Scientists Reveal King Tut1’s Face to the Public
Tutankhamen’s face is leathery, his body is the color of soot2, and some of his toes are cracked3. Still, the famous boy king looks pretty good for his age—he’s more than 3,300 years old!
Archaeologists4 recently unveiled Tut’s mummy to the public for the first time. A mummy is a preserved body. Seven men crowded into the king’s underground burial chamber5 in Egypt. Together, they opened the stone coffin, called a sarcophagus6. Surrounded by colorful murals7 showing Tut’s life, they peeled back a tan cloth covering the famous mummy.
Underneath, the king’s blackened head lay peacefully, his lips slightly parted to reveal his buckteeth8. His long, thin legs stretched straight down below his thick torso9.
The team of archaeologists covered most of Tut’s body with a sheet. They left his head and feet uncovered, however. In the past, visitors to the tomb could stare at only the king’s golden burial mask. Now, they can gaze directly into Tut’s face.
“The face of the golden boy is amazing,” says Egypt’s chief of antiquities10, Zahi Hawass. “It has magic, and it has mystery.”
Mysterious Ruler
Tut has fascinated people around the world for decades. He became pharaoh11, or king, of Egypt a few thousand years ago, when he was 9 years old. Egypt was a powerful civilization at that time. It had large cities and impressive temples. Tut ruled for 10 years before dying mysteriously at age 19.
British archaeologist Howard Carter brought the boy king back into the spotlight12 in 1922. That year, Carter discovered Tut’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Most other pharaohs’ burial sites had been ransacked13, or robbed, but Tut’s burial chamber was unharmed.
The secret underground room glistened14 with riches15. Statues, jewelry, weapons, a golden throne16, and even childhood games filled the chamber. Tut’s mummy was buried inside three coffins within a sarcophagus. A mask of solid gold rested over his face.
Protecting the Pharaoh
The now-famous mask helped cover a body that was slowly deteriorating17, or falling apart, over time. Carter and his team had to lift the mummy out of the coffin in pieces. In the decades since, scientists have studied Tut’s body from time to time. But the mummy has mostly remained sealed in its sarcophagus.
The stone box wasn’t strong enough to protect the precious mummy, though, scientists say. About 350 tourists visit Tut’s underground tomb each day. The heat and germs18 from their bodies were slowly turning the mummy into dust. “The humidity and heat caused by... people entering the tomb and their breathing will change the mummy [into] a powder,” Hawass says.
So to display Tut’s body recently, Egyptian officials moved the mummy into a special glass case. The pharaoh’s new climate-controlled digs19 will help preserve the fragile20 body. If Tut’s mummy had not been moved, Hawass says, it could have slowly dissolved21 into dust within 50 years.
The new container also offers tourists the opportunity to see the boy king up close. “I can assure you that putting this mummy in this case... can make the golden boy live forever,” Hawass says.
Making a Mummy
There’s a reason King Tut’s body is still around. When an important person died in ancient Egypt, priests mummified22 the body so it would last for thousands of years. Here’s how they did it.
1 A priest cut a small slit23 in the body and pulled out all the organs except the heart. He removed the brain through the nose, using a sharp tool.
2 The priest washed the body and organs with alcohol24. The organs were sealed in special jars and placed in the tomb.
3 The priest coated25 the body with salt (in cloth above) to dry the skin. Once the body was dry, it was stuffed with herbs, cloth, sawdust26, and salt to keep its shape.
4 The body was dressed in fine robes27 and jewels. Then the priest wrapped the body in a soft cloth. Even the toes were individually wrapped.
科学家向公众揭示图特王的面容
图坦卡门的脸像皮革一样粗糙，身体的颜色像煤烟一样黝黑，几个脚趾还有皲裂。尽管如此，就年岁而言——他已有3,300多岁了，这位著名的少年国王看起来仍然很英俊！
考古学家们最近首次向公众揭开了图特王木乃伊的神秘面纱。木乃伊是经过保存的尸体。七个男子挤进国王位于埃及的地下墓穴，合力打开了那个石棺。在色彩鲜艳、描绘图特王生活的壁画环绕中，他们揭下了覆盖在这个举世闻名的木乃伊身上的黄褐色裹布。
下面，国王那已经发黑的头平静地躺着，他的嘴唇微开，透出里面的龅牙。一双又长又细的腿在粗壮的躯干下笔直地伸展着。
这队考古学家用一张床单盖住图特王的大部分躯体，但留下他的头和脚露在外面。过去，墓穴参观者只能盯着国王那张金质的随葬面具看。现在他们可以直接凝视图特王的脸了。
“这个金色男孩的脸十分神奇，”埃及的文物负责人扎希·哈瓦斯说，“它有魔力，也很神秘。”
神秘的统治者
数十年来，图特王让世界各地的人们着迷。几千年前，年仅9岁的他就成了埃及的法老（国王）。当时的埃及已是一个强大的文明社会，建立了大型的城市和壮观的庙宇。图特王在位10年，直到19岁那年神秘去世。
1922年，英国考古学家霍华德·卡特重新使这位少年国王成为世人瞩目的焦点。那一年，卡特在埃及的“帝王谷”发现了图特王的墓穴。大多数其他法老的墓葬地点都遭到过洗劫，但图特王的墓室却安然无恙。
这个地下密室因藏有大量宝物而熠熠生辉。雕像、珠宝、武器、一个金质御座，甚至儿时的玩具堆满了墓室。图特王的木乃伊葬在三层棺木之内，外加一副石棺。他的脸上盖着一张纯金的面具。
保护法老
这张现已名闻天下的面具掩盖着一具经岁月流逝而逐渐腐烂（解体）的躯体。卡特和他的考古队只能一点一点地把木乃伊从棺材中取出。此后的数十年间，科学家们对图特王的尸体间或进行过研究。但是木乃伊的大部分仍被封存于石棺内。
然而，科学家们说，石棺的坚固程度不足以保护珍贵的木乃伊。每天大约有350位游客参观图特王的地下墓穴。来自他们身体的热量和细菌正缓慢地把木乃伊化为尘土。“……进入墓穴的人以及他们的呼吸所造成的湿气和热量将把木乃伊变成一堆粉末，”哈瓦斯说。
因此，最近为了展示图特王的尸体，埃及官员把木乃伊转移到一个特制的玻璃容器中。法老的这个能调节气温的新居所将有助于保存其脆弱的躯体。哈瓦斯说，假如图特王的木乃伊不转移，它可能在50年内缓慢分解为尘土。
新的容器也为游客们提供了近距离观察这位少年国王的机会。“我可以向你们保证，把木乃伊放入这个容器……能让这个金色男孩永世长存，”哈瓦斯说。
制作木乃伊
图特王的尸体能保存至今是有原因的。在古埃及，每当一个重要人物去世，祭司们就将尸体制成木乃伊，使其能够保存数千年。以下是他们的制作方法。
祭司在尸体上划一道切口，取出除心脏以外的所有器官。他用一种锋利的工具通过鼻腔移除脑髓。
祭司用酒精清洗尸体和器官。然后把器官封存于特制的罐子中，并放入墓穴。
祭司在尸布上涂一层盐，使皮肤干燥。待尸体变干后，用药草、布、锯屑和盐填充之，以保持体型。
给尸体穿戴精美的长袍和珠宝饰物。然后祭司用一块软布包裹尸体，连脚趾也逐一包裹。
1. King Tut 图特王，本名图坦卡门，公元前十四世纪埃及国王。其陵墓于1922年被霍华德·卡特发现时几乎完好无损。
2. soot [sut] n. 煤烟，烟尘
3. cracked adj. 有裂缝的
4. archaeologist n. 考古学家
5. burial chamber 墓室
6. sarcophagus n. 石棺
7. mural n. 壁画
8. bucktooth n. 龅牙，獠牙
9. torso n. 人体躯干
10. antiquity n. 古物，古迹
11. pharaoh n. 法老，古埃及国王
12. spotlight n. 聚光灯；瞩目的中心
13. ransack v. 洗劫，掠夺
14. glisten [glisn] v. 闪耀，闪光
15. riches n. 财富，财宝
16. throne n. 王座，御座
17. deteriorate v. 恶化；变质；衰退
18. germ n. 细菌；病菌
19. digs n. 寄宿处，住所
20. fragile adj. 脆弱的；易碎的
21. dissolve v. 分解；溶解
22. mummify v. 将（尸体）制成木乃伊
23. slit [slit] n. 狭长切口或开口
24. alcohol n. 酒精
25. coat v. 涂上，覆盖一层
26. sawdust n. 锯屑
27. robe n. 长袍；礼袍