Mummies concludes by focusing on a tour of several twentieth century excavation projects, examining some of the most elaborate and informative artifacts from the ancient world. It tracks the discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamen early this century and the more recent excavation of Ramses’ burial site.

Part 4

The Part 4 describes the work of contemporary archeologists and their decades-long search for clues about the ancient world.

It is recommended for high school students.

• Egyptology
• artifact
• concession
• excavation
• heresy
• hieroglyphs
• literate
• mausoleum
• perpetuate
• sarcophagus
• theology

1. Why do contemporary scholars consider the discovery of King Tutankhamen’s tomb significant?

2. What was Howard Carter’s strategy for uncovering another burial site? Which clues led him to believe Tutankhamen’s tomb remained unearthed?

3. How did archeologists learn about tutankhamen’s life? What clues did they find in his tomb? Why, according to scholarly speculation, was the design of his tomb unlike that of other pharaohs?

4. What were King Tutankhamen’s achievements? Even though he died at age nineteen, was his reign significant to ancient Egyptian history?

5. Describe the day to day work of a field archeologist. What tools do archeologists use?

6. What was the curse of King Tutankhamen? Why might contemporaries have believed it?

7. Why did it take several years to excavate the tombs of Tutankhamen and Ramses?

8. Why is KU5 considered an important discovery? What has its excavation added to our knowledge of ancient Egypt?

9. Why were the tombs of pharaohs like Tutankhmen and Ramses so lavishly adorned? What did the ancients hope to gain by placing statues, food, jewelry, even ships, in the pharaoh’s tomb?

10. The narrator concludes the documentary by commenting that in ancient Egypt “abstract ideas molded the real world.” What does he mean by that?

1. Choose one or two of the artifacts found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb and describe and analyze the artifact. Explain what it tells us about Tutankhamen’s life and about ancient Egyptian culture.

2. Write a journal entry for Howard Carter, describing what he saw and what he felt as he entered King Tutankhamen’s tomb for the first time.

3. Make a diagram of KU5, detailing the series of inner chambers and pathways within the tomb and marking the sites surrounding the pyramid.

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Air Dates

• May 13, 2004