‘Tomb raiding should come with a health warning’
Mysterious deaths surrounding the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb have led many to believe in a curse. The boy pharaoh is one of the very first victims of fake news, writes James Rampton
The creator of Sherlock Holmes, perhaps the most celebrated writer on the planet at the time, was responsible for supercharging the myth of the curse of Tutankhamun.
More than anyone, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle helped promote the story that those who had unsealed the tomb of the youthful pharaoh in 1922 had brought back from his grave not only the most wondrous treasures the ancient world had ever given up but also the most pitiless curse.
Once those associated with the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb started to die in what appeared to be mysterious circumstances, Sir Arthur couldn’t help himself. He put rocket boosters underneath the yarn of the curse. In doing so, he granted the rest of the world permission to print the legend.
As the author and journalist Tim Tate puts it, “What really gave the story of the curse its big kick forward was Conan Doyle’s claim that these deaths were caused by what he called ‘an evil elemental spirit’.
“When you’ve got one of the most famous authors in the world – albeit one with a gullibility and susceptibility for tall tales – saying, ‘Oh, there was an evil elemental spirit which caused these deaths,’ that’s going to propel a story forward.”
Tate adds: “You can imagine going to the news editor of the day and saying, ‘I’ve got this story about this terrible curse affecting people on the Tutankhamun expedition.’ ‘Who’s on the record?’ ‘We’ve got Conan Doyle.’ ‘Great!’ For him to give his imprimatur to this notion of a curse is exactly what the tale needs to give it legs. It’s going to give it the fuel to go around the world.”
Thanks to Sir Arthur, the idea of the curse has remained prominent in the public imagination for more than a century. If anything, its strength has only intensified over the decades, as it has inspired Hollywood blockbusters such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Mummy.
However, recent evidence suggests that there may be another, more rational explanation for the apparent hex. The findings – which involve a substance as mundane as black mould – are helping to debunk the myth of the curse.
In the early 20th century, there was an obsession with all things ancient Egypt that sparked the frenzied exploration of the Valley of the Kings. The most coveted prize of all was the tomb of Tutankhamun, which had lain undisturbed for 3,500 years. A global scramble ensued to uncover the greatest trove of ancient treasures the world had ever seen.
On 4 November 1922, the British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the site. When he forced open a small gap in the doorway and was able to look into the tomb with a lighted candle, his sponsor Lord Carnarvon asked him, “Can you see anything?”
Carter’s answer has since become world-famous: “Yes, wonderful things!” He wasn’t wrong. Over 5,000 artefacts that had sat there untouched for more than three millennia were recovered, unmatched in their glittering glory.
At that moment, the story instantly became a global news sensation, as people grasped the immense significance of the find and were awestruck by its sheer splendour. As Tate puts it: “The treasure of Tutankhamun has become the biggest draw in archaeological history ever.
“The most famous pieces of Tutankhamun’s treasure, particularly the face mask, have become so well known, so publicised, that they now serve almost as a shorthand for the entire rule of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt.”
Egyptologist Hilary Wilson reflects on the historic discovery. “That moment must have been fantastic, the culmination of all Carter’s and Carnarvon’s hopes. But it was also the start of a journey that neither of them expected.”
They certainly never saw the “curse of Tutankhamun” coming. As soon as the story of their find flew around the world, the idea of the ancient hex – which was to become the most notorious curse in history – took root.
Newspapers immediately splashed with garish headlines, such as: “Curse of the Pharaohs”, “Vengeance of King Tut Is Seen as Death List Mounts” and, most bizarrely, “Famous Spiritualist Sees Occult Reason for Fatality”.
The notion of a curse was bolstered when, very soon after the discovery of the tomb, reportedly mysterious deaths began to happen to members of Carter’s team. For instance, having telegraphed Carnarvon to inform him that the expedition might have located Tutankhamun’s tomb, Carter returned to his Cairo home to find the remains of his beloved pet canary lying on the floor of his study.
It was the way the bird had perished that caused many to think it was an ill omen. The canary had been devoured by a cobra – a creature emblematic of the rage of the pharaohs.
Concerned about the import of this event, Carter’s Egyptian staff told him that the snake had been sent as a warning not to disturb the tomb, but he brushed aside their concerns.
The canary was not the only creature linked to the Tutankhamun expedition to die. Just four months after the successful excavation of the tomb, Lord Carnarvon passed away in seemingly strange circumstances.
After being bitten by a mosquito, Carnarvon cut the bite with his razor while shaving. Little did he know, but this small nick would trigger a severe blood infection. Following a high fever, the earl died in Cairo. At that very moment, it is said that, for no discernible reason, all the lights went out in the Egyptian capital.
Meanwhile, back in England, his servant claimed that at the time of Carnarvon’s death, his beloved terrier, Susy, awoke in the night to howl with grief, before keeling over.
The apparently inexplicable deaths do not end there. British archaeologist Hugh Evelyn-White, a member of Carter’s team, committed suicide in 1924, leaving a note which supposedly read: “I have succumbed to a curse.”
Carter’s secretary Richard Bethell was the second person to go into Tutankhamun’s tomb, right behind the expedition leader. In 1929, Bethell’s body was discovered in his room at a gentlemen’s club in London. He had been smothered, and his murder has not been solved to this day. The list goes on. Some commentators believe the alleged curse claimed more than 25 lives.
How did the notion of the curse take such a strong hold in the public imagination, then? For a start, people set a lot of store by the existence of curses inscribed at the entrance of the tombs of ancient Egyptians, who were fascinated by magic and sorcery.
For those already predisposed to put faith in the concept of a curse, these inscriptions only served to ramp up its potency. According to Egyptologist Dr Chris Naunton, “It didn’t take very much for people to believe it. Certainly, the death of someone very closely involved with Tutankhamun’s tomb would be enough for people to think, ‘Yup, obviously this is to do with the curse.’”
Another explanation for the fact so many bought into the curse is the idea that people yearn to believe in something out of this world. David Howard, the series creator and director of Cursed Treasures, an enlightening new Sky History documentary about hexes, including the curse of Tutankhamun, muses, “People have an inherent need to believe that there is something different, something special, something far out there. That comforts them.
“Most people live in a very simple, functional, often stressful way. So these beliefs are a form of escapism that connects them in the way that religion used to. With all these curses and conspiracies, it’s not a matter of fact, it’s a matter of faith.”
For all that, there are now many reasons to view the so-called curse as pure nonsense. Chief among those is recent scientific studies revealing that two types of common mould – Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus – have been discovered in the sarcophagi of ancient Egypt. Experts have concluded that these two varieties of fungi can be responsible for numerous allergic reactions, including chest congestion and pulmonary haemorrhaging.
In a letter to The Lancet, the doctors Sherif El-Tawil and Tariq El-Tawil say: “Potentially harmful fungi survive for extreme lengths of time in tombs, and results of research indicate that such prolonged phases of dormancy can result in increased virulence.”
Aspergillus, they continue, “grows especially well on grain, the supply of which was abundant in Tutankhamun’s tomb, with offerings of bread and raw grains stored in numerous baskets. Lord Carnarvon could readily have inhaled contaminated grain dust as the sealed tomb was broken into.” Science trumps superstition.
Many now give credence to the theory that several of Carter’s party were killed by the black mould. “I think it’s almost certainly true,” says Howard. “You can definitely trace a lot of the initial deaths and illnesses back to the contamination of the lungs by the mould – especially as you’re looking at a time in history when modern medicine was still in its infancy.” Antibiotics, for example, had yet to be invented.
“So the diagnosis of conditions and their treatment were almost impossible, particularly in that environment in Egypt. We forget how many people used to actually die of dysentery and all sorts of other conditions when they were on these expeditions. It was an unhealthy business. Everybody who did it really did put their life on the line. So tomb raiding should come with a health warning.”
Tate chips in: “The black mould is a tenable, viable theory. Pretty much always, if you look carefully enough, you’ll either find a really rather dull, prosaic explanation, or you’ll find a horrendous newspaper invention.”
Horrendous newspaper inventions certainly played their part in inflating the myth of the curse of the boy king. Dr Campbell Price, curator of Egypt at the Manchester Museum, says, “The finding of the tomb of Tutankhamun wasn’t just the first big archaeological story in history; it was the first big news story in history. The glamour, the gold – it was absolutely spectacular, and it was absolutely made for news consumption.”
The newspapers cashed in big time on the story of the century. “Almost all of the more sensational rumours, myths, stories surrounding this can be traced back to some pretty yellow journalism,” says Tate. “The story of the Tutankhamun curse was merely a symptom of the old saw that a lie goes around the world before the truth gets its boots on.
“The one certain thing in all of this pantheon of cursed mythology is that no newspaper editor or publisher ever went broke by publishing fanciful stories of mysterious, supernatural curses dating back millennia. It’s a surefire way of boosting circulation and sales. That, in my view, is the origin of the curse of Tutankhamun.”
There are definite echoes between then and now. In many ways, we haven’t changed at all. We are still prone to fall for the kind of misinformation promulgated on social media.
Tate observes: “What struck me is the parallel between the stories and ‘reporting’ of these curses that afflict people who dig up buried treasure, and the modern curse of Facebook and TikTok and the bogus, viral stories they put out. What you’re looking at is an early version of Twitter.”
Another cause behind the ill fortune besetting Carter’s team is the fact many of them were in thrall to that cardinal sin – greed. Tate says, “The great curse afflicting those searching for buried treasure is not supernatural. It’s the very human curse of greed. It’s something that’s existed from the dawn of time. It’s the nature of humans, you might argue.”
It is quite possible to understand why the story of the curse of Tutankhamun has gripped so many for so long. “What makes this stuff so long-lasting and so difficult to knock down is that they’re bloody good tales,” Tate asserts. “They’re great newspaper articles and sensational stories. It’s also why Hollywood loves them – they are mysterious and exciting. But true? God, no!
“I hope people will enjoy this documentary because these are entertaining stories. But I also hope they might pause to think, ‘Hold on a minute. Next time I’m told a story like this which seems so good, I might just question where it came from’.”
There is one simple, overriding reason to dismiss the curse of Tutankhamun as absolute rubbish: statistics. Tate explains: “One thing above all gives the lie to this, and that’s the man who opened the tomb himself, Howard Carter. He went on to live a fairly regular, healthy life. In fact, when he died, he died of natural causes, not a curse.
“And he wasn’t alone. If you add up the number of people who were involved in the dig and the work thereafter, there were more than 80 of them. The vast, vast majority of those people went on to live long, healthy and perfectly happy lives.”
Tate concludes that the whole theory of the curse of Tutankhamun is “Complete and utter bunkum.”
This accords with Carter’s own view. He rejected outright the idea of a curse, writing: “The sentiment of the Egyptologist is not one of fear, but of respect and awe, entirely opposed to foolish superstitions.”
Carter then delivered his succinct, one-word verdict on the supposed curse of Tutankhamun: “Tommyrot.”
‘Cursed Treasures’ is on Sky History, Wednesdays at 9pm. It is also available on catch-up on Sky and Virgin
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