Autocombustione?

Tutankhamun may have spontaneously combusted

Il corpo di Tutankamon potrebbe essere andato incontro ad autocombustione (?!) in seguito ad una mummificazione condotta in modo errato: è la tesi, nuovissima e sorprendente di uno scienziato britannico, esposta per televisione domenica scorsa. 

The mummy of King Tutankhamun is removed from his stone sarcophagus in his underground
tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings in Luxor, November 4, 2007
[Credit: AFP/Ben Curtis]

L'egittologo Chris Naunton insieme ad una squadra di esperti in medicina forense ha effettuato una 'autopsia virtuale' sul giovane faraone, nel documentario apparso su Channel 4: "Tutankamon, il mistero della mummia bruciata". gli esperti hanno impiegato la Radiografia comune e la Tomografia Computerizzata, che hanno evidenziato una serie di lesioni ben distinte su di un lato del corpo della mummia.

Anche un frammento del corpo del Faraone è stato esaminato.

Tutti i test chimici sembrerebbero confermare che la mummia sia stata bruciata mentre ancora chiusa nella bara.

Gli esperti di incendi hanno dimostrato che fu una reazione chimica - a partire dalle sostanze usate nell'imbalsamazione - a causare una combustione (non 'spontanea', ma accidentale ed indesiderata; ndt) della mummia di Tutankamon.
Gli indizi, che indicavano verso questa deduzione erano già tutti presenti nelle migliaia di note sceritte da Howard Carter, un vero tesoro di informazione archeologica, che non era stato preso in considerazione fino in fondo.
Malgrado la grande attenzione focalizzata negli anni sulla mummia di Tutankamon, le conclusioni finali circa le sue strane condizioni  fisiche non sono mai state tratte.
La possibilità che sia avvenuta subito dopo l'inumazione una involontaria combustione della mummia causata da una mummificazione sbagliata non è mai stata presa in considerazione e costituisce senz'altro una sorpresa totalmente inaspettata.
Evidentemente, quando si viene a considerare materiale antico c'è sempre da imparare qualche cosa e così sarà anche nel futuro: ma con questo progetto sembra proprio che si sia fatto un bel passo avanti per comprendere meglio che cosa accadde alla fine della vita di Tutankamon. 
"Tut" morì a 19 anni, dopo 10 anni di regno, tra il 1333 ed il 1324 a.C. La sua tomba intonsa, che comprendeva un sarcofago  d'oro con maschera fu scoperto dalla coppia Howard Carter e Lord George Carnavon nel 1922.
Nel 2010 i test (tra cui esami biochimici, DNA e CT scan) dimostrarono che aveva una grave forma di malaria e soffriva di piede equino congenito.

La sua mummia è oggi esposta a Luxor.

Tutankhamun's body may have spontaneously combusted due to a botched mummification, British scientists claim in a new programme to be broadcast Sunday. 

Egyptologist Chris Naunton and a team of forensic scientists performed a "virtual autopsy" on the young pharaoh in the Channel 4 television documentary "Tutankhamun: The Mystery of The Burnt Mummy".

The experts used x-ray and computerised tomography (CT) scanning data which showed a highly distinct pattern of injuries down one side of his body.

They also examined a fragment of the pharaoh's flesh.

They claimed chemical tests confirmed that the mummy was burnt whilst still sealed inside his coffin.

Fire investigators demonstrated how a chemical reaction of the embalming oils used on Tutankhamun's mummy led to his spontaneous combustion.

Naunton said the clues were in Carter's thousands of notes, a "treasure trove of archeological information", much of which had never been followed up.

"Despite all the attention Tut's mummy has received over the years the full extent of its strange condition has largely been overlooked," he said.

"The charring and possibility that a botched mummification led the body spontaneously combusting shortly after burial was entirely unexpected, something of a revelation in fact.

"What the project shows is that when it comes to ancient material there is always more to learn, and there probably will in the future, but with this study we have taken a big step forward in terms of understanding what happened at the end of Tut's life."

Tutankhamun died at about 19, after 10 years of rule between 1333 to 1324 BC. His nearly intact tomb, which included a gold coffin and mask, was discovered in 1922 by British pair Howard Carter and Lord George Carnarvon.

In 2010, DNA testing and CT scans revealed that he had very severe malaria and suffered from a club foot.

His mummy is on display in Luxor.

Source: AFP [November 09, 2013]

Miniere in Israele

King Solomon-era mines discovered in Israel

NUOVI RITROVAMENTI IN ISRAELE (TIMNA VALLEY) DEPONGONO PER LA PRESENZA DI UN'AVANZATA SOCIETA' COMPLESSA (PROB. EDOMITI), COMPOSTA DI SEMINOMADI CHE VIVEVANO IN TENDE (NON SONO STATE TROVATE STRUTTURE EDILIZIE DI SUPERFICIE), CHE SAREBBERO STATI PERFETTAMENTE INVISIBILI ALL'ARCHEOLOGIA, SE NON AVESSERO AVUTO UNA EFFICIENTE ATTIVITA' DI SCAVO DELLE MINIERE DI RAME, ATTRAVERSO CUI GLI ARCHEOLOGI LI HANNO POTUTO IDENTIFICARE.

New findings from an archaeological excavation led this winter by Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef of Tel Aviv University's Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures prove that copper mines in Israel thought to have been built by the ancient Egyptians in the 13th century BCE actually originated three centuries later, during the reign of the legendary King Solomon.

The stratigraphy of the Slaves' Hill, resulting from 150 years of copper production peaking
in the 10th century BCE [Credit: American Friends of Tel Aviv University (AFTAU)]

Based on the radiocarbon dating of material unearthed at a new site in Timna Valley in Israel's Aravah Desert, the findings overturn the archaeological consensus of the last several decades. Scholarly work and materials found in the area suggest the mines were operated by the Edomites, a semi-nomadic tribal confederation that according to the Bible warred constantly with Israel.

"The mines are definitely from the period of King Solomon," says Dr. Ben-Yosef. "They may help us understand the local society, which would have been invisible to us otherwise."

Slaves to history

Now a national park, Timna Valley was an ancient copper production district with thousands of mines and dozens of smelting sites. In February 2013, Dr. Ben-Yosef and a team of researchers and students excavated a previously untouched site in the valley, known as the Slaves' Hill. The area is a massive smelting camp containing the remains of hundreds of furnaces and layers of copper slag, the waste created during the smelting process.

In addition to the furnaces, the researchers unearthed an impressive collection of clothing, fabrics, and ropes made using advanced weaving technology; foods, like dates, grapes, and pistachios; ceramics; and various types of metallurgical installations. The world-renowned Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit at the University of Oxford in England dated 11 of the items to the 10th century BCE, when according to the Bible King Solomon ruled the Kingdom of Israel.

The archaeological record shows the mines in Timna Valley were built and operated by a local society, likely the early Edomites, who are known to have occupied the land and formed a kingdom that rivaled Judah. The unearthed materials and the lack of architectural remains at the Slaves' Hill support the idea that the locals were a semi-nomadic people who lived in tents.

The findings from the Slaves' Hill confirm those of a 2009 dig Ben-Yosef helped to conduct at "Site 30," another of the largest ancient smelting camps in Timna Valley. Then a graduate student of Prof. Thomas E. Levy at the University of California, San Diego, he helped demonstrate that the copper mines in the valley dated from the 11th to 9th centuries BCE — the era of Kings David and Solomon — and were probably Edomite in origin. The findings were reported in the journal The American Schools of Oriental Research in 2012, but the publication did little to shake the notion that the mines were Egyptian, based primarily on the discovery of an Egyptian Temple in the center of the valley in 1969.

Power without stone

The Slaves' Hill dig also demonstrates that the society in Timna Valley was surprisingly complex. The smelting technology was relatively advanced and the layout of the camp reflects a high level of social organization. Impressive cooperation would have been required for thousands of people to operate the mines in the middle of the desert.

"In Timna Valley, we unearthed a society with undoubtedly significant development, organization, and power," says Ben-Yosef. "And yet because the people were living in tents, they would have been transparent to us as archaeologists if they had been engaged in an industry other than mining and smelting, which is very visible archaeologically."

Although the society likely possessed a degree of political and military power, archaeologists would probably never have found evidence of its existence if it were not for the mining operation. Ben-Yosef says this calls into question archaeology's traditional assumption that advanced societies usually leave behind architectural ruins. He also says that the findings at the Slaves' Hill undermine criticisms of the Bible's historicity based on a lack of archaeological evidence. It's entirely possible that David and Solomon existed and even that they exerted some control over the mines in the Timna Valley at times, he says.

Dr. Ben-Yosef is leading another dig at the Slaves' Hill in the winter and is looking for volunteers.

Source: American Friends of Tel Aviv University [September 03, 2013]