Born in Arizona, Raised in Babylonia....

I took the children to go see the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art yesterday. They had early dismissal at school for the end of the 9 weeks, and it's always a wasted day anyway. So we ditched a half-day of school and went on a field trip instead!

Wow. That was a pretty cool exhibit. They are no longer allowing Tut's mummy out of Egypt. Apparently the Boy King himself arrived in the USA during the 1970's, but not now. But we got to see all sorts of artifacts that were from his tomb, many of them gold-encrusted everyday items like benches, and much of the gold adornment they put on his mummified body before closing the 4 coffins around him. Know the headdress with the 2 snakes just above his forehead? Saw it. Ever seen that gold necklace that looks like a large, flat choker about 6 inches wide? Saw that too. And a gold dagger and sheath that was wrapped up in his linen mummy wrappings. The work on these items was exquisite.

We saw this pectoral medallion as well. It has a giant blue lapis lazuli scarab beetle in the center, and a big carnelian red stone at the top. Feathers were a common motif, done with tiny little carvings and inset with semi-precious stones into gold. The scarab on the right was probably about 4" tall. Just stunning.

Howard Carter is credited with having found Tut's Tomb in 1922, but really, it was a young Egyptian boy. He had brought water to the men on the expedition in the Valley of the Kings who were trying in vain to find the legendary tomb. The water jugs he brought had a rounded bottom, and you sort of had to make a hole int he sand to stand them up so they wouldn't spill. The boy dug about 12" deep to secure a jug and hit rock. He ran to the man in charge, Howard Carter, saying to come quickly, he found something. Sure enough, it was the top step of King Tut's tomb!