Debates over King Tut’s image and identity are not new. In 1922,
Howard Carter, an English archaeologist, “discovered” the tomb
of this young king who had ruled Egypt about 3300 years ago, from 1336 to
1327 B.C. As soon as his reconstructed images began to appear, they sparked
decades of debate over his identity. Most European and Euro-American
scholars and others persuaded by their point of view claimed that King Tut
was essentially a “caucasoid” ancestor of present day Europeans
(referring to “whites” generally).
Scholars of African origin and descent, along with those of their
European colleagues and other scholars who disavow the Eurocentric
worldview, argue that King Tut was an African, physically and culturally
akin to the other dark-skinned people who populated the African continent at
the time he lived.
The current controversy surrounding the exhibition coming soon to the Ft.
Lauderdale Museum of Art is a continuation of earlier debates over King
Tut’s identity. The mummy has been given a new face, created by
“forensic reconstruction” that makes him look as European as
possible, so that the average person could not possibly consider him to be
an African...
