Tutankhamun’s Tomb, Egypt

Ancient History Preliminary Assessment Task 2013 TRANSCRIPT: TUTANKHAMUN’S TOMB, EGYPT When archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, he remarked that it was â€Å"the day of days, the most wonderful that I have ever lived through, and certainly one whose like I can never hope to see again. † On that November day, not only had this man uncovered an unknown ancient Egyptian tomb, but one that had lain nearly undisturbed for over 3000 years whose remains laying within astounded the world.Previous excavations in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt by Theodore Davis had found and cleared the tombs of Tutankhamun’s family and their possessions. By 1913, Davis had not yet found an intact royal tomb and became disillusioned, finally declaring the area exhausted of By 1920, the tomb of nearly every New Kingdom king from between 1550 and 1070 BCE had been found in the Valley of the Kings, but Tutankhamun’s remained missing. Lord Carnarvon , an English aristocrat who was enthusiastic about Egyptology, applied for and purchased the license Davis gave up and chose Howard Carter, a British Egyptologist, to continue the search.Minor finds by Davis bearing Tutankhamun’s name led Carter to believe the king was still somewhere in the valley and felt the finds justified a further exploration. Between 1917 and 1921 the two worked in the eastern valley without success. Carter convinced Carnarvon to persist for another season, determined to find Tutankhamun. Carter’s team cleared bedrock using the grid system of archaeological excavation. This technique was developed in WWI for the purpose of maintaining a system that ensured stratigraphic control of excavations in trench digging and artillery barrages.Using these methods, on November 1st 1922 a staircase was uncovered in the limestone cliffs of the Valley of the Kings. The entrance door, which had a dry limestone blocking plastered with gypsum, was later uncovered to reveal Tutankhamun’s name. The entrance they excavated then led to an eight-metre-long corridor that revealed evidence of past robberies. Four small rooms flowed from the entrance and corridor, including an Antechamber, Annexe, Burial Chamber and Treasury. On November 6, Lord Carnarvon was summoned by telegraph and arrived with his daughter, Lady Evelyn Herbert, to watch the excavation process unfold.Compared to tombs of other pharaohs of the time, Tutankhamun’s tomb was small and lacked some of the more elaborate features – for example, tomb paintings and decoration were only found in the Burial Chamber room rather than all rooms. Due to Tutankhamun’s early death, a lack of time was left to prepare his tomb. One of the most remarkable divisions of Tutankhamun’s tomb was that he was the only pharaoh to have been discovered intact in his tomb with the complete burial furniture and possessions surrounding. These objects included gilded statues of Tutankhamun, gods, and family members,.Objects from the king’s daily life were also present such as clothes, furniture and sceptres. Funerary goods such as canopic jars containing the king’s entrails and hundreds of shabtis (which were small statues of people, intended to serve as slaves in the afterlife) were found, along with more personal items. Two miniature coffins containing mummies of stillborn babies were placed beside Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus. These were likely to have been his children by his half-sister and wife, Ankhsenamun, whom he married around the age of ten. It took Carter the most part of ten years to empty all the chambers.This was due to difficulties from a sudden change in protocol and access privileges from both British and Egyptian governments, affecting the excavation on the site and delaying the whole process. It was also due to the meticulous process Carter took in his excavation – each object was recorded, catalogued, describe d, and photographed in situ, before being preserved and conserved, then finally packed and transported to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The main archaeological find of the tomb however, was King Tutankhamun himself. Inside the burial chamber were four gilded shrines, one inside the other.The innermost shrine held a quartzite sarcophagus which in turn held three coffins. The innermost coffin made of solid gold contained the mummy of Tutankhamun, wrapped in linen and wearing his famous gold plated mask, inlaid with blue glaze and inscribed with religious spells. Although the body was found to be poorly preserved, Tutankhamun was notable for being the only Egyptian pharaoh found in situ, intact and unsealed since ancient times in his tomb. In 1925 the body was removed from the coffins with difficulty, due to the abundance of resin that had been poured over the mummy at the funeral.Carter and his team were forced to cut the body in order to remove it from the coffin. Four sessions of sc ientific analysis were conducted on Tutankhamun’s body over the years. These proved to ablaze many controversial issues and interpretations over Tutankhamun’s cause of death. The first inquiry was an autopsy which began after Carter’s excavation in 1925, carried out by Douglas E. Derry, a Professor of Anatomy at the Egyptian University in Cairo. Derry found Tutankhamun to have a fracture in his lower left thighbone, a large, ragged embalming wound, and estimated his age of death to be between 18 and 22 years.He also reconfirmed the body’s poor preservation, noting that the inner layers of linen were reduced to the ‘consistency of soot’, that an overload of resin destroyed the corpse, and that the nose was heavily flattened by the bandages. The second scientific analysis of the body was conducted by R. G. Harrison in 1968. With an x-ray the team concluded that two bone fragments in the skull and haemorrhaging may have been caused by a blow to the head, and that the body was missing a sternum and some frontal rib bones. This caused speculations about Tutankhamun’s death, some suggesting murder and others suggesting a fatal chariot accident.Examiners also noted that the spine showed signs of scoliosis. A further x-ray and blood analysis in 1978 was led by James E. Harris. It wrongly concluded that the king was perhaps 23 to 27 years old at death. A blood analysis supported the idea that Tutankhamun was related to the body of Akhenaten found in another tomb in the Valley of the Kings – suggesting it was Tutankhamun’s father. A final CT scan in 2005 was conducted to test the conclusions of previous inquiries and to look for additional details still undiscovered.Led by Dr Zahi Hawass, the scan confirmed the previous findings of the king’s height, health, general features and age of death at around 18-19 years. It also disproved the theory of scoliosis, relating the curvature of his spine instead th e way his body was arranged by the embalmers. 8MINSThe theory of murder by head trauma and death relating to the missing ribs was also ruled out and blamed on embalmers and/or Carter’s team, The leg trauma found in Tutankhamun’s lower left femur may have introduced infection which may have been fatal.This theory however remains unproven. Facial reconstruction of King Tutankhamun was also commenced using the new CT scan data in 2005. A forensic anthropologist calculated sizes of tissue on his face. A cast was then made of the skull from this data which was used to build a latex model. When the CT scan data and skull cast was given to another forensic team for checking, the skin colour proved to be somewhat controversial in interpretation. Controversies occurred as it is impossible to determine skin colour accurately.This is because there is a large variation on skin tones in the area, and not enough accurate information available as Ancient Egyptian art depicted bodies in unrealistic colours. Thus, no consensus on the King’s skin tone was reached, however the overall results between the different reconstructions was similar. At the time of discovery, very little was known about this ancient pharaoh. Thanks to the efforts put into many investigations over the years and, in particular, the 1923 ‘Curse of King Tut’ phenomena that was spread through media following the untimely death of Lord Carnarvon, knowledge and interest of Tutankhamun has skyrocketed.Tutankhamun’s legacy remains to this day and he continues to stand across the globe as one of the most well-known Egyptian pharaohs in history. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Carter, H. , Mace, A. C. , The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen: Discovered by the Late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter, Volume 1 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1923), 94. [ 2 ]. N. Reeves, The Complete Tu tankhamun, Thames & Hudson, 1990, pp. 116-17

Evaluate the Usefulness of a Range of Criteria Available for Measuring

Development is ‘the use of resources and the application of available technology in order to bring about an increased standard of living within a country'. *1 There are variations in the economic development of different countries; this has lead to the formation of the ‘Development Gap'. In 1980, the Brandt Report divided the world into rich (North) and poor (South) sectors and found that in developing countries more than 800 million are impoverished and 17 million die needlessly before they are five years old. 25 per cent of the world's population live in the north but consume 80 per cent of all the goods made. Over the years there has been a wide range of criteria used for measuring development. These measures have included GNP which is used when looking at the wealth of a country and GNP per capita which looks at the wealth of a country when divided by the number of people. There are specific measures, for example number of people per doctor, adult literacy, food intake and birth & death rates. These are useful measures when looking at specific areas of development but are too specific when dealing with development as a whole. HDI is also used to bridge the gap between GNP and the other specific measures. It is made up by using a range of data. This report will investigate which measures are the most useful at giving a true and fair view of how fast development is taking place in a sample of countries and the reasons for this. The countries used (as shown on appendix 2: a world map) were selected by choosing every seventh country from appendix 1, The World: Social and Economic Statistics) *1 Source: Letts, A2 in a week: Geography. Analysis The Gross National Product (GNP) of a country is one of the most recognisable measures of development. It is an estimate of the value of the countries production and measures the value of goods and services provided in a country, plus the balance of income from abroad. Until it is split by the population of the country (creating GNP per capita) GNP it is not an accurate measure of development. This is because one country with 7 million people could have the same output as a poorer country with 700 million people. HDI was devised by the United Nations and ranks all countries, taking into account their national income, life expectancy, adult literacy and year's people spend in education, which in themselves could be used as measures of development. It is a measure of national human progress. It is measured on a scale of between 0 and 1 with the more developed countries near 1 and the least developed countries nearer 0. Food Intake is the average number of calories a person consumes per day. The more developed a country is the more calories are person is likely to intake, as food is more readily available. Adult Literacy is the percentage of males and females that are unable to read or write a simple sentence. Again, the more developed a country is the lower this figure will be. In more developed countries there tend to be more doctors per a smaller section of society, so health care tends to be better, this could lengthen life expectancy of a country. The semi-log graph shows that countries with a high GNP per capita tend to have a low doctors per population figure but for those countries with a low GNP there is no pattern for doctors per population, with Burkina Faso having a GNP of US$ 180 and having 34804 people per doctor where as the Gambia has a GNP per capita of US$ 320 but Gambians have 1400 people per doctor. The only apparent anomaly on this graph was for the data for Mozambique that has a GNP of US$ 2000 and 36225 people per doctor. In relation to Togo, they have fewer doctors per person but a higher GNP. This could have been because in 1975 the government, nationalized health services and so doctors that were practicing for profit may have stopped practicing as they did not want to practice in a nationalized health service. In 1985 Mozambique, was effected by drought leading to a loss of 25% of all grain produced, leading to mass starvation, so people with specialist qualifications such as doctors may have found employment in other countries in order to keep their families from starving. This is likely to have been similar in 1991 when the country was affected by drought again. The Gambia The Gambia is a LEDC in West Africa. The Gambia has a GNP of US$ 354 million, this is extremely low when compared to US$ 1094734 million but when split between the 1.2 million inhabitants equaling a GNP per capital of US$ 320 million, where as Britain's GNP per capita when split between its 268 million inhabitants is US$ 18700 million, so Gambia's GNP per Capita is relatively very low as well. The Gambia's GNP is split, 1.8% spent on health (Britain sends 2.5 times this amount on health care), 2.7% spent on education (half of what Britain spends) and 3.8% spent on the military (which is 0.7% more than Britain, but of a smaller figure so Britain is spending more money on its military, just a lesser percentage). Gambians take in approximately 2360 calories per day and have 1400 people per doctor. This compares to 3732 calories per day and 421 people per doctor in Britain. In the 1980's there was a sudden drop in the production of agricultural exports due to several severe drought. This led to an increase in unemployment, migration to the capital and an increase in foreign dept to import food. In 1993 agriculture and tourism was hit by the consequences of the European economic crisis. The Gambia's trade with Senegal was also damaged when the Central Bank of Western African States decided to stop financing trade. The economy is now improving due to a developing tourist industry with new hotels being built to capitalize on the European tourist. Cuba Cuba has a GNP of US$ 13700 million but with a population of 11.3 million its GNP per capita is US$ 1250 million. Although Cuba has a higher GNP than Gambia, it also has a larger population to share it between, although Cuba's GNP per capita is still high. Cuba's GNP until 1990 relied on highly upon the former Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries and so with the fall of communism, Cuba's GNP will have fallen. Its 1994 Cuba's HDI position was 0.723, this in relation to The Gambia is high because the Gambia's HDI is only 0.281, but in comparison to Sweden Cuba has a low HDI as Sweden's HDI is 0.936; while Cuba's population food intake (in calories per day) is 2833. There are 275 people per doctor; this could be because Cuba spends 7.9% of its GNP on health services. In the 1960's the Cuban government, under their leader Castro, ran campaigns to free Cuba of illiteracy and improve health services and by 1964 the illiteracy campaign was complete and Cuba was free of illiteracy. Cuba could remain free of illiteracy today because they spend 6.6% of their GNP on education. The military budget will have been gradually reduced over recent years after the threat from the United States of America had subsided after the Cold Was finished, and now only 2.8% of the GNP is spent on the military. Now Cuba is been advertised as a tourist destination, this will help to raise their GNP as there will be more money coming into the country, which can then go into services such as health, benefiting the whole of the country. Ethiopia Ethiopia (an LEDC in Africa) has a GNP of US$ 5722 million, this figure is lower than that for Cuba but higher than that for the Gambia (another LEDC in Africa) and a GNP per capita of US$ 100 million when split between the 58.5 million inhabitants. The Gross National Product has been split 1.1% on health, 6.4% on education and 2.1% on their military. Ethiopians take in approximately 1610 calories per day, this shows that many people in Ethiopia suffer from malnutrition. There are 32499 people per doctor, which is very high compared to Cuba, which only has 275 people per doctor; this is possibly because not much of the GNP is spent on health care. In 1984 Ethiopia was badly affected by drought and famine, this had started 2 years earlier and caused hundreds of thousands of people to die from starvation. It also caused the crops for those years to fail and so there was nothing to sell causing GNP to fall dramatically. In the late 80's Ethiopia was involved in a civil war that consumed more than 60% of Ethiopia's national budget and agriculture was still slumping. United States With a GNP of US$ 7100007 million, the United States of America has the largest GNP of all countries (22187 that of The Gambia's) but when split between its 268 million nationals its GNP per capita equates to US$ 26980 million, this is lower than that of Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Japan. This GNP is then split down into 14.3% on health services, 5.5% on education and 3.8% on its military forces. The US has a HDI rating of 0.942 and the American people consume 3732 calories per day, which is the most after Ireland and Cyprus. American's have 421 people per doctor, which is double the number of people per doctor in Austria. A high GNP could be as a result of American Transnational companies which spread around the world in the post Second World War period. In 1991, 15% of the US population lived below the poverty line. Those most affected were those citizens from African and Latin American origins. In January 1994, the US joined with Mexico and Canada to form The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which reduced trade with Europe as Americans found it cheaper to buy and sell to Canada and Mexico. Tourism is the biggest industry in the US but after the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001, visitor numbers fell dramatically, having a significant effect on the American economy as people were scared to travel in case of reprisals. More recently, visitor numbers have fallen as a result of the conflict in Iraq as people feared more terrorist attacks to revenge the invasion of Iraq.

A Critique of Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy

A Critique of Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy Essay A Critique of Gone to Soldiers by Marge PiercyA Critique of Gone to Soldiers by Marge PiercyThe novel Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy intricately weaves the livesof many different people into a connected series of individual plots that givethe reader an exciting view of life during World War II. Piercy connects thelives of women and men, Jews and gentiles by using family ties and steamy loveaffairs. The people have dramatically different profiles, some are rich someare poor, some are Americans, some are French, some are with power while othersare persecuted, but everyone is connected by the war. War freed women byallowing them to work in factories and defy their husbands by hiding resistingFrench Jews. Piercy makes history exciting by making each character reallyexperience love and hate and the mundane daily struggles of the individual. I completely enjoyed Gone to Soldiers, because several main charactersprevented me from getting bored and kept me reading to find out what was goingto happen to each person next. I really enjoyed the profile of Louise Kahan afemale Jewish American writer, because she is independent and strong willed. Anexample of her strength and belief in herself Louise did not instantly return toher ex-husband Oscar even though they both still loved each other, because shewas strong enough to resist him and his womanizing ways. Piercy gave me a muchbetter understanding of the cultural and social issues of the World War two era. I learned about the little struggles of working American women, such as theunavailability of stockings and societys negative attitude towards womenwearing pants. These issues were ones that I had never thought about before. It amazes me that only fifty years ago a woman could not wear pants to work. Ruthies friend was sent home to change for wearing loose fitting red pantsbecause they were considered racy. It is equally surprising to me that womenstill have to wear hose with our skirts or be deemed inappropriate. I do notunderstand how society has completely changed from a white male society into amuch more diverse culture and still expect women to wear uncomfortable hose. Piercy made complete sense throughout the entire book and most importantly shekept my attention. Piercys point of view was biased favorably towards AmericanJews. I enjoyed the book because it kept my attention on the individual livesof people in the midst of war instead of the battles fought during the war. Ialso liked the complicated weave of lives into one story like a patchwork quilt. In conclusion, I enjoyed Marge Piercys novel Gone to Soldiers, becauseit kept my attention with realistic descriptions of people with whom I began toreally understand their feelings and thoughts. Other students should read thisbook if they like historical fiction, because it is so captivating. Piercy usesthe individual as a piece of the whole picture, important but not the entiretyof the work which makes this book so intriguing.

Evaluate the contributions of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois to the Harlem Essay

Evaluate the contributions of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois to the Harlem Renaissance - Essay Example Following his call for racial pride, a movement called the United Negro Improvement Association was formed, turning most Blacks into adopting the socialist and communist social practices (Gifford 2). The movement preceded a united front of African Americans from all social and economic points unwilling to settle for further oppressions. This rebellion received unprecedented publishing job opportunities among the African Americans. Activists like W. E. B. Du Bois used this opportunities to influence and motivate the people into racial consciousness and pride. Harlem Renaissance’s artistic output had two ideologies; one presented by Du Bois and others who saw artistic art as a platform where talented African Americans could lead in the fight for equality (Gifford 4). Du Bois contributed heavily towards the organization of the Niagara Movement, an assembly of black leaders opposed to the Washingtons leadership and was committed to fighting for civil equality for African Americans. This movement, however, never achieved a firm institutional foundation except for that it signaled a new black assertiveness and contributing directly to the establishment of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Du Bois moved to New York City where he took office as the director of publicity for NAACP his role being to edit its monthly journal, ‘The Crisis’ (Gifford 3). Organized economic and political movements helped the Harlem Renaissance by creating a new sense of power (Gifford 4). In his work The New Negro, Du Bois exudes a sense of social pride that was the theme in the Harlem Renaissance. Du Bois emphasizes the need for a united race in conquering discrimination. Using his artistic wits and social privileges, Du Bois provided a liberating step in the search for Africa American cultural identity and on their terms. Using Negro Art, he argued that

Comparitive Paper on Ways of Knowing and The Serpent and the Rainbow Essay

Comparitive Paper on Ways of Knowing and The Serpent and the Rainbow - Essay Example Even though outwardly appearing to follow the Christian identity accorded to them by the Euro-Canadian people, they have kept their traditions alive. Jean-Guy Goulet in her book presents her understanding of the social life in the form of a certain practices that are still alive and relevant today to the identity of the Dene Tha’ of Chateh. The concept of unseen reality holds a significant place in the way the Dene Tha view their knowledge. They interact with the dead through ‘dreams’ or ‘visions’. The soul is believed to travel outside the body of the dreamer to visit ‘the other land’. This journey is treated the same way as when a Dene Tha’ travels and meets what would be ‘a real person’ to us and ‘a person living in this land’ to them. â€Å"The Dene Tha differentiate between ndahdigeh, "our land," and echuhdigeh, "the other land," and their respective inhabitants, but they do not do so in the way Euro-North Americans may oppose the natural and the supernatural, the field of science on the one hand and the field of mysticism, magic, and religion on the other. The other land, also referred to as yake, "heaven," is experienced firsthand in dreams or in visions when the soul journeys away from the body. It is in the other land that one meets relatives who have passed away as well as Christian figures such as Mary and Jesus. Dene Tha Elders easily follow an account of a trip to a nearby town with a story of a journey to the other land. To the nearby town in our land they traveled by car. To the other land they traveled with their souls. In both cases they visit actual places and meet real, living people.† (Goulet, 1998) They treat the knowledge gained through these experiences the same way they would treat knowledge gained through encounters with living people. It is treated as experiential learning, a primary source, a direct evidence of truth. This is evident

Comparison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparison - Essay Example Virtue ethics written by Aristotle emphasize that a person is deemed to be of an upright character if the choice he or she makes or if his or her actions display a morally virtuous character. This implies that for a person to develop the right moral virtues, he or she must mull over his or her thoughts, feelings and attitudes. Confucian ethics, on the other hand, are defined as kinds of virtues. Some people have described them as the virtues of virtues. This is because they are the virtues that are in a much defined and detailed manner. Confucius expounded on the virtue ethics, adding his own principles and integrating them with the religious views of the Chinese people. Confucian ethics mostly focus on humanity of a person. This is where he explains the need for compassion among human beings, good heartedness, and altruism. Confucian ethics also focus on the morality of a person, which he describes as righteousness. Since the Confucian ethics are not bound by any law, he also articu lates the fact that morality comes by reason and differentiating between what is good and what is wrong. In the Confucian ethics of humanity, the ethics have a characteristic of placing human beings before property. Confucius elaborates clearly that humans are to be more valued than property such as horses. He focuses on the generosity on fellow humans but not on property. The virtue ethics, on the other hand, describe a moral person as one who will treat all things within his reach with care and concern. Virtue ethics are meant to change person’s overall character traits, not only towards humans but also towards other things, as long as they are of importance to him or her (Shun and Wong 23). One more difference that comes out in analyzing Confucian and virtue ethics is that virtue ethics consider a person as being responsible both to himself and to the community. The Confucian ethics, however, give a different view concerning the duty to the community. Confucius points out that a person’s self and his or her family should come before the community. In his definition of virtue ethics, however, Aristotle emphasizes that good morals shape persons’ character traits, thus helping them make the right decisions. And, in turn, these decisions will affect the community as a whole. Value of the comparison Looking at the above comparison, one understands that virtue ethics help us in decision-making. According to Aristotle, it is virtue ethics that shape our thinking and our emotions, thus determining the decisions that we make (Carden 20). Virtue ethics, when well applied, also assist us in solving difficult life situations. When a person is faced with difficulties in life, he or she is able to solve them having other people in mind, so that his or her decisions do not affect the community negatively. In this case, I would say that the comparison is important, since, unlike what the Confucian ethics say, the community is of great importance to our thinking. The same applies to our property. In my opinion, we should also have our properties at the back of our minds when we are making any decisions. Confucian ethics, on the other hand, guide us in our relationships with our fellow human beings. By applying the ethics of humanity and compassion, human beings are able to co-relate well with each other. Thus, by combining the two

Risk Factor Handout Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Risk Factor Handout - Essay Example Main family risk factors for gang membership include the family structure (e.g., broken home), family poverty, child abuse or neglect, gang membership of family members (Howell, 2003 as cited in Wyrick and Howell, 2004), sibling antisocial behavior, and parental attitudes favoring violence (Hill et al., 2001). Poor family management, including poor parental supervision (monitoring) and control of children, is also a risk factor of gang membership (Hill et al., 1999 as cited in Wyrick and Howell, 2004; Le Blanc and Lanctot, 1998 as cited in Wyrick and Howell, 2004; Thornberry, 1998 as cited in Wyrick and Howell, 2004; Thornberry et al., 2003 as cited in Wyrick and Howell, 2004). One of the most influential school-related risk factors for gang membership is low achievement in school, especially at the elementary level (Hill et al., 1999 as cited in Wyrick and Howell, 2004; Le Blanc and Lanctot, 1998 as cited in Wyrick and Howell, 2004; Thornberry et al., 2003 as cited in Wyrick and Howell, 2004).