Chariot of Tutankhamun Arrives in New York
By STAN PARCHIN
August 3, 2010
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| Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18 (ca. 1332-1323 B.C.). Chariot. Wood (birch, elm and tamarisk). Thebes, Valley of the Kings, Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV 62). Luxor Museum. Photograph courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. |
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| Sanaa Ahmed Ali, Her Assistants and David P. Silverman. Photograph by Ellen Brody-Kirmss. |
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| Gary Staab (American). Replica of Pharaoh Tutankhamun's Mummy (2010). |
A sleek ancient Egyptian Chariot (ca. 1332-1323 B.C.) went on view this morning in the special exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at New York's Discovery Times Square Exposition (April 23, 2010-January 2, 2011). The wooden horse-drawn vehicle was the fifth and largest artifact from the boy-king's tomb to join the traveling show of more than 130 artifacts since its return to the United States in 2009. Present at the unveiling was David P. Silverman, Curator of the Egyptian Section at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the installation’s distinguished interpreter. Sanaa Ahmed Ali, Director of the Luxor Museum (the chariot's permanent home), and her assistants were also available to answer questions.
The ebullient Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and Deputy Minister of Culture, promised New Yorkers more than three months ago that Pharaoh Tutankhamun's Chariot would come to Manhattan. The star of Chasing Mummies, a new History Channel reality show, made good on his promise. After conservators and other officials determined that the fragile object was capable of being transported to the exhibition, the vehicle was disassembled, flown aboard a Lufthansa cargo jet to John F. Kennedy International Airport, reassembled and placed in a large climate-controlled vitrine. The work was situated in its own gallery adjacent to the room that displays an amazingly accurate first-ever replica of Tutankhamun's mummy.
Tutankhamun's Chariot
The fourth of six chariots discovered dismantled by archaeologist Howard Carter in the Antechamber and Treasury of Tutankamun's tomb, the exhibition's example is the simplest in terms of design. Five are decorated with gold leaf overlays for use in celebrations, parades and leading battles. The Luxor Museum’s unembellished one is lightweight in construction. Its body and wheels are made of artificially bent wood. Unique in its appearance, this vehicle with an open-sided frame is not represented in wall reliefs and paintings. Scholars surmise that it may have served the young ruler as a traveling chariot in war or more likely in hunting expeditions. Evidence of a wheel change and signs of wear and tear indicate that Tutankhamun probably used it during his lifetime.
Recent forensic and DNA examinations of Tutankhamun's mummy reveal that the pharaoh, who suffered from a degenerative bone disease, possibly died from a malarial infection that set into the wound of his fractured left leg. Dr. Hawass and other Egyptologists contend that the injury was caused by a fall, perhaps from the special exhibition's Chariot.
Sources
Littauer, M.A. and J.H. Crouwel. Chariots and Related Equipment from the Tomb of Tutankhamun. Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1985.
Reeves, Nicholas. The Complete Tutankhamun: The King, The Tomb, The Royal Treasure. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1990, 78-81, 170-173.