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A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
What's New at Arcadia
Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast By Glenn A. Knoblock
Arcadia Publishing has releases a new title in the Images of America series, the historic account of the cemeteries along the New Hampshire Seacoast. This collection is a must for anyone interested in local history, genealogy, or colonial-era art. Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast and browse other cemetery books!
Green-Wood Cemetery By Alexandra Mosca
Arcadia Publishing announces the release of the historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery.
Announcements
Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb By Scott L. Newstok
An innovative study of the Renaissance practice of making epitaphic gestures within other English genres. A poetics of quotation uncovers the ways in which writers including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Holinshed, Sidney, Jonson, Donne, and Elizabeth I have recited these texts within new contexts. Visit Palgrave Macmillan and purchase your copy today!
Living by the Dead By Ellen Ashdown with illustrations by Mary Liz Moody.
A memoir about living beside a cemetery--and about the members of my family who came to rest at Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee, Florida. Please visit Kitsune Books for more information.
Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski.
Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!
Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.
Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman
Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture is now available. Please visit Studio Indiana for more information.
West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark
Features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
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On This Day: King Tut’s Tomb Discovered |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Wednesday, 26 November 2008 |
On Nov. 26, 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter made a small hole in a sealed doorway and, holding up a candle, shed light onto King Tutankhamen’s tomb in Luxor, Egypt, for the first time in more than 3,000 years.
Tut's Discovery Spawns "Curse"
When Carter first arrived in Egypt, in 1891, as part of a British-sponsored archaeological survey, most of the ancient tombs had been discovered and plundered: it seemed unlikely that any undisturbed burial chambers remained. Around 1907, however, he began his association with the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, a collector of antiquities who sought out Carter to supervise excavations in the Valley of the Kings, on the eastern side of the River Nile.
On Nov. 4, 1922, Carter found the first signs of what proved to be Tutankhamen's tomb. But it was not until Nov. 26, after days spent clearing a passage down a long, steep stairway, that he reached a second sealed doorway, behind which were hidden treasures of the boy king’s last resting place, the Times of London writes. Carter described his first sight of what lay inside the tomb as a “strange and wonderful medley of extraordinary and beautiful objects heaped upon one another,” according to his diary. For the next 10 years, he supervised the removal of those treasures, most of which are housed in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. About four months later, Carnarvon died in Cairo of pneumonia, helping give rise to the myth of “The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb.”
Background: The tomb’s contents
Though they might seem today to be treasures beyond imagining, the contents of King Tut's tomb were modest by Pharaonic standards. In addition to jewelry and gold, Carter discovered a chariot, statuary and weapons. The most stunning find was a stone sarcophagus containing three coffins nested within each other. Inside the final coffin, made of solid gold, was the mummified body of Tutankhamen, preserved for 3,200 years. Tutankhamen’s mummy was unveiled for the first time in Luxor on Nov. 8, 2008, amid warnings that the humidity and heat generated by mass tourism is damaging his remains, according to the Associated Press.
Key Players: Carter, Carnarvon and Tut
During his excavation, Howard Carter kept a diary of his day-to-day endeavors. The entries from Oct. 28 to Dec. 31, 1922, provided by Oxford's Griffith Institute, reflect both the mundane work involved and the obvious excitement of his historic discovery. Carter was 17 when he first traveled to Egypt.
Lord Carnarvon’s early interests were horse racing and the fledgling sport of motoring, TourEgypt.net writes. It was because of an automobile accident that he found himself in Cairo, which in turn led to his developing an interest in Egyptology.
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where most of Tutankhamen’s artifacts can be seen, describes him as “a shadowy figure in Egyptian history,” adding: “The pharaoh is indeed gone, but the mightiness of his treasures still fascinates us to this very day. Tutankhamen died in his teens—estimates put his age at death between 17 and 19—and opinions still differ about whether he was murdered or was killed in an accident. But one thing seems certain: he has achieved the everlasting life that was the goal of every Egyptian pharaoh.
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/entertainment/On-this-Day--King-Tut-s-Tomb-Discovered.html
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