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Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues Extra Questions and Answers Class 11 English Hornbill
Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues Extra Questions and Answers Short Answer Type
Question 1.
Who was Howard Carter? What was his discovery?
Answer:
Howard Carter was the British archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Egypt’s boy pharaoh Tutankhanum in 1922.
Question 2.
What were the various methods employed by Howard Carter in 1922 to separate Tut from his coffins?
Answer:
Tut’s mummy was put in the scorching desert sun by Carter in order to soften the resins which had fixed the body to the coffin. When this failed, he cut the body into pieces to bring it out of the coffin.
Question 3.
What problem did Carter face when he reached the mummy of King Tut? How did he find a way out?
Answer:
King Tut’s mummy was stuck to the bottom of the coffin because the resins had melted and hardened Carter decided to chisel the hardened resin from beneath the mummy.
Question 4.
Why was King Tut?s coffin put in hot sun?
Answer:
The resins used in the funeral rites of King Tut had dried and hardened and the body was stuck to the coffin’s base. Carter ordered the coffin to be put in the sun hoping to melt and loosen the resins. Even with 149 degrees Fahrenheit, the resins did not soften.
Question 5.
Carter had to take a drastic decision regarding the mummy. What was it? How did he justify it?
Answer:
The hard decision that carter had to take was to chisel away the hardened resins from under Tut’s body. This could damage the skeleton. The workers had to remove Tut’s head and sever nearly all the joints. Carter’s justification was that if he hadn’t cut the mummy free, thieves would have ripped it apart to get the gold.
Question 6.
Why did king lilt’s mummy have to undergo CT scan?
Answer:
Tut’s body was scanned to get clues about his life and death. There has been speculation about the manner of his death. Since he was only nineteen years old natural death was unlikely. Murder was a possibility.
Question 7.
How was king Hit’s mummy scanned by the portable CT scanner?
Answer:
King Tut’s mummy was scanned on 5 January 2005. It was a historic archaeological event. The mummy was brought out of the burial chamber at 6 p.m. for about three hours and a CT scan was carried out.
Question 8.
Why was Hit’s mummy scanned after so many years?
Answer:
CT scan is a technological advancement used by modern archaeologists. It takes hundreds of X-rays to create a virtual body. CT scan was done on Tut’s body to solve the mysteries of the manner of his death and of his age at the time of his death.
Question 9.
“King Tut’s body had been subjected to repeated scrutiny”. Why?
Answer:
King Tut’s body and burial chamber were found intact. The archaeologists hoped to discover many truths about King Tut and Egypt of his time. Therefore, they investigated them repeatedly.
Question 10.
Why was Hitankhamun’s body buried with gilded treasures and precious things?
Answer:
Because the Egyptians believed King Tut would need those things in his life after death.
Question 11.
List some adornments on Tut’s body. Why had the adornments been buried along with the body?
Answer:
Stunning gold objects of great beauty like precious collars, inlaid necklaces, bracelets, rings, amulet, all things needed by the King in his afterlife, board games, linen undergarments, cases of food and drink. Egyptians believed that the king would need these articles in his life after death.
Question 12.
What were the contents of ‘the richest royal collection ever found’?
Answer:
Stunning gold objects of great beauty like precious collars, inlaid necklaces, bracelets, rings, amulets, all things needed by the King in his afterlife, board games, linen undergarments, cases of food and drink.
Question 13.
What did the CT Scan of Hit’s mummy reveal?
Answer:
The CT scan revealed a scattering of pixels as the technician spun and tilted the scanner. It revealed a grey head, the neck vertebrae, a hand, several views of his rib cage and a transection of the skull.
Question 14.
What were the funerary treasures found in the pharaoh’s tomb?
Answer:
Three nested coffins, shroud with garlands of willow and olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals and cornflowers show that the burial took place in March or April. Golden artefacts and things of every-day use were kept in the burial chamber.
Question 15.
Describe the interior of King Hit’s rock cut tomb.
Answer:
The interior of the rock-cut tomb which was 26 feet underground was lined with murals on the walls of the burial chamber. The outer coffin lid was mummy-shaped and the top cover consisted of a gilded face of King Tut.
Question 16.
Why did the boy king change his name from Thtankhaten to Thtankhamun?
Answer:
Tutankhamun means the living image of Amun. Tut took this name because he wanted to restore the old ways which had been changed by his father.
Question 17.
Why has Amenhotep IV reign been described as one of the strangest periods in ‘the history of ancient Egypt’?
Answer:
Amenhotep IV promoted the worship of Aten, the sun disk, and attacked Amun, a major god, smashing his images and closing his temples. He also shifted the religious capital from the old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhnaten, known as Amarna.
Question 18.
What do you know about the reign of King Hit?
Answer:
Tut ascended after Smenkhkare. Tut was very young. He called himself Tutankhamun. He restored old ways, and ruled for 9 years. He died suddenly.
Question 19.
Explain the statement, “King Tut… in death as in life, moving regally ahead of his countrymen”.
Answer:
In life, a great king. In death, also a leader, because his was the first mummy to be scanned. In life he restored old ways, old religion.
Question 20.
What advancements have taken place in archaeology since 1922?
Answer:
Since 1922, the focus of architecture has changed from focusing less on the treasure to more on the fascinating details of life and the mysteries of death. These advances also use more sophisticated tools, including medical technology.
Question 21.
Describe how the CT scan of King Hit’s mummy was carried out on 5th January 2005.
Answer:
The purpose of the scan was to probe the lingering medical mysteries about Tut’s death. The scanner would make images of Tut’s body using thousands of X-ray pictures to create a three-dimensional virtual body. It could answer two very important questions—How did he die? How old was he when he died?
Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer Type
Question 1.
Do you think Carter was justified in removing the hardened ritual resin deposits on Hit’s mummy? Why/ Why not?
Answer:
Carter was investigating the tomb of King Tut in 1922. Amazingly, the tomb’s contents were in fact in spite of having been ransacked in antiquity. Carter found king Tut’s Mummy in three nested coffins, the most important find of all. To Carter’s dismay he found he could not study the mummy as it was stuck to the bottom of the coffin due the hardening of the funerary raisins Carter tried ‘legitimate force’ but could not dislodge the mummy from its these in the coffin.
So he cut the mummy in several parts, removed its head and severed almost all the joints. Carter’s action was highly condemnable as he nearly destroyed the mummy. His defence was that if not be robbers and vandals would have done the same. Historians, however, have not forgiven Carter for this disfigurement.
Question 2.
“The mummy is in very bad condition because of what Carter did in the 1920s,” said Zahi Hawaas, the expert on Egyptian antiquity. How far is the statement true? Discuss.
Answer:
The above statement is partially true. Carter easily opened two of the three nested coffins and established the time of burial by the presence of lotus petals and dried cornflowers. In the third coffin, the ritual resins had hardened, cementing the body to the bottom of the coffin.Placing the coffin in 149 degrees temperature was of no avail. Thus Carter cut the mummy free.
To separate Tut from the ornaments he was covered with, Carter’s men severed the head and every major joint. They had reassembled them on a layer of sand and laid it back in a padded box, concealing the damage. Had thieves reached there ahead of Carter, they would have circumvented the guards and ripped apart the mummy to take away the gold. Also, archaeology in those times lacked sophisticated tools. Thus Carter’s actions were dictated by circumstances and not willful destruction.
Question 3.
Who was King Tut? What do you know about him?
Answer:
King Tut was the last heir of a powerful family that ruled Egypt for centuries. His funeral was the death rattle of a dynasty. Though his death remains a mystery, his funeral, even by royal standards, was a big event. His father or grandfather Amenhotep III was a powerful ruler, the son, King Amenhotep IV was an eccentric personality who initiated one of the strangest periods of Egyptian history.
After his death, a mysterious ruler Smenkhkare, succeeded him, but exited without a trace. I Tutankhamen succeeded him, while still a boy. He changed his name to Tutankhamen,the living image of Amun. Tutankhamen restored the old ways. He reigned for nine years and died suddenly. He was buried with fabulous wealth in gold and jewellery. His tomb was first discovered by Howard Carter, a British archaeologist. His mummy is the first to be scanned by a portable CT Scanning machine donated by the National Geographic Society.
Question 4.
Imagine you are Howard Carter. You were fortunate to find King Tut’s tomb intact. Describe what you saw in the burial chamber. Describe King Hit’s coffins and their contents.
Answer:
I have searched for many years and today my search has come to a fruitful end. I have found the tomb of King Tut. The year 1922 has become historic in archaeology. The burial chamber is small, rock cut and 26 feet underground and has murals on the wall. King Tut’s outer coffin shows his features in a gilded and painted face. There are three nesting coffins. In the first, I found a shroud adorned with garlands of spring flowers. The innermost coffin contained the body of King Tut wearing gold collars, inlaid necklaces and bracelets, rings, amulets, a ceremonial apron, sandals, sheaths for his fingers and toes of pure gold and a painted mask of great beauty. Besides, in the burial chamber, there are articles of everyday needs like board games, a bronze razor, linen undergarments and cases of food and wine.
Question 5.
Discuss the suitability of the title, ‘Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues’.
Answer:
The title is appropriate for describing the attempts to discover the truth about King Tut. The tomb had been raided in the remote past, but had remained largely intact till it was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter. King Tut had died young. The reason of his death remains a mystery even today. The possibility of murder has not been ruled out. Therefore, continuous efforts go on to unravel the mystery. In 1922, Carter had cut the mummy into pieces to remove it from its coffins. He had carefully examined the funerary treasures buried with King Tut.
Sophisticated tools of archaeology including medical technology have been used since the 20th century to unravel King Tut’s mystery. In 1968, the mummy was X-rayed. In 2005, the mummy was brought out from its deep burial chamber for CT scan. The focus now is not on the treasures but on Tut’s life and his mysterious death. In the coming years, the attempt to discover the whole truth about Tut will continue.
Question 6.
‘Archaeology has changed substantially in the intervening (since Carter’s time) decades.’ We find that science is helping the cause of culture. Write an article in 100 words showing that science can help in investigating and preserving history.
Answer:
(Choose your points)
There is great need to investigate the historical facts of our race and bring them to the notice of people.
- Scientific methods of investigation are X-ray, carbon dating, satellite imaging, etc.
- Under sea excavations in Dwarka have shown the remains of a great civilisation.
- Scientific methods preserve paintings as on the walls of Ajanta.
- Museums preserve works of art against decay.
Conclusion : Stephen. J. Gould-American paleontologist says, “Science is an integral part of culture It is one of the glories of human intellectual tradition.
Question 7.
Egypt is a popular tourist destination of people from all parts of the world, “…tourists around the world… pay their respect” to King Tut. India too has many wonders that attract tourists. But our habits and behaviour drive the tourist away. Write an article in about 100 words showing that we must make the tourist feel happy to be in India. For that we need to curb our irritating habits first.
Answer:
Tourism is very important for a country like India. It can be an important contributor to our foreign exchange earnings. We have abundant natural, historical and artistic sites; what we lack is a culture that would welcome tourists. (pick any three of these) Tourists are irritated by :
- dirt and filth
- guides and shopkeepers who pester foreigners
- poor quality of our products
- attempt to cheat foreigners
- beggars
- lack of punctuality/efficiency
- unhygenically prepared food
- lack of tourist facilities