Stories of "the mummy's curse" or "King Tut's curse" excited the world after the discovery in 1922 of the ancient pharaoh's tomb in Egypt.   Lord Carnarvon, a British sponsor of archaeology in Egypt, died shortly after attending the tomb's opening, inspiring speculation that supernatural forces were at work.

In recent years a scientific mummy's-curse theory was offered for Carnarvon's death.   Was he killed by exposure to ancient, toxic pathogens from the sealed tomb?   Did they prove too much for his immune system, which was weakened by a chronic illness he had experienced before he went to Egypt?

[More]   National Geographic News, USA, May 6, 2005.

On Christmas Day last year, Kathryn Bard got an unusual gift.

Working with her colleagues to remove sand from a hillside along Egypt's Red Sea coast, the Boston University archaeologist poked through a small opening that had appeared and felt ... nothing.   She had reached into the entrance to a human-made cave in which sailors stored their gear as many as 4,000 years ago...

[More]   Science News Online, USA, Vol. 167, No. 19, May 7, 2005.

Karin Sowada, an archaeologist for almost 20 years, has lost count of the number of digs she has undertaken.

However, she made her latest discovery while tidying her new office at the University of Sydney, where she is assistant curator of the Nicholson Museum of antiquities.

While straightening up her bookshelf, recently shifted from her old office, Dr Sowada came across an ageing volume she had never noticed before...

[More]   Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, May 2, 2005.

A couple more on the Tutankhamun CT scans in the run up to Sunday's National Geographic programme.

An Italian documentary-maker, Brando Quilici, has recorded perhaps the most historic murder investigation ever conducted.   On Sunday, May 15, King Tut's Curse will be shown on the National Geographic Channel...

[More]   Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, May 2, 2005.

High-Tech Tut

...Tut suddenly is revealing a great deal, said John Bredar, executive producer of a new documentary, "King Tut's Final Secrets," airing at 9 p. m. Sunday on the National Geographic Channel...

[More]   The Tampa Tribune, Florida, USA, May 9 2005.

National Geographic Channel World Premiere Special Features First- Ever Bust of the Pharaoh Created from 3-D CT Scans.

Exhibition of Tut's Treasures to Include Bust and CT Scans - Begins June 2005 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

He is the most famous Egyptian king in history. He became pharaoh at the age of nine -- and ruled for nearly a decade before his mysterious death. Since his tomb was discovered in 1922, King Tutankhamun and the circumstances surrounding his death have been a source of intrigue worldwide. Why did the famed "boy king" die so young? Was he murdered? Is there truth to the legendary curse set upon those who would disturb his final resting place? And what did he really look like?

On Sunday, May 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, the National Geographic Channel premieres "King Tut's Final Secrets..."

[More]   PRNewswire, USA, 25/04/2005.

More than just another report on the King Tut. CT Scans, this one includes an interview with Zahi Hawass.

Beyond Egypt's political demonstrations and suicide bombings lies a country where history lives outside classrooms.   A country that draws inspiration -- and money -- from its past to fuel its present.

And while tourism is good for the economy, too many tourists can destroy the very monuments they flock to see, warns Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt's top archaeologist and the person who led the CT scan on King Tutankhamun's mummy...

[More]   Gulf News, United Arab Emirates, 09/05/2005.

This is Georgia Archaeology Month, so many kids are taking field trips to learn about ancient times.

We tagged along as kids from Sweetwater and Annette Winn elementary schools in Lithia Springs headed to Emory University. It has a really cool place -- the Michael C. Carlos Museum -- where you can see mummies, wear costumes, be in a play and learn about people who got famous by digging up stuff from the past...

[More]   The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia, USA, May 08, 2005.

Stanford University researchers aided by Silicon Valley engineers are using high-tech tools to unravel the mystery of a 2,000-year-old child mummy -- without removing the wraps.

Researchers hope that more than 20,000 images taken by sophisticated scanning equipment and other technological tools at Stanford's School of Medicine will offer a detailed, three- dimensional look inside the small Egyptian mummy that has been stored at a San Jose museum for more than 70 years.

The mummy, less than 3 feet tall, was handled as delicately as possible when it was transported Friday to Stanford from the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium, said curator Lisa Schwappach-Shirriff...

[More]   Los Angeles Daily News, California, USA, May 08, 2005.

cf. Friday is Mummy's day at Stanford, Stanford University, California, USA, 04/05/2005.

It's a 5,000-year-old glimpse into the beliefs of ancient Egypt - or an incredible fake.

In about a week, tests will reveal whether the art on an Egyptian vase on show at the Royal Pump Room Museum is of international importance or the work of a brilliant forger.

The vase itself, which shows the image of a boat carrying a body curled into a foetal position, is genuine.   Two years of tests at York University have traced the object and parts of its decorative paint to 3,200BC, predating the times of the pyramids and the Pharaohs

But the final test will show whether the human figure is just as old.

"If it is, it will be the earliest depiction of an Egyptian in death by at least 1,000 years," said Dr Joann Fletcher, consultant Egyptologist for the collection and research fellow at York University...

[More]   Harrogate Today, UK, 06 May 2005, via Archaeologica.

Ancient Egypt: Life, Myth and Art, Joann Fletcher, Duncan Baird Publishers, UK, 2003.