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Way back in the late seventies, every school instigated programs to get kids excited about the arrival of King Tut\u2019s mask, the giant golden work of ancient funeral art which was touring the world in a rich collection and displayed in timed events at city art galleries.<\/p>\n
Grade school classes were clearly encouraged to learn about ancient Egypt, and I remember ours depicted the discovery of the intact sarcophagus in a packed gymnasium \u2013 Chris Martin was the mummified boy king, using layers of winter jackets for coffins \u2013 and the trip to the AGO was a big, big<\/em> thing.<\/p>\n Parental permission forms were filled out, buses ferried us to the AGO, and after being outfitted with tape recorders, we were ushered into the maze, one group at a time, with specific instructions to keep motoring, being a timed event.<\/p>\n The mask was clearly the centerpiece \u2013 there really is nothing like it, and nothing like seeing it in real life \u2013 but not long after the exhibit, class lessons were back to regular blah topics… but there were some minds more than intrigued with lost cities, tombs, mummies, and ancient artifacts than the correct usage of je, tu, ils, elles, ons, nous, and vous.<\/p>\n For myself, it completely seeded an interest in ancient cultures, which was given a further boost when I discovered a book on Pompeii<\/a> that chronicled the discovery of the lost city + neighboring Herculaneum<\/a>, packed with stark B&W stills and plenty of detailed prose.<\/p>\n The idea that a city was entombed, unearthed, and preserved with every day artifacts and objects remains remarkable, but the tomb of Tutankhamun will always be the sexiest archeological discovery in history because it was so unexpected.\u00a0Archeologist Howard Carter knew it was somewhere in the Valley of the Kings, and during his last chance dig, found it, and rooms filled with wonder.<\/p>\n The ITV minister-series Tutankhamun<\/a><\/strong> (2016) may have been planned as a TV cash-in on the looming release of Universal\u2019s The Mummy<\/a><\/strong> (2017) reboot, but there\u2019s a lot of evocative period detail within its three hour-long episodes, and for ancient Egypt fans, Carter\u2019s discovery of the tomb\u2019s intact status is a real tear-jerker.<\/p>\n