Tutankhamun's Tomb and the Curse of the Pharaohs
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Centuries before the birth of Christ, the Ancient Egyptians built their mysterious pyramids in the Valley of the Kings and, so some believe, harnessed forces beyond our understanding to do so. Constructed as burial chambers with clear intentions for the occupant's passing on to the 'next life', they contained only the bodies of royalty and high nobility.
Between around 1539 BC and 1075 BC around 63 tombs were created here, either as pyramids or cut directly into the solid limestone. Most of them consist of a long, descending corridor cut deep into the rock, ending in the burial chamber itself, which would have been decorated with icons and sacred items and lined with ornate carvings and paintings from the Book of Gates or other religious texts addressing travel through the boundaries of different worlds. Useful equipment for the next life was also included, and the sarcophagus was positioned at the centre.
Full archaeological and Egyptological exploration of the tombs began in the 18th century, but the possibility of the presence of a curse on the tombs was not publicised until 1922, the year of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter and his team.
The first death was that of Lord Carnarvon, who contracted blood poisoning from an infected mosquito bite while at the excavation site in 1923. George Jay Gould I died in the same year from fever after visiting the tomb, and six others died soon after of various sudden and unexpected causes. All were directly involved in the excavation and examination of the tomb's contents and although 18 others were present at the initial investigation and survived, the morbid fear of the curse persisted.
The curse itself was believed to take its rapid and deadly effect on anyone who disturbed the grave of an Egyptian pharaoh, and a number of theories have been offered up to explain the high death rate at the tombs in the Valley of Kings. One of the most popular is that the ancient Egyptians introduced deadly fungal spores to the tombs before closing them, so that grave robbers would be punished with death. Another is that pathenogenic bacteria, mould and dangerous gases can build up in sealed tombs over long periods of time and can result in instant or at least speedy deaths in those who come into direct contact with them.
However, the idea that the deaths of the tomb-disturbing archaeologists are due to a supernatural curse still abounds, perhaps partly due to the local legends which still circulate.
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