Mystery behind ‘boy king’ Tutankhamun death unveiled
London: Forensic science and luck have finally unraveled how “boy King” Tutankhamun died in 1323BC, aged 19.
The mystery behind his death deepened after archaeologist Lord Carnarvon died in Cairo shortly after he and Howard Carter found Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.
British experts believe that injuries on his body are akin to those sustained in a chariot accident and that his mummification was botched.
Dr Chris Naunton, director of the Egypt Exploration Society, was intrigued when he found references in Carter’s records of the king’s body having been burnt.
A clue came from Dr Robert Connolly, an anthropologist at Liverpool University, who was part of the team that X-rayed his remains in 1968. Among the bones in his office he recently found a piece of Tutankhamun’s flesh, the Independent reported.
Forensic archaeologist Dr Matthew Ponting and Connolly used a scanning electron microscope to determine that the flesh had been burnt.
Working with researchers from the Cranfield Forensic Institute, scientists performed a “virtual autopsy” that revealed a pattern of injuries down one side of his body.
Their tests also explained why Tutankhamun’s mummy was the only pharaoh to be missing its heart, as it was damaged beyond repair.
His injuries have been matched to a specific scenario – with car-crash investigators developing computer simulations of chariot accidents, their results suggest that a chariot smashed into him while he was on his knees, which shattered his ribs and pelvis and crushed his heart. (ANI)
Indian-origin scientist reveals ‘how life began on Earth’
Washington: Indian-origin paleontologist, Dr. Sankar Chatterjee, believes that he has found the answer to the question about how life on Earth began more than 3.8 billion years ago.
Chatterjee, a professor of geoscience at Texas Tech University and curator of paleontology at the Museum Of Texas Tech University argues that in addition to bringing water and the chemical constituents of life, asteroids and meteors made impact craters that became “crucibles” in which chemical reactions that ultimately gave rise to living cells took place, the Huffington Post reported.
He believes that meteorites deposited organic materials in them and then icy comets that crashed into Earth melted, and filled them with water.
He said that additional meteorite strikes made volcanically driven geothermal vents in the Earth’s crust that heated and stirred the water. The “primordial soup” then mixed the chemicals together and led to the formation of molecules of ever increasing complexity–and eventually life. To arrive at this result, Chatterjee studied sites that contained world’s oldest fossils in Greenland, Australia, and South Africa. (ANI)
Murder themes rampant in children’s classic books
Washington: If you thought that modern children’s books are too violent for their young readers, try re-reading classic books for kids from the past.
From Snow White to Tarzan of the Apes to Harry Potter, literature for children and teens has always been awash in violence and murder, according to a new book by Michelle Ann Abate, associate professor of literature for children and young adults at The Ohio State University. (ANI)