Read the text. Two British archaeologists have discovered a breathtaking collection of 3,000-year-old burial treasure

Two British archaeologists have discovered a breathtaking collection of 3, 000-year-old burial treasure. On 26 November, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon opened the tomb of Tutankhamun, pharaoh of Egypt, who died in 1323 ВС.

Exclusive contemporary photographs of Howard Carter's

discovery of Tutankhamun’s treasure

The tomb lies in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor in central Egypt, and consists of several rooms. In the burial chamber, Tutankhamun’s body lies preserved as a “mummy” by a special technique the ancient Egyptians used for preserving the bodies of the dead.

Tutankhamun’s mummy is encased in three coffins. The mummy itself lies in an inner coffin made of solid gold. The outer coffins are made of wood. Covering the mummy’s head is a solid gold mask. It shows Tutankhamun as Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god of the underworld. Several pieces of jewellery are inside the coffin and bound into the mummy’s wrappings.

In the other rooms of the tomb, there are weapons, clothes, drinking vessels, furniture, statues - even a chariot. One cup, made of alabaster, shows the young pharaoh as a white lotus flower. Its inscription expresses the hope that Tutankhamun will spend “many millions of years sitting with his face to the cool breeze, his eyes beholding happiness”.

The mummies of pharaohs were buried in boats because the Egyptians believed this would help them travel to the next world. Tutankhamun died aged 18. He was the son-in-law of Pharaoh Akhenaton, who oversaw changes in religious custom to the worship of one god only. Tutankhamun restored religion to the old way of worshipping many deities but he achieved little else. His name is not well known to historians, but this find will change that.

There is a legend that Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon invoked an ancient curse when they disturbed the tomb of Tutankhamun. Egypt is a land of fantastic legends, and many people believe that the archaeologists have broken a powerful curse which forbids the disturbance of the kingdom of the dead. Old inscriptions threaten disaster to “the living that comes to violate the tombs”.

Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon have been searching for Tutankhamun’s tomb for 10 years and were about to give up. Now that they have made their exciting discovery, they plan to excavate the tomb with great care.

Task II.