Posted on 06/16/2005 6:59:26 AM PDT by optik_b
King Tut's skin color a topic of controversy
By Evan Henerson Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 15, 2005 - Nobody can be sure exactly what the boy king Tutankhamun looked like. But a group of African-American activists charting the "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibition are certain of one thing: He didn't look white.
Following an appearance before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, activists from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Committee for the Elimination of Media Offensive to African People, and the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations plan to protest the Tut exhibition, which opens today at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
They claim a trio of busts configured from Tut's corpse and a CT scan depict the ruler as being white, and are, therefore, inaccurate and racist.
"Those images are so critical for our children," says Legrand Clegg, Compton city attorney and a spokesman for the protesters. "We want them to focus not just on rappers, athletes and entertainers but on figures who are high achievers. What could be more elevating than a little boy who ruled the world?"
Three separate teams of researchers reviewing the data from the mummified corpse have concluded that Tutankhamun, who was part of the 18th Egyptian dynasty, was a Caucasoid North African. Clegg contends these conclusions fly in the face of separate research by a New Zealand and British research team that label Tut Negroid.
"The big variable is skin tone," says Terry Garcia, executive vice president for mission programs for National Geographic, one of the exhibition's presenters. "North Africans, we know today, had a range of skin tones, from light to dark. In this case, we selected a medium skin tone, and we say, quite up front, 'This is midrange.' We'll never know for sure what his exact skin tone was or the color of his eyes with 100 percent certainty.
"Maybe in the future, people will come to a different conclusion," Garcia continues. "From what we know, there is no doubt this individual was of North African descent."
That's not good enough for the activists, who demonstrated peacefully before an opening reception Wednesday and planned to protest again at today's opening.
"All we're asking," says Clegg, "is removal of those impostor busts, which have nothing to do with relics.
Because truth matters.
I know, I know... Jesus Christ was black, King Tut was black, Michael Jackson was black... Yeah...right.
"Little is known about this beautiful wooden sculpture of the boy king, Tutankhamun. It was found discarded in the passage by excavators under the rubble. The tomb robbers could obviously could see no value in it.
"The piece depicts the young king's head emerging out of a lotus flower, representing the birth of the sun- god.
"This statue can be seen in Cairo museum."
Oh, they have plenty of great role models. The problem for the race baiters is that they are conservative role models, like Condi.
Is Condi Rice black? I never would have known, at least from reading all the news articles.
The beginning of this whole trend began many years ago with a book by an African-American "scholar" called "Black Athena". He not only claimed all of Egyptian heritage for Black Africans, he credited Black Africans for the intellectual foundations (through Egypt) of ancient Greece (Athena), and thus to Rome and to all of western culture.
This book was a great sensation when first published but other scholars of many races uncovered its errors and debunked most of its claims. In spite of that, the book continues to be published and some African-Americans in need of ancient justification latch onto Black Athena, in whole or in part.
It is the source of alot of intellectual wasteland among a small segment of African-Americans - not, thankfully, most.
You know, I don't recall these guys raising a stink when Tut last came through L.A. in the mid 70's. Does anyone?
Farrakahn and the Nation of Islam's loony fringe is becoming mainstream and along with it their loonier histories.....
Using Democrat logic, Elizabeth Taylor played Cleopatra, Elizabeth Taylor is white, therefore King Tut has to be white as well. Holywierd has spoken to this issue and we all know that Hollywood celibrities are experts in all areas that concern us. /sarcasm on.
Almost all of those who were captured and sold as slaves in the Western Hemisphere originated in a relatively small area bordering the Gulf of Guinea (now the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon). There was some trade (mostly in salt) and there was a trade route between the Islamic Kingdom of Mali and Egypt in the 13th century, but that doesn't make the local residents Egyptians . . .
I think I'll file this one in my "who cares"? folder.
Victor Buono, by contract, only did a comedy schtick wherein he falls off a piano bench. ;-)
"He who controls the past controls the future." George Orwell
Ugh. Contract=contrast. There, better.
Your original post cited a lack of culture and history now you ask me to cite discoveries.
OK, Fire.
I did hear him refered to as "Funky Tut" once on SLN.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
We have a full color original bust of his mother, Nefertiti, and she is white, in fact, paler than most mediteranean caucasians. Since her husband was her brother Ankhnaten, we can be sure he was white as well.
Unless we are dealing with a Michael Jackson situation, the kid, Tut, is gonna be the same race as the parents.
SO9
The reading that I've done on the subject of race & genetics suggests that skin color can not be definitively discerned from a parsing of the genes. Plus, as you stated, Egyptian society has always been 'cosmopolitan'. I expect that the Pharohs will therefore have genetic markers from several populations. Studying the genes may provide some useful insights, but probably is a waste of time from a skin-color perspective.
I'll go with how the Egyptians portrayed themselves in their art -- unless somebody can show me a good reason to believe that the Egyptians were misrepresenting their own appearance.
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