Dr Zahi Hawass talks about some of his favourite artefacts from the Tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62), including the Golden Mask of King Tut, the External Trappings of the Mummy and the Golden Throne. He speaks of his fascination of the combination of different precious stones and gold incorporated into artefacts, and how Ancient Egyptian art was influenced by religion.
When Howard Carter said he spied “wondrous things” upon cracking open the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, he wasn’t joking. KV62 was filled with probably the most fantastic collection of ancient treasures ever discovered in one place – all from beautiful golden coffins, to giant statues, canopic shrines and a golden throne.
Submitted by Sean Williams on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 12:08
An alien necklace in King Tut's tomb? Too right, and it's no myth or quackery. A pectoral found during Howard Carter's 1922 expedition to the boy-king's funerary masterpiece is thought to contain the remnants of a meteor impact in the desert, thousands of years before the first stones were laid in Saqqara. The amazing story began 77 years after Carter's discovery, when Italian geologist noticed something odd about a yellow-green scarab in the pectoral's centre. Subsequent tests proved the lump of glass was older than any Egyptian civilization - a lot older, in fact.
During this time mummified cats were being used as votive offerings at temples. Sadly these “temple cats” often died a sad death. X-rays have suggested that their necks were broken while they were still in the kitten stage. This was done before being mummified and used as an offering.
There are currently two* 'explorer robots' active in Egypt: the Japanese robot researching the Osiris Shaft - it got as far as it could though, and a 'snake robot' might be needed to explore further - and the Leeds robot taking a more thorough look at the shafts in the the Great Pyramid of Cheops. Although the 'Leeds robot' just began the actual investigation of the secret doors last week, Dr. Hawass revealed at his lecture that on the 31th of July the Leeds team already had a major breakthrough. But that was all information Dr. Zahi was willing to share (except that they'll be taking a look at the other shafts also). No hint at what kind of 'major breakthrough' this could be, nor did he share any photographs, video or even just 3D sketches of the robot.
Submitted by Stephen Byrne on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 15:32
The King's magnificent gold deathmask is recognised the world over as the definitive icon of Ancient Egypt and the wonderful richness and dram of the tomb's treasures. The fact is that the mask was only one part of several nested layers of protection for the king, which included various beautiful external trappings found sewn into the mummy’s outermost linen bandages.
These fabulous trappings consist of eight golden mummy bands used instead of linen to hold the final layer of bandages in place, a pair of eerily life-like golden hands gripping a crook and flail, a scarab hung from a gold chain, and an exquisite pectoral in the shape of a human-headed bird.
Preserved and wrapped in layers of cloth, Katebet's mummy is fronted by a mummy-mask with a gilded face, elaborate earrings and real rings on its fingers. The scarab on her stomach would have been intended to give her magical protection when she came to be measured by the gods, while the shabti laid near her knees would have been designed to perform any hard physical work that Katebet was expected to undertake in the afterlife. Cat scans have enabled scholars to establish that Katebet was an old woman when she died, with only two of her teeth left. Unusually, her brain was not removed before she was mummified. Some of the objects placed around her may originally have been intended for Qenna.
This heart scarab has beautiful gold setting and a finely woven gold chain.
Heart scarabs, usually made of green-colored stone, were placed over the heart of the mummy. The heart was considered the home of the spirit and was left in the mummified body.
It is inscribed on the underside with with a spell from the "Book of the Dead, that exhorted the heart not to bear witness against the spirit during the judgment in the afterlife.
The stench is fierce from burning reeds. It pollutes the air around the jeweller, as do the clouds of smoke and the acrid stench of metal from the other forges in the house of jewellery. Drenched with sweat but ignoring the smell as best he could, the jeweller crouches on the packed earth in a simple cotton loincloth. He picks delicately at the metal with his tools, only looking up when a slave from a noble house runs in to speak to his master. "Is it ready?" The slave asks the overseer. "As you can see," the overseer indicates the crouching jeweller. "Not yet."
Class System
Unlike the noble who commissioned his work, the jeweller's position in ancient Egypt was a low one, the same social class as other kinds of smiths. Often depicted on tomb walls as dwarves, they were bound by a hierarchical caste system and got little credit for their creations, instead giving credit to the overseer of their jewellery house.
One of the treasures of the 
There are currently two* 'explorer robots' active in Egypt: the Japanese robot 
