A new scientific study has been released, according to which the deaths of archaeologist Howard Carter, Lord Carnarvon, and about 20 others associated with the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb were not due to the mystical “curse of the pharaoh.”
In reality, they most likely perished from the effects of radiation poisoning, intentionally placed in the pharaoh’s tomb before sealing it.
Researcher Ross Fellows and his team published their work in the Journal of Scientific Research.
They recorded high levels of radiation not only in Tutankhamun’s tomb but also in other tombs – including two locations on the Giza plateau and several underground tombs in Saqqara.
For example, in Osiris’s tomb in Giza, intense radioactivity was linked to two stone “coffers” (sarcophagi) made of basalt. From them, there emanated an elevated level of radon, which is an intermediate product of uranium decay.
Elevated concentrations of gaseous radon in the air were also detected in six ruins in Saqqara: in the Southern Tomb, the storage areas of the Djoser Pyramid, and the tunnels of the Serapeum tomb.
It is also noted that thousands of pots excavated under the stepped pyramid in the 1960s contained up to 200 tons of unidentified substances that have yet to be identified. They may have also been toxic to humans.
Presumably, it was these harmful substances that those who left menacing warning tablets in the tombs aimed at thieves were referring to. They knew full well that these substances were deadly to humans. In particular, a tablet was found in Tutankhamun’s tomb, promising death to anyone who disturbed the remains.
In a sense, ancient Egyptian tombs were indeed cursed, but the death was not mystical, but rather biological.
“Reports of strong radon emissions from tomb ruins had previously been partially attributed to the natural background of the main stone. However, its levels are unusually high and localized, which does not correspond to the characteristics of limestone but implies some other unnatural source or sources,” writes Ross Fellows.
Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened in 1922 under the direction of archaeologist Howard Carter and Lord George Carnarvon, who was passionate about Egyptian antiquities. The discovery of this tomb is considered one of the greatest events in the history of world archaeology.
Lord Carnarvon died suddenly just 5 months after the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb. It is believed that he died from blood poisoning due to a mosquito bite.
Carter died in 1939 from a sudden heart attack. But before that, he had been suffering from Hodgkin’s lymphoma – a very aggressive form of cancer – for a long time. By the way, radiation can cause cancer.
Egyptologist Arthur Weigall, who was also part of Carter and Carnarvon’s team and who first spoke of the “curse of Tutankhamun,” died of cancer in 1934.
For decades, one after another, other participants in the excavation of this tomb died. Officially from strokes, diabetes, heart failure, pneumonia, poisoning, malaria, and so on. But all of this could also have been the result of radiation poisoning.
