← Back to the front page

20 Archaeological Finds That Rewrote History

Khalid Elhassan July 19, 2019 23 min

Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum - Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor — Terracotta Warriors. Global Volunteers

1. King Tut triggered and Egyptomania that continues to this day

All in all, Howard Carter found about 5400 items in Tutankhamen’s tomb. They included a throne, wine jars, statues of various gods and of the king, and even two fetuses that subsequent DNA examination revealed to have been the stillborn offspring of Tutankhamen. It would take Carter nearly a decade before he could finish cataloguing them them all. Amazingly, the rich haul was what was left over after ancient robbers had twice tunneled their way into the tomb. Both times, the robbery was discovered, and the tunnels filled in.

The find triggered a wave of Egyptomania. Tutankhamen came to be known as “King Tut” – a name that was soon appropriated by businesses to brand various products. Ancient Egyptian references made their way into popular culture, and musical hits such as “Old King Tut” became all the rage. Even US president Herbert Hoover caught the Tutankhamen bug, and named his pet dog King Tut.

_________________

Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Ancient History Encyclopedia – Troy

Ancient Origins – Questioning the Mycenaean Death Mask of Agamemnon

Beyond Science, June 1^st, 2017 – Goujian: The Ancient Sword That Defied Time

Discovering Ancient Egypt – Mystery of the Rosetta Stone

Encyclopedia Britannica – Pompeii

History Today, Volume 61, Issue 7, July, 2011 – The Discovery of Machu Picchu

List On Tap – Top 10 Greatest Archaeological Discoveries of All Time

National Geographic – Emperor Qin‘s Tomb

National Geographic History Magazine – Close Call: How Howard Carter Almost Missed King Tut‘s Tomb

Natural History Museum, London – Homo Naledi, Your Most Recently Discovered Human Relative

Natural History Museum, London – Piltdown Man

Smithsonian Magazine, February, 2015 – Decoding the Antikythera Mechanism, the First Computer

Wikipedia – Library of Ashurbanipal

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.