Egypt Uses Science to Dispel Pharaonic Curse

Reuters ^ | Sep 12, 2003 | Tom Perry

[Spruce]

Egypt Uses Science to Dispel Pharaonic Curse
Fri September 12, 2003 02:41 AM ET
By Tom Perry

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will use science to dispel the curse of the pharaohs, which popular myth blames for the deaths of those who have opened the tombs of Egypt's ancient rulers, Egypt's antiquities chief said.

Zahi Hawass told Reuters a study would examine unexcavated tombs for dangerous substances, gases or germs, to explain the curse, whose fame spread in the 1920s following the death of a British aristocrat who entered King Tutankhamun's tomb.

"At one of my excavations ... I found inscriptions telling us 'If anyone would touch my tomb he would be eaten by a crocodile, a hippo and a lion.' It doesn't mean that this will actually happen," Hawass said in an interview this week.

"Scientifically we want to ... show when the Egyptians put a curse inscription on a tomb they did not mean they could hurt anyone today who opened the tomb," he said.

Part of the study would focus on dangerous germs that may have developed over the centuries in mummified human remains, said Hawass, Secretary-General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

British archaeologist Howard Carter and his sponsor, Lord Carnarvon, were among the first to enter the tomb of boy-king Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago, in Luxor's Valley of the Kings in 1922.

Lord Carnarvon died shortly afterward from an infected mosquito bite. Newspapers at the time said a pharaonic curse had killed him and other people linked to the discovery.

Scientists have in the past suggested that a disease lying dormant in the tomb may have killed the British aristocrat.

"We will start the work soon, perhaps next month. But we don't know when we will end ... we are going to study in unexcavated, intact tombs," Hawass said.

Hawass said he had once been accidentally knocked unconscious in an ancient Egyptian tomb.

"When I woke up I told people if anything had happened to me people would think this was the curse of the pharaohs. But it was just an accident."

[Spruce]

[ClearCase_guy]

British archaeologist Howard Carter and his sponsor, Lord Carnarvon, were among the first to enter the tomb of boy-king Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago, in Luxor's Valley of the Kings in 1922.

Lord Carnarvon died shortly afterward from an infected mosquito bite.

So when did Howard Carter die? A loooooong time afterwards.

[bedolido]

Egypt Uses Science to Dispel Pharaonic Curse

I believe that a Moronic curse has been placed upon the dems and it is surely coming to pass before our eyes. (BTW, great article! I've seen a TLC program on the same. Very inetersting)

[Lee Heggy]

"We will start the work soon, perhaps next month. But we don't know when we will end ... we are going to study in unexcavated, intact tombs," Hawass said before being seized by a fit of coughing and began to spit up blood and was suddenly covered with flies.

[cake_crumb]

FOFLOL...I had to double check and make sure this wasn't from the Onion.

Y'know why there are lots of Muslim scientist, but they have NEVR EVER managed to make ANY scientific discovery? Because secular science and Islam can never, ever mix.

[cake_crumb]

How do they plan to get INSIDE "unexcavated, intact tombs"?? BEAM in?

[Lee Heggy]

They will go to the local 'Tombs R Us' and buy a few then investigate them using their remote controlled cameras that are duct taped onto an RC car.

[cake_crumb]

"They will go to the local 'Tombs R Us' and buy a few then investigate them using their remote controlled cameras that are duct taped onto an RC car."

LOL...and when the batteries run dead, the Mummy's Curse will have struck again...

[adam_az]

Zahi Hawass is a tool of the Egyptian dictators. They don't let anyone do DNA testing on mummies, because they are afraid to show that the ancien Egyptians are not the same as modern Egyptians. Modern Egyptians are Arabs - Ancient Egyptians were African, North African, and had mixed with other Mediterranean blood.

[ASA Vet]

I believe that a Moronic curse has been placed upon the dems and it is surely coming to pass before our eyes

That curse was put on by my ancestorSusanna (North) Martin
who was hung as a witch in Salem on 16 July, 1692.
As they hung her, she said, "Ye ancestors shalt all be democRATs."

[KarlInOhio]

Can he work on the Red Sox curse next?

[Lee Heggy]

There is no mistaking a modern Egyptian for the real thing.