians.

Question 21: How was the atmosphere when the CT scan of Tut was over?

Answer: It was nearly midnight. The wind that blew in the evening had now stopped. The dust storm and clouds had cleared off. The winter air lay cold and still. Just above the entrance to Tut's tomb stood Orion—the soul of Osiris, the god of the afterlife.

Question 22: The boy-king changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun. Give reasons.

Answer: He changed his name to Tutankhamun out of respect to God Amun. Tutankhamun means ‘living image of Amun.’

Question 23: Who was Amenhotep IV? Why is he described as ‘wacky’?

Answer: Amenhotep IV was the son of the King who succeeded the throne after his father. Akhenaten was ‘wacky’ because he moved the religious capital from the old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhenaten. It is now known as Amarna. He also attacked Amun, a major God, smashing his images and closing his temples.

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