Standing in line to see the boy king

Last night Clint and I went to see the King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center. Clint had gotten an email from the UW Alumni group inviting him and a guest to come listen to a lecture giving by Prof. Donald Reid, and then a chance to buy discounted tickets to the exhibit afterwards. I didn't know much about King Tut besides what I learned from Steve Martin on SNL doing his King Tut skit, so getting a chance to hear from an expert was pretty cool.

Some things I learned from the lecture...

• Tutankhamun (King Tut) was only 10 years old when he became king
• He married his sister...
• The cause of his mysterious death at the age of 19 is still being debated
• Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered the tomb completely intact in 1922
• Carnarvon died from a mosquito bite just a few months later
• Had they found the tomb a year earlier, they would have had 50% ownership of all findings, but the laws changed that year and Egypt gained full ownership of what they discovered
• Egypt has been stingy on letting the artifacts tour the world for exhibits, and this will probably be the last one - they are using the money from this tour to build a Cairo museum where the artifacts will remain for good

After the lecture, we headed into the exhibit. This stuff is pretty fascinating. To think that it was all made 3,000 years ago and is still intact is amazing. Some even have traces of the original paint. The craftsmanship and detailing is so intricate, it's crazy to think how they made everything by hand.

toilet seat

kitty tomb, MOW!

Hard to tell, but this was one of my
favorites. About 10 feet tall and you
can still see traces of paint. It was one
of a pair that stood on either side of
the burial chamber entryway.

Unfortunately, King Tut's golden mask
doesn't go on tour anymore, too risky.
This is a similar mask from the mummy
of Psusennes I who was also royalty.

Where King Tut's stomach was held,
gross.

I recommend seeing the exhibit while it's here (till January), especially since it may be your only chance to see some of these things! We unfortunately felt rushed since we were racing to beat the parking meter, but still glad I got the opportunity to check it out.