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Essay / The discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 - 539
The discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 attracted the attention of the world. The tomb of the ancient Pharaoh is the only known discovery that is in its original state. The thieves did not rob the tomb (Sayre, 2011). According to Rompalske (2000), the tomb of King Tutankhamun was discovered in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Nearby burial sites have long been pillaged by grave robbers or damaged by floodwaters. Somehow the tomb remained intact for 3,000 years. This intact condition is significant because the world only knew what a pharaoh's tomb should contain from ancient writings. The world has never seen the contents of a pharaoh's tomb intact. Additionally, just as the tomb was discovered and before breaking down the sealed door, an old British romantic novelist Marie Corelli, who specialized in the supernatural, wrote an ominous warning, a "Mama's Curse", that anyone should he introduced into a sealed tomb will suffer or die (Marchant, 2013). The recipient of Corelli's warning is the famous British archaeologist Howard Carter and his financier George Herbert, a very wealthy fifth Earl of Carnarvon. The intent of this report is to identify the mystery surrounding the curse and dispel or validate its accuracy. Mystery of the curse. The mystery of the curse began about a month after Howard Carter, and Lord Carnarvon broke down the inner door of the tomb. Lord Carnarvon contracted a mosquito bite on his cheek, fell ill and subsequently died. Immediately, people thought his death was the result of the mummy's curse. According to Marchant (2013), The Mummy's Curse was already a popular story, but the death of Lord Carnarvon and Corelli's chance prediction turned it into a worldwide frenzy. Additionally, according to Handwerk (2005), it is possible that Carnarvon's death was due to exposure to ancient toxic pathogens. Egyptian tombs contain not only mummified bodies, but also food for the dead in the afterlife. Jennifer Wagner, an Egyptologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, believes that these foods attract not only insects, but also mold, bacteria that can be toxic and deadly. Analysis of the mystery. According to laboratory studies, ancient mummies certainly carry mold (Handwerk, 2005). There are at least two deadly types of mold; Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus.