The most interesting mummies (17 photos). The curse of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Reanimated mummy of Ramses II Mummies of Egyptian pharaohs

Among the members of the expedition and their entourage, there was a wave of deaths that followed the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Shortly after the results of the excavations were announced in the press, a major industrial businessman in England, Joel Wolfe, went to Egypt to inspect the treasury of all times.

He forced Carter, who was in charge of the expedition, to give him permission to inspect the burial vault. He spent almost the whole day in it, and when he returned to the hotel, he suddenly died. The symptoms were the same: chills, high fever, loss of reason and quick death.

Who's next for the curse?

The roentgenoscopy of the mummy extracted from the golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamen was entrusted to Archibald Juglas Reed. His work was carried out flawlessly and deserved high praise from experts. But as soon as he arrived at home, he felt a sharp attack of nausea, weakness, and after two hours of delirium he died.

For several years, one by one, all the members of the expedition who excavated and extracted treasures from the tomb, and those who were involved in the study of the mummy of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, died. Only 22 people. For all of them, death was equally unpredictable and fleeting. The curse of the pharaoh did not spare doctors, linguists, historians of world renown: La Flor, Callender, Winlock, Astori ...

A few years later, in 1929, the widow of Carnarvon died according to the conclusion of doctors “from a mosquito bite”. Carter's assistant Richard Batella, a young, healthy man, had a heart failure. Egypt was in a panic. The story of the curse of the pharaoh went all over Europe. Following them, the brother of the lord and the nurse who was present at the death of the patron died. People passed away who were in no way related to the archaeological discovery and had never been to. Carter calmly met reports of their deaths.

An inveterate bachelor, he worried only about the participation of his pet, who shared with him his Cairo living space - a nightingale. On the day when Carter's colleague and prominent scientist Richard Batell died of an incurable and unknown disease, the archaeologist did not find his bird in the cage. He noticed only the scales of a silver snake hurriedly crawling out the window. He regretted his friend for a long time and did not take in any way the message that Batell had died due to blockage of the vessels of the lungs. Carter, on the other hand, turned out to be the only long-liver who was not touched by the curse of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

The mummy of Ramses II came to life!

After the incident with Batell, turmoil began in Cairo. People were frightened by an unknown disease that spares no one. The employees of the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, where the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses II was transported in 1886, also knew about these rumors.

The evening was hot. Stuffiness has accumulated in the hall with a collection of sarcophagi of the National Museum of Antiquities. After sunset, electric lights were turned on in the building. And then the unthinkable happened. From the sarcophagus, where the mummy of the Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt Ramses II was kept, a lingering sound was emitted. The hinges of the tomb creaked. And then those present saw a picture from which everyone shuddered. The mouth of the king's mummy was distorted by an inaudible scream. The body trembled, the embalming bandages burst, and the arms crossed over the chest straightened, striking the glass lid of the sarcophagus with force. The pieces scattered in all directions. People in a panic rushed to the stairs, one of the guests jumped through the window.

In the morning press, all the circumstances of this shocking event were discussed with gusto. However, the Ministry of Antiquities, in its comments, indicated that in fact the explanation for such a strange “mummy behavior” is quite simple. With the accumulation of people in the hall, unbearable stuffiness and humidity were created. And the mummy should be kept in the dry air of a cool tomb.

Whatever it was with the climatic conditions, but the mummy froze, turning its head in a northerly direction - towards the Valley of the Kings. The broken glass was soon replaced. Hands swaddled as before in a cruciform state. However, the face of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt remained turned to the north.

Doctors have solved the mystery of the curse of the pharaohs

35 years after the death of an English philanthropist who financed the excavations in the Valley of the Kings, and thanks to which the tomb of Tutankhamen became known to the world, scientists managed to find out what caused his sudden death. And the death of several members of the expedition and people close to them. Joffrey Dean, chief medical officer at Port Elizabeth Hospital in South Africa, found a virus - a fungus that caused patients to experience symptoms: dizziness, weakness, loss of reason.

Any animal, including bats, could spread pathogens. It was they who were the permanent inhabitants of the chambers of the pharaoh of ancient Egypt. This disease is transmitted by the respiratory route, so the nurse of Lord Carnarvon soon suffered the same fate.

Conclusion on the cause of death of the expedition members

In 1962, after the announcement of the result of research on pathogenic bacteria by Dr. Dean, physician Ezzeddin Taha from the University of Cairo called a special meeting. It was dedicated to his discovery of the secret of the curse of Pharaoh Tutankhamen. For a long time, Dr. Taha monitored the health of archaeologists and staff members of the Egyptian Museum who worked with the mummy. In their lungs, he found the presence of microscopic fungi Aspergillus niger, which for a long time remained closed in pyramids and tombs. The scientist concluded that now you can quite safely go in search of new treasures, since there is a vaccine against these pathogenic bacteria.

Perhaps science would have known the true causes of the death of Lord Carnarvon and the members of the team, if he himself had not suffered the same fate: the curse killed Taha.

Desert road in the middle of the sands between Cairo and Suez. A car passing by here is a rarity. No road markings, signs, sharp turns and descents. Dr. Taha, traveling with two co-workers, took this road to Suez. There was an accident on the road, they crashed with a limousine: all three died on the spot, the passengers and the driver of the other car were not injured. At autopsy, an embolism was found in the airways of a physician - a rupture of the vessels of the respiratory tract ...

Video about ancient Egypt. Curse of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Some people live after death. Swamps, deserts, permafrost present scientists with surprises and sometimes keep bodies unchanged for many centuries. We will talk about the most interesting finds that amaze not only with their appearance and age, but also with tragic destinies.

Loulan beauty 3800 years old

In the vicinity of the Tarim River and the Taklamakan Desert - in places where the Great Silk Road ran - over the past quarter century, archaeologists have found more than 300 mummies of white people. Tarim mummies are distinguished by their tall stature, blond or red hair, blue eyes, which is not typical for the Chinese.

According to different versions of scientists, these could be both Europeans and our ancestors from Southern Siberia - representatives of the Afanasiev and Andronovo cultures. The oldest mummy was perfectly preserved and was named the Loulan beauty: this young woman of model height (180 cm) with neat braids of linen hair lay in the sands for 3800 years.

She was found in the vicinity of Loulan in 1980, a 50-year-old man of two meters in height and a three-month-old child were buried nearby with an ancient "bottle" made of cow horn and a nipple made of sheep's udder. Tamir mummies well preserved due to the arid desert climate and the presence of salts.

Princess Ukok 2500 years old

In 1993, Novosibirsk archaeologists, who were exploring the Ak-Alakha mound on the Ukok plateau, discovered the mummy of a girl about 25 years old. The body lay on its side, legs bent. The clothes of the deceased are well preserved: a shirt made of Chinese silk, a woolen skirt, a fur coat and stockings-boots made of felt.

The appearance of the mummy testified to the peculiar fashion of those times: a horsehair wig was put on a shaved bald head, arms and shoulders were covered with numerous tattoos. In particular, a fantastic deer with a griffin's beak and ibex's horns, a sacred Altai symbol, was depicted on the left shoulder.

All signs indicated that the burial belonged to the Scythian Pazyryk culture, common in Altai 2500 years ago. The local population demands to bury the girl, whom the Altaians call Ak-Kadyn (White Lady), and journalists call the Princess of Ukok.

They argue that the mummy guarded the "mouth of the earth" - the entrance to the underworld, which now, when it is in the Anokhin National Museum, remains open, and it is for this reason that natural disasters have occurred in the Altai Mountains in the past two decades. According to the latest research by Siberian scientists, Princess Ukok died of breast cancer.

Man from Tollund over 2300 years old

In 1950, the inhabitants of the Danish village of Tollund mined peat in a swamp and, at a depth of 2.5 m, found the corpse of a man with traces of violent death. The corpse looked fresh, and the Danes immediately reported to the police. However, the police had already heard about the swamp people (the bodies of ancient people were repeatedly found on the peat bogs of Northern Europe) and turned to scientists.

Soon the man from Tollund (as he was later called) was brought in a wooden box to the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. The study revealed that this 40-year-old man, 162 cm tall, lived in the 4th century BC. e. and died of suffocation. Not only his head survived perfectly, but also his internal organs: liver, lungs, heart and brain.

Now the head of the mummy is exhibited in the city museum of Silkeborg with the body of a mannequin (its own has not been preserved): on the face you can see the stubble and the smallest wrinkles. This is the best preserved man from the Iron Age: he looks like he did not die, but fell asleep. In total, more than 1,000 ancient people have been discovered in the peat bogs of Europe.

Ice Maiden 500 years

In 1999, on the border of Argentina and Chile, the body of a teenage girl from the Inca tribe was found in the ice of the Lullaillaco volcano at an altitude of 6706 m - she looked as if she had died a couple of weeks ago. Scientists have established that this girl, 13-15 years old, who was called the Ice Maiden, was killed by a blunt blow to the head half a millennium ago, becoming the victim of a religious rite.

Due to the low temperature, her body and hair were perfectly preserved along with clothes and cult objects - bowls of food, statuettes made of gold and silver, and an unusual headdress made of white feathers of an unknown bird were found nearby. The bodies of two more Inca victims, a girl and a boy aged 6–7, were also found.

During the study, scientists found that children were prepared for a cult for a long time, fed with elite products (llama meat and maize), stuffed with cocaine and alcohol. According to historians, the Incas chose the most beautiful children for rituals. Doctors diagnosed the Ice Maiden with the initial stage of tuberculosis. The mummies of Inca children are on display at the Museum of Highland Archeology in Salta, Argentina.

Petrified miner circa 360 years old

In 1719, Swedish miners discovered the body of their colleague deep in a mine in the city of Falun. The young man looked like he had recently died, but none of the miners could identify him. A lot of onlookers came to look at the deceased, and in the end the corpse was identified: an elderly woman bitterly recognized him as her fiancé - Mats Israelsson, who went missing 42 years ago (!).

In the open air, the corpse became hard as a stone - such properties were given to it by vitriol, which soaked the body and clothes of the miner. The miners did not know what to do with the find: whether to consider it a mineral and give it to the museum or bury it as a person. As a result, the Petrified Miner was put on display, but over time began to deteriorate and decompose due to the evaporation of vitriol.

In 1749, Mats Israelsson was buried in the church, but in the 1860s, during the repair of the miner, they dug up again and showed the public for another 70 years. Only in 1930 did the petrified miner finally find peace in the church cemetery in Falun. The fate of the failed groom and his bride formed the basis of Hoffmann's story "Falun Mines".

Conqueror of the Arctic 189 years

In 1845, an expedition led by polar explorer John Franklin set off on two ships to the northern coast of Canada to explore the Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

All 129 people disappeared without a trace. During search operations in 1850, three graves were discovered on Beechey Island. When they were finally opened and the ice melted (this happened only in 1981), it turned out that the bodies were perfectly preserved due to the conditions of permafrost.

A photograph of one of the deceased - British stoker John Torrington, originally from Manchester - flew around all publications in the early 1980s and inspired James Taylor to write the song The Frozen Man. Scientists have established that the stoker died of pneumonia aggravated by lead poisoning.

Sleeping Beauty 96 years old

In Palermo, Sicily, there is one of the most famous exhibitions of mummies - the catacombs of the Capuchins. Here, since 1599, the Italian elite were buried: the clergy, aristocracy, politicians. They rest in the form of skeletons, mummies and embalmed bodies - more than 8,000 dead in total. The last to be buried was a girl, Rosalia Lombardo.

She died of pneumonia in 1920, seven days short of her second birthday. The heartbroken father asked the famous embalmer Alfredo Salafia to save her body from decay. Almost a hundred years later, the girl, like a sleeping beauty, lies with her eyes slightly open in the chapel of St. Rosalia. Scientists recognize that this is one of the best ways to embalm.

Although the image of the mummy in the human imagination is invariably associated with ancient Egypt, mummified remains can be found in ancient and modern cultures around the world. Some mummies survive to this day due to environmental influences, while others are the result of human intervention. From ancient animals to sad victims, here you will learn about mummies that, despite their age, are perfectly preserved to this day.

Pharaoh Ramesses II, who ruled from 1279-1213 BC, is considered one of the most powerful rulers of Ancient Egypt. In ancient times, the body of Ramesses was reburied 5 times because of grave robbers. In modern times, in 1974, scientists discovered that the pharaoh's mummy quickly deteriorates. Then it was sent to France for examination and restoration. For a visit to another country, a modern passport of Ramesses was needed, therefore, during the creation of the document, in the column "occupation" they indicated "king (deceased)". At the Paris airport, the mummy of the pharaoh was met with all military honors due to the visit of the head of state.

A well-preserved human body was discovered in 1952 in a peat bog in Denmark. Judging by the cut throat, he was killed and then thrown into the swamp. According to analyzes, the man died around 290 BC. e. The Groboll Man is considered "one of the most impressive discoveries from early Danish history" as the mummy is one of the best-preserved bog bodies in the world.

An amazingly well-preserved mummy of a hunting dog that probably belonged to the pharaoh's family. When the dog died, it was buried in a specially prepared tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

Buried with a dog (previous photo), the baboon keeps a little secret that helps identify it as a pet. The X-ray revealed missing fangs, the absence of which may indicate human surgery to prevent the animal from biting hard.

Human leg mummy found in a peat bog in 1944. Often, farmers find in such swamps well-preserved fragments of organic origin, the age of which can exceed thousands of years. This is due to the fact that the environment of peat bogs slows down the growth of bacteria, which is why the bodies of organic origin, immersed in such bogs, are practically not destroyed.

The gazelle of the queen of ancient Egypt was mummified and buried with the same generous care as a member of the royal family. The animal was buried around 945 BC.

This mummy was found in Lima, Peru. After death, the Incas embalmed some of the bodies of the dead or wrapped them in cloth. And the arid climate contributed to the mummification of bodies.

Pharaoh Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for almost 22 years. While Hatshepsut's tomb was discovered in 1903, her mummy was only identified in 2006. This discovery was declared "the most important in the Valley of the Kings after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun."

The mummified remains of two-year-old Rosalia Lombardo have survived to this day almost unchanged. The girl died of pneumonia in 1920 - her father was so worried about the death of his daughter that he turned to the famous embalmer, Dr. Alfredo Salafia, with a request to save Rosalia's body from decomposition. Only in the 2000s did the first signs of decomposition of the mummy begin to appear, so the body was transferred to a drier place and enclosed in a glass container filled with nitrogen.

A mummy is a body of a living creature specially treated with a chemical substance, in which the process of tissue decomposition slows down. Mummies are stored for hundreds and even thousands of years, carrying the history of our ancestors, their customs and appearance. On the one hand, mummies look terribly scary, sometimes goosebumps run from one glance, on the other hand, they keep an interesting history of the ancient world. We have compiled a list of 13 creepiest and most interesting mummies ever discovered in the world:

13. Guanajuato Mummies Museum, Mexico

The Guanajuato Mummies Museum in Mexico is one of the strangest and most terrible in the world, with about 111 mummies (59 of which are on display) that died between 1850 and 1950. The distorted facial expressions on some of the mummies indicate that they were buried alive. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the museum every year.

12. Baby mummy in Qilakitsoq, Greenland

Another example of a living burial is a 6-month-old boy found in Greenland. Nearby, 3 more mummies of women were found, perhaps one of them is the boy's mother, with whom he was buried alive (according to the Eskimo customs of that time). The mummies are dated 1460. Thanks to the icy climate of Greenland, the clothes of that time are well preserved. In total, 78 pieces of clothing made from the skins of animals, such as seals and deer, were found. There were small tattoos on the faces of adults, but the face of a child is just terrible!

11. Rosalia Lombardo, Italy

Little Rosalia was only 2 years old when she died of pneumonia in 1920 in Palermo (Sicily). The saddened father instructed the famous embalmer Alfred Salafia to mummify the body of Rosalia Lombardo.

10. Mummy with a painted face, Egypt

When we think about mummies, the first thing that comes to mind is Egypt. Many films have been made featuring these surviving corpses, which, bandaged in bandages, come back to life, attacking civilians. The photo shows one of the typical representatives of mummies (the exhibit is on display at the British Museum).

9. Christian Friedrich von Kalbutz, Germany

The photo shows the German knight Christian, an aura of mystery surrounds this terrible look of the mummy.

8. Ramses II, Egypt

The mummy shown in the photo belongs to Pharaoh Ramses II (Ramses the Great), who died in 1213 BC. and is one of the most famous Egyptian pharaohs. It is believed that he was the ruler of Egypt during the campaign of Moses and is represented as such in many works of art. One of the distinguishing features of the mummy is the presence of red hair, symbolizing the connection with the god Set, the patron saint of royal power.

7. Skrydstrup woman, Denmark

Mummy of a woman 18-19 years old, buried in Denmark in 1300 BC. From her clothes and jewelry, it can be assumed that she belonged to the family of the leader. The girl was buried in an oak coffin, so her body and clothes are surprisingly well preserved.

6. Ginger, Egypt

The mummy of Ginger “Ginger” is an Egyptian mummy of an adult male who died over 5,000 years ago and was buried in the sand in the desert (at that time the Egyptians had not yet started mummification of corpses).

5. Man Gallah, Ireland

This strange kind of mummy, known as the Gallagh Man, was discovered in a swamp in Ireland in 1821. The man was buried in a swamp wearing a cloak with a fragment of a willow branch around his neck. Some researchers believe he may have been strangled.

4. Man Rendsvuren, Germany

The Rendswühren swamp man, like Gallach the swamp man, was found in a swamp, this time in Germany in 1871. The man was 40-50 years old, it is believed that he was beaten to death, the body was found in the 19th century.

3. Seti I - the pharaoh of ancient Egypt

Seti I ruled 1290-1279 B.C. The pharaoh's mummy was buried in an Egyptian tomb. The Egyptians were skilled embalmers, so we can see their work in our time.

2. Princess Ukok, Altai

Ancient Egypt is probably the most famous civilization of the ancient world. The people who lived on the banks of the Nile a thousand years BC had their own distinctive pantheon of gods and a rich culture. In the philistine consciousness, the mummies of the pharaohs are most associated with Ancient Egypt, which attract interest with their mystery and belonging to the cult of death.

The meaning of mummification

The ancient Egyptians believed that after death, a person goes to the afterlife. Therefore, the bodies of the richest and most influential residents of the country were necessarily mummified after death. This was done with pharaohs, high priests, aristocrats. The process of processing a corpse was full of various subtleties that were known only in ancient Egypt.

The superstitious inhabitants of the African country believed that the mummies of the pharaohs help their owners to freely go to the afterlife. In the mass consciousness, there was a strong opinion that the rulers were of divine origin, this made their connection with supernatural phenomena even closer. The mummies of the pharaohs were buried in special tombs - pyramids. This style of architecture was a unique Egyptian invention that was an unprecedented innovation in the ancient world. Neither in the Mediterranean nor in Mesopotamia was anything like this built then. The most famous are the pyramids of Giza.

Mummification process

Mummification was considered the lot of the elite, but in fact it could be bought if a person wanted to ensure a peaceful stay in the afterlife, and also if he had enough money for this. But there were procedures available only to the pharaohs and their family members. For example, only their organs were placed in special vessels (canopies). For this, the body of the deceased was cut in a special way. The holes were filled with oil, which was drained after a few days. The masters who were engaged in mummification were privileged members of society. They knew the science of embalming, which was inaccessible to others. Over the centuries of the existence of the Egyptian civilization, these secrets did not become known to other peoples, such as the Sumerians.

Organs in vessels were kept next to the mummy's sarcophagus. The secrets of the pharaohs were buried with their bodies. All personal belongings were placed in the tomb, which, according to the religious conviction of the ancient Egyptians, also regularly served their owners in the other world. The same was with the organs that were supposed to return to the pharaohs when they find themselves on the other side of being.

Mummy Processing

The treated body was subjected to drying, which could last up to 40 days. The procedure allowed him to survive for many years. In order for the body not to lose its shape from natural processes, it was filled with a special solution, which also contained sodium. The necessary substances were obtained by embalmers on the banks of the Nile, which was the sacred river of all civilization.

The mummies of the pharaohs of Egypt were also treated by cosmetologists and hairdressers. At the last stage, the body was covered with a special oil made from wax, resin and other natural ingredients. Finally, the corpse was wrapped in bandages and placed in a sarcophagus, where a mask was put on it. In total, the mummification process took about 70 days and included the work of a dozen people. The secret craft was taught by the priests of the cult. It was impossible to disclose it. Those who broke the law faced the death penalty.

Valley of the Kings

Together with the mummy, all the property of the deceased was also buried in the tomb: jewelry, furniture, gold, as well as chariots, which in general were a symbol of belonging to the main social stratum. Members of the same family, as a rule, had their own tomb, which became the family crypt. Archaeologists find several mummies in such pyramids. There were sacred places where especially many pyramids were built. They were in southern Egypt. This is the Valley of the Kings, as well as the Valley of the Queens. Representatives of several dynasties that ruled the ancient state found their rest here.

There was the city of Thebes. It is in its place that the famous Valley of the Kings is located. This is a vast necropolis, which kept many of the mummies of the pharaohs. The valley was discovered almost by accident by the brothers-scientists Rasuls during their expedition in 1871. Since then, the work of archaeologists has not stopped here for a single day.

Cheops

One of the most famous is the mummy He ruled Egypt in the 26th century BC. e. His figure was known to ancient historians, including Herodotus. This fact alone indicates that this pharaoh was indeed great even in comparison with his predecessors and successors, because the names of many pharaohs were not preserved at all in any historical source.

Cheops was a despot who severely punished his subjects for any oversight. He was merciless towards his enemies. Such a character was habitual for whose power, as contemporaries believed, came from the gods, which gave the pharaohs carte blanche to any whims. At the same time, the people did not try to resist. Cheops also became known for fighting in the Sinai Peninsula against the Bedouins.

The Pyramid of Cheops

But the greatest achievement of this pharaoh is precisely the pyramid that was built for his own mummy. The rulers of Egypt were preparing for their death in advance. Already during the life of the pharaoh, the construction of his pyramid began, where he was supposed to find eternal rest. Cheops was no exception to this rule.

However, his pyramid struck with its size all contemporaries and distant descendants. It was included in the list of 7 ancient wonders of the world and remains the only monument from this list that has survived to this day.

Cult complex in Giza

The lost mummy of an Egyptian pharaoh was kept inside a huge labyrinth of corridors inside a 137-meter-high structure. This figure was beaten only at the end of the 19th century, when the Eiffel Tower appeared in Paris. Cheops himself chose the place of his tomb. They became a plateau on the territory of the modern city of Giza. In his era, it was the northern edge of the cemetery of ancient Memphis - the capital of Egypt.

Together with the pyramid, a monumental sculpture of the Great Sphinx was created, which is known to the whole world as well as the pyramid itself. Cheops expected that over time a whole complex of ritual structures dedicated to his dynasty would appear on this site.

Ramses II

Another great pharaoh of Egypt was Ramses II. He ruled for almost his entire long life (1279-1213 BC). His name went down in history thanks to a series of military campaigns against neighbors. The conflict with the Hittites is best known. Ramses built a lot during his lifetime. He founded several cities, most of which were named after him.

It was the ruler who changed and transformed Ancient Egypt. The mummies of the pharaohs were often hunted by grave diggers. The tomb of Ramses II was no exception. The priests of Egypt ensured that the royal necropolises remained untouched. While the ancient civilization still existed, the body of this ruler was reburied several times. First, the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses was placed in the crypt of his own father. It is not known exactly when it was plundered, but in the end the priests found a new place for the body. They became a carefully hidden cache that belonged to Pharaoh Herihor. Mummies from other tombs robbed by robbers were also placed there. These were the bodies of Thutmose III and Ramses III.

Fight against grave robbers

The cache was discovered only in the 19th century. It was first found by Arab grave robbers. It was a lucrative business in those days, as the African sands still contained many treasures that sold for a good price on European ones. As a rule, robbers are interested in treasures and gems, and not in the mummies of the pharaohs of Egypt. Photos of ruined graves confirm this trend.

However, already in the 19th century, the Egyptian authorities created a special ministry that monitored the illegal trade in antiquities. Soon the source of the jewels was discovered. So in 1881, the untouched mummy of Ramses fell into the hands of scientists. Since then, it has been kept in various museums. Studying it, researchers around the world are still getting new information about mummification. In 1975, the remains were subjected to a unique modern conservation procedure that allowed the surviving artifact of the past to be preserved.

Such a case is an extreme stroke of luck for the scientific community. As a rule, when a new tomb is discovered, there is nothing left in it, including mummies. The secrets of the pharaohs and their riches have attracted adventurers and merchants for centuries.

Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun's mummy is best known in popular culture. This pharaoh ruled at a young age from 1332 to 1323 BC. e. He died at the age of 20. During his lifetime, he did not stand out in a series of his predecessors and successors. His name became known due to the fact that his tomb was not touched by ancient marauders.

Modern scientific studies of the mummy made it possible to study in detail the circumstances of the death of the young man. Prior to this, it was widely believed that Tutankhamun was forcibly killed by his regent. However, this is not confirmed by the mummy of the pharaoh of Egypt itself. The pyramid in which it was kept was full of bottles of malaria medicine. Modern DNA analysis has not ruled out the version that the young man had a serious illness, due to which he died prematurely.

When a team of archaeologists discovered the crypt in 1922, it was full of all sorts of unique artifacts. It was the tomb of Tutankhamen that allowed modern science to recreate the environment in which the mummies of the pharaohs of Egypt were buried. Photos of the tomb immediately penetrated the Western press and became a sensation.

Curse of the pharaohs

Even more hype around the tomb of Tutankhamen began when Lord George Carnavon, who had funded the study of the distant find, died unexpectedly. The Englishman died in a Cairo hotel shortly after the ancient tomb was opened. The press immediately picked up this story. Soon there were new dead associated with the archaeological expedition. Rumors spread in the press that there was a curse that fell on the heads of those who entered the tomb.

A popular view was the idea that the pharaoh's mummy was the source of the evil. Photos of the dead were included in widely circulated obituaries. Over time, denials emerged that debunked the myth of the curse. Nevertheless, the legend has become a popular subject in Western culture. In the 20th century, several feature films were made dedicated to the curse.

To a large extent, it was thanks to them that the theme of Ancient Egypt gained popularity among the general public. Any news in which this or that mummy appears has become known. The tomb of the pharaohs, which would be whole and intact, has not been found since the discovery of Tutankhamun.