This document discusses a textbook passage about King Tut and ancient Egypt. It provides answers to comprehension questions about King Tut's remains being scrutinized, Howard Carter's controversial excavation methods, and Tut being buried with treasures. It also discusses groups debating whether scientific study of the past is necessary or respects traditions, and if advanced technology can provide conclusive evidence or is a waste of resources. The document concludes with questions about the extinction of languages and the importance of language preservation.
This document discusses a textbook passage about King Tut and ancient Egypt. It provides answers to comprehension questions about King Tut's remains being scrutinized, Howard Carter's controversial excavation methods, and Tut being buried with treasures. It also discusses groups debating whether scientific study of the past is necessary or respects traditions, and if advanced technology can provide conclusive evidence or is a waste of resources. The document concludes with questions about the extinction of languages and the importance of language preservation.
This document discusses a textbook passage about King Tut and ancient Egypt. It provides answers to comprehension questions about King Tut's remains being scrutinized, Howard Carter's controversial excavation methods, and Tut being buried with treasures. It also discusses groups debating whether scientific study of the past is necessary or respects traditions, and if advanced technology can provide conclusive evidence or is a waste of resources. The document concludes with questions about the extinction of languages and the importance of language preservation.
This document discusses a textbook passage about King Tut and ancient Egypt. It provides answers to comprehension questions about King Tut's remains being scrutinized, Howard Carter's controversial excavation methods, and Tut being buried with treasures. It also discusses groups debating whether scientific study of the past is necessary or respects traditions, and if advanced technology can provide conclusive evidence or is a waste of resources. The document concludes with questions about the extinction of languages and the importance of language preservation.
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(Discovering Tut……Continues)
TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS
Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues
Understanding the Text 1. Give reasons for the following. (i) King Tut’s body has been subjected to repeated scrutiny. Ans: King Tut’s body has been subjected to repeated scrutiny because of his history, his treasures which he was buried with and to know the reason behind his death. (ii) Howard Carter’s investigation was resented. Ans: Howard Carter’s investigation was resented because of his unscientific methods to cut off his body from the tomb. He also focused more on Tut’s wealth and less on to solve the mystery of Tut’s life and death. (iii) Carter had to chisel away the solidified resins to raise the king’s remains. Ans: Carter had to chisel away the solidified resins to raise the king’s remains because the body was cemented to the bottom of the solid gold coffin as the resins had hardened. No force could move the body away and keeping the body in the sun, under 149 degrees Fahrenheit also did not help. (iv) Tut’s body was buried along with gilded treasures. Ans: Tut’s body was buried along with gilded treasures as the ancient Egyptian royals were extremely wealthy. They also believed that the royalty would take all the treasures with them in their afterlife. (v) The boy king changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun. Ans: Tutankhamun means ‘Living image of Amun’. Amun was a major god of ancient Egypt. Amenhotep III smashed and closed his temples, later Tut restored his temples and beliefs back in his empire. That is why he changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun to choose his belief in the god. 2. (i) List the deeds that led Ray Johnson to describe Akhenaten as “wacky”. Ans: According to Ray Johnson, the Akhenaten was wacky because of the following reasons: a. He smashed and closed Amun’s images b. He worshipped Aten, sun’s disk c. He moved the religious capital from the city of Thebes to the new city of Akhenaten, called Amarn d. He changed his name to Akhenaten (ii) What were the results of the CT scan? Ans: The results of the CT scan were astonishing which was 1700 digital X-rays cross-sectioning each other to make a three-dimensional image. A grey head appeared and his vertebrae were shown. The images of the hand, ribcage, and skull were shown which were so clear. (iii) List the advances in technology that have improved forensic analysis. Ans: With the advancement in technology, it has been made possible for many scientific tests to be carried out in a more accurate way to determine the cause of a crime. X-Ray, CT scan, Post mortem, biopsy, and autopsy are now possible. (iv) Explain the statement, “King Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned — in death, as in life...” Ans: Tut’s mummy was the first one to be X-rayed in 1968 and later, in 2005, the first to be scanned through Computing Tomography (CT). CT scan revealed new three dimensional images of his body which answered many questions. TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view. 1. Scientific intervention is necessary to unearth buried mysteries. Ans: For: To understand the mysteries and history of the past, it is necessary to unearth certain buried mysteries. It can help get the answers to the questions and gives us an idea about past lives and how they used to live. Example – the scientific intervention of Indus Civilization. Against: There is no doubt that scientific intervention can be useful but it exploits with the valuable assets of the buried. We can utilize the money involved in the investigation of the mummies to help develop the resources. 2. Advanced technology gives us conclusive evidence of past events. Ans: FOR: With the advanced technology, it helps us to know about the past and those who were involved. Such as through CT scan, it was possible to get an idea about King Tut and his body. It helped solve mysteries about death. It provides data for forensic reconstruction and satellite images help find burial sites. Through different software, date and time of an event occurred in the past can be calculated. AGAINST: After CT scan result images of Tut, still, no conclusion could be drawn. Instead of focusing and using the time and money on past events, the government should focus on the present and future. 3. Traditions, rituals and funerary practices must be respected. Ans: FOR: Every religion has its own tradition, rituals and funerary practices which must be respected. It should not be disturbed as Carter did with King Tut’s tomb. Against: There are many speculations made for ancient history, traditions, rituals and funerary practices which should be cleared in order to know the truth. The people living in modern time should follow anything which can danger their lives or make the conflict between communities. 4. Knowledge about the past is useful to complete our knowledge of the world we live in. Ans: FOR: Knowledge of past events and important personalities help us understand where our roots are from. It helps us to know how our modern world was formed gradually. From past experiences and lessons, we learn not to commit the same mistake or we are gradually more alert. Knowing about King Tut’s life and getting answers to the questions helped us understand Pharaoh Dynasty and the Egypt Empire. AGAINST: Always digging the past doesn’t help as it only wastes the time and resources. No one can change the past and we cannot change what already has happened. So, we should focus on what present and future will bring for us and we must work to make our tomorrow better. Ranting about what happened yesterday cannot help us. THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE 2. What do you think are the reasons for the extinction of languages? Ans: A language can become extinct due to many reasons. If the world adapts with technology and advancement, they make changes accordingly. Example, the Sanskrit language cannot be seen used on a daily basis by people. However, in ancient times, it was a language used both verbally and in writing. Also, if some level of restrictions is imposed on a certain class of people not to use a language. It can become extinct gradually. 3. Do you think it is important to preserve languages? Ans: Yes, it is very important to preserve languages as it helps us to understand our culture and traditions. It helps in cultural development and it helps us to connect with the important past events. It gives us knowledge about literature and the history of the language. 4. In what ways do you think we could help prevent the extinction of languages and dialects? Ans: We could help prevent the extinction of languages and dialects in the following ways: 1. By including the teaching of languages and dialects in school and college curriculums 2. By promoting the use of language and dialects verbally. 3. By conducting seminars and plays to pass the knowledge of the languages and dialects to normal people. 4. By inviting people to take a few months course about learning languages and dialects.