Scientists may have finally solved the mystery of the supposed Curse of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb – more than 3,000 years after the boy-king’s death
Scientists may have finally solved the mystery of the supposed Curse of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb.
The ‘boy king’ who ruled what is now Egypt more than 3,000 years ago was worshipped as a God – and was just 18 or 19 years old when he died. His tomb, in the Valley of the Kings, was discovered by archaeologist Howard Carter and his financial backer Lord Carnarvon in 1922.
However, according to legend, the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs and the mummified remains they contain are protected by ancient curses.
Disturbing King Tut’s final resting place certainly seemed to bring bad luck, illness, and death to Carnarvon and Carter – as well as their friends, family, and colleagues.
READ MORE Ancient Egypt breakthrough as chamber discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb
Carnarvon died of blood poisoning – believed to have been caused by a mosquito bite – shortly after he raided Tut’s tomb. His half-brother also died from blood poisoning.
Carter, meanwhile, died 17 years later, in 1939, after a long battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. And other people involved in the excavation also died prematurely.
Egyptologist Arthur Weigall – who was King Tut’s tomb when it was opened – died of cancer, aged 54, in 1934. Carter’s secretary, Captain The Hon. Richard Bethell, was found dead in a Mayfair club, in 1929
Before that, Arthur Cruttenden Mace, who was a part of Howard Carter’s team, died in 1928 having suffered from pleurisy and pneumonia in his final years. And Sir Archibald Douglas-Reid – the radiologist at St Thomas’ Hospital in London who X-rayed Tut’s mummy – died from a mysterious illness, aged 53, in 1924.
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Spookily, the Pharaoh’s Curse – written on some Egyptian tombs – warned would-be tomb raiders they ” shall meet death by a disease that no doctor can diagnose”. Now, more than 3,000 years later, scientists may have finally solved the mystery of this curse.
An article published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Scientific Exploration proposes that blood cancers caused by radiation could have caused some of the deaths associated with the curse. And it further proposes that the ancient Egyptians deliberately harnessed radioactive materials to protect the tombs.
The article’s author Ross Fellowes writes: “A survey of modern-era field Egyptologists reveals a very high incidence of unusual deaths consistent with symptoms of haematopoietic cancer, a scenario that parallels radiation sickness caused by exposure to abnormally high radiation previously reported in ancient tombs.
“However, the high radiation in tombs is not explained by the ‘natural’ background, which is rare in limestone bedrock. Here, re-examination of Egyptian funerary literature reveals reference to saffron cake in portions of 2-3-5 (yellowcake U-235), giving power by means of an invisible ‘efflux’, and leaving a legacy of hazardous ‘excrements’ (wastes) which were buried in an underground ‘tomb’ called the per D’jet (house of millions of years).”
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Fellowes goes on to say: “These observations present evidence that, at a stage in ancient Egyptian history ca 3000-2500 BCE, there were vaults [bunkers] with features and residual effects (of radioactivity) indicating deliberate, organised burial of long-life nuclear wastes. No commentary is offered on the who, how, and why questions relating to the implied technology, which is outside the scope of this paper.
“This hypothesis is quite unorthodox and contrary to perceived views of ancient Egyptian history, but it is sufficiently supported to warrant further direct investigation.”
Fellowes also discusses the ‘magic burning power’ mentioned in some ancient Egyptian texts. He writes: “The ancient text of the Lamentations of Ipuwer recorded a time when – plague stalked the land; a burning power went forth; women, beasts, and crops were barren; we know not what happened; all goeth to ruin; mankind is destroyed. A few senseless people divulged the magic spells of the cursed inaccessible place, the secrets of the lords whose limits were unknown.”
“Memory of the ‘magic burning power’ was preserved in Egyptian language as the tꜣ-dsr (cleared, isolated) area surrounding the per D’jet underground storage vault, which passed down the generations into Arabic Haram el-Mastabat, the forbidden, prohibited tomb containing illahat evil spirits.”
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Sourse: www.express.co.uk
