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 "Discovering Tutankhamun", at Oxford University's Ashmolean
Museum until Nov. 2, takes visitors through the drama of how
Howard Carter found a step leading down into the sand in the
Valley of the Kings to the opening of the tomb and the
painstaking unwrapping of the king's mummified body.
Along the way, the exhibition places the discovery in the
political context of Egypt's struggle for independence, looks at
the cultural impact that turned Tutankhamun into something of a
Hollywood star and at the origins of the legend of "the
pharoah's curse".
Unlike some previous Tutankhamun exhibitions, the Ashmolean show
does not include masses of gold treasures - many of those items
never leave Egypt.
At the core of "Discovering Tutankhamun" are photographs,
drawings and other records from the university's Griffith
Institute, marking its 75th anniversary this year, of the
thousands of artifacts jumbled in the tomb.
"Our initial thought was to mark the moment just by showing some
examples from their most famous archive, the Carter archive,"
said Paul Collins, who curated the exhibition with Liam
McNamara. "But then we thought there were many other stories we
could tell, and the great story is the process of surveying the
tomb of Tutankhamun and its impact on the wider world and our
understanding of Egypt."
Tutankhamun died, of causes still disputed, in about 1322 B.C.
at around 18, having reigned for nine years. He lived in
turbulent times and many of the monuments he left behind were
usurped by his successors. So why does he have such a hold on
the imagination?
Collins thinks it is partly due to when the tomb was found.
World War One was over, economies were picking up and
international travel was growing. Mass media fought to cover the
story and it was the heyday of Hollywood.
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"King Tut" inspired fashion and furnishings, included in the
exhibition, based on motifs from the tomb, novels, films and even a
song called "Old King Tut was a wise old nut".
"It's the first time you get fashion and tourism coming together,
and Tutankhamun becomes in a sense a Hollywood star," Collins said.
For Egyptian nationalists, who won nominal independence from Britain
in 1922, Tutankhamun became a symbol of national identity. Political
disagreement over access to the tomb meant Carter had to stop work
for a year.
The opening of the tomb also gave rise to tales of the "pharaoh's
curse" - a myth fed by the death in 1923 from blood poisoning, after
he cut himself shaving, of Lord Carnarvon, who had bankrolled the
work.
For all the focus on Tutankhamun, areas of his life and death remain
a mystery. Much work remains for scholars. Collins said that only 30
percent of the contents of the tomb had been studied in detail.
(Editing by Michael Roddy and Larry King)
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