- LONDON (Reuters) - King Tutankhamen's
infamous "curse of the mummy's tomb," supposed to have killed
off many of those involved in the opening of the pharaoh's tomb 80 years
ago was a myth, Australian researchers say.
-
- The British Medical Journal published a study on Friday
which found that, contrary to the legend that sprung up around Tutankhamen's
mummy, most of those present at its opening of his tomb in 1922 lived to
a ripe old age.
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- "(The myth) was almost certainly generated by rival
newspapers that were shut out of the find of the century when exclusive
rights were given to The Times of London," the study's author, Mark
Nelson of Monash University in Melbourne, told Reuters.
-
- According to archaeologist Howard Carter -- who led the
team that discovered the burial chamber -- 25 Westerners were present when
the tomb was opened. They found the pharaoh's mummy, complete with splendid
gold burial mask and a treasure trove of golden artifacts.
-
- The find made headlines around the world and sparked
a craze for all things Egyptian. But when Carter's sponsor Lord Carnarvon
died just weeks after the opening of the chamber, the legend of the curse
was born.
-
- Newspapers at the time reported that the tomb was engraved
with a curse promising that "death shall come on swift wings to him
who disturbs the peace of the king" although there is no record of
such an inscription being found.
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- The curse was blamed for a series of deaths -- many with
only the most tenuous links to the tomb -- including that of Carter's pet
canary which was reportedly swallowed by a cobra on the day of the opening.
-
- Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of fictional detective
Sherlock Holmes, said he believed an ancient curse was at work. Nelson
established dates of death for all of those exposed and found the average
age at death was a respectable 70 years. Carter himself lived well into
his 60s before dying of natural causes.
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- "I found there was no evidence that being present
at the opening of the tomb, sarcophagus, coffin or the unwrapping of the
mummy shortened a person's life," Nelson said.
-
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