The mummy's curse: historical cohort study

[ASCLEPIADES]

Mark R Nelson

 

Objective: To examine survival of individuals exposed to the "mummy's curse" reputedly associated with the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamen in Luxor, Egypt, between February 1923 and November 1926.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: 44 Westerners identified by Howard Carter as present in Egypt at the specified dates, 25 of whom were potentially exposed to the curse.

Main outcome measures: Length of survival after date of potential exposure.

Results: In the 25 people exposed to the curse the mean age at death was 70 years (SD 12) compared with 75 (13) in those not exposed (P=0.87 for difference). Survival after the date of exposure was 20.8 (15.2) v 28.9 (13.6) years respectively (P=0.95 for difference). Female sex was a predictor for survival (P=0.02).

Conclusions: There was no significant association between exposure to the mummy's curse and survival and thus no evidence to support the existence of a mummy's curse.

 

FULL ARTICLE IS HERE.

 

Salve, guys! What do you think about this study?

[Marcus Caelius]

Salve, guys! What do you think about this study?

 

I didn't read the article (you have to register), but your synopsis doesn't mention anything new. See, for example, Wikipedia under "Curse of the Pharaohs." The Wiki article does mention mold, and I can attest to the at least partial truth of that: my wife is deathly allergic to mold and cannot go into the Egyptian rooms of most museums.

 

Disclaimer: I only mention Wiki for convenience. I've known about the "curse" and the actual story for several years.

[Rameses the Great]

That is because the Westerners usually just opened the thousands of years old tombs. Zahi Hawass told them if they are to discover any tombs to open them, let the bad air out and let the good air come in. It's not a curse for crying out loud, it's the fact that the age old tomb has bad air that is harmful to anyone's health.

[Marcus Caelius]

Thinking about the mold a moment, just suppose tomb robbers opened an older tomb. I'm just guessing, here, but I'll bet most tomb robbers lived in comparatively small villages, the kind where everyone was related to everyone else, and allergies often run in families. Anyway, they rob a tomb that's been sitting for a while and most of the party get really sick while they're in there. Sounds like a plausible birth to the legend of the Pharoah's Curse.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, guys! Following, the full article (part1 ):

BMJ 2002;325:1482-1484 ( 21 December )

The mummy's curse: historical cohort study

Mark R Nelson, NHMRC fellow.

Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Alfred Hospital, Prahran 3181, Australia

mark.nelson@med.monash.edu.au

"Can you see anything?" It was all I could do to get out the words, "Yes, wonderful things."

Howard Carter1

The death in 1923 of George Herbert (Lord Carnarvon), the financier of the expedition that unearthed the tomb of Tutankhamen, unleashed a sensation in the international newspapers. He had developed erysipelas at the site of a mosquito bite, which resulted in septicaemia and pneumonia. The speculation was that his death was due to a "mummy's curse." The press reports of the time had the death of every man and his dog being associated with the curse, no matter how obscure the connection. This was literally the case for Lord Carnarvon as his three legged canine was said to have bayed at the very time his master succumbed and promptly turned up his paws.

As Alb Lythgoe, another individual exposed to the tomb, lay in his hospital bed dying from a stroke, Herbert Winlock, the Director of the Egyptian Section of the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York, felt compelled to refute the so called curse.2 He pointed out that at the time (1934) only six of the original 24 people present when the tomb was opened had died. He noted also that Carter had had swabs taken from the sarcophagus and sampled "specimens of air" because of fear of contagion but these had been "absolutely sterile." While we may doubt the veracity of the last statement it is fair to say that there was considerable scepticism by those considered at risk. However the mummy's curse still persists as an urban myth. I investigated whether such a phenomenon exists by comparing the survival of those exposed and unexposed to the mummy's curse using a retrospective cohort design.

Most tombs in Egypt were opened and ransacked in ancient times, usually as "inside jobs" soon after burial. Therefore it is impossible to ascertain if the mummy's curse also applied to these grave robbers. In modern times only one pharaoh's tomb has been discovered relatively undisturbed, that of Tutankhamen. It was found in November 1922 by the British archaeologist Howard Carter, unobtrusively concealed by 20th Dynasty workers' huts in the Valley of the Kings, Luxor. He was leading a dig under the patronage of Lord Carnarvon.

TO BE CONTINUED

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, guys! Following, the full article (part 2 ):

Methods

The mummy's curse is assumed to be a physical rather than a metaphysical entity and therefore only those people physically present at the breach of sacred seals in a previously undisturbed area of the pharaoh's tomb were deemed at risk. It is also assumed that exposure is finite so only those who visit and enter the same day were said to be exposed. The tomb of Tutankhamen had been raided in ancient times, possibly on more than one occasion (fig 1). Therefore the opening of the first door, clearing of the passageway, the opening of the second and fourth door, and the clearing of the antechamber and annexe were not thought to put individuals at risk.

I defined exposure to the curse as those Western individuals recorded in the writings of Howard Carter as present at the breaking of the seals and the opening of the third door on 17 February 1923, the opening of the sarcophagus on 3 February 1926, the opening of the coffins on 10 October 1926, and the examination of the mummy on 11 November 1926. 1 3 4 Thus people could have had from one to four exposures to the curse.

For unexposed individuals I used Westerners recorded in Carter's writings as being in Egypt at the time but not recorded by him to have been present at the site at the aforementioned times. I included only Western individuals in the analysis as documentation of this group was more likely to be complete and the life expectancy of Egyptians would be expected to differ from that of Westerners.

Dates of birth and death were identified by biographical texts, newspaper obituaries (the Times, New York Times, Le Monde) and a Google web based search.5-16 I searched with the keywords archaeology, Egyptology, personal name, Egypt, Tutankhamun, and Tutankhamen. For non-archaeologists I searched genealogy, royal, military, and other occupational websites. When I could not establish precise dates, individuals were assumed to have been born or died on June 30 of the year recorded.

Women were mostly ignored in the biographical texts of the time. Therefore it was often possible to identify a date of marriage only through a husband's entry. In such circumstances I assumed a woman to have been born at least 16 years (the legal age for marriage) before this date.

Data were analysed with SPSS for Windows (version 11.0.0). I divided records into those who survived less than or greater than 10 years. I chose the cut off of 10 years because if there was an effect of exposure this would probably occur in the first 10 years. Comparisons were then made by age, sex, and exposure. Survival was analysed by any or no exposure and by number of exposures by logistic regression

TO BE CONTINUED

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, guys! I will post a little later the remaining of this article.

MC, as you can see, it has nothing to do with molds.

Read it, don't be lazy.

[Marcus Caelius]

"However the mummy's curse still persists as an urban myth."

 

Do you have a point to make?

[ASCLEPIADES]

"However the mummy's curse still persists as an urban myth."

 

Do you have a point to make?

The phrase that you underline is not from me, but from the author (Dr. MR Nelson).

His e-mail is posted at the heading of the article, so you can make this question directly to him.

Please be patient, I will post soon the remaining of the article.

Good luck!

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, guys! Here is the third part of the article:

 

Results

Carter recorded the presence of 44 Westerners in Egypt at the relevant time, of whom 25 were potentially exposed to the mummy's curse. They were members and relatives of Carnarvon's and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's excavation teams, the press, Belgian royalty, British officials and dignitaries, and experts employed by the Egyptian government. I established dates of death for all of those exposed and 11 (58%) of those not. The table lists the characteristics and mean survival of exposed and unexposed groups. Figure 3 shows a dose-survival plot for those exposed to the curse. There were no significant differences for the four groups (analysis of variance F=1.03, P=0.41). Female sex was a significant predictor of survival (38 v 21 years, P=0.017). Adjustment for age and sex, any exposure, or the number of times exposed did not confer additional risk for early (within 10 years) death (odds ratio 1.38, 95% confidence interval 0.20 to 9.6). There was also no effect on survival time for any exposure or number of exposures.

Discussion

The mummy's curse is now widely accepted to be derived from fictional literature. In 1869 Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, had written a short story called "Lost in a Pyramid: the Mummy's Curse."17 An alternative source may have been a tale related by the US painter Joseph Smith (1863-1950), who told of a curse on the heretic king Akhenaton, Tutankhamen's father-in-law. Akhenaton (ruled 1353-35 BC) displaced the traditional pantheistic worship by combining the hundreds of deities into one: Ra, the disc of the sun.18 On his demise the vengeful priests were said to have damned "his body and soul . . . to wander separately in space and never to be reunited for all eternity." Tutankhamen inherited the throne through marriage to the third daughter of Akhenaton after the death of the older two daughters. There is speculation that the priests had Tutankhamen murdered to further their own ambitions.19 The chief priest, Ay, inherited the throne on Tutankhamen's death.

Howard Carter was a professional archaeologist and therefore had no time for the curse, declaring that "all sane people should dismiss such inventions with contempt."16 He had meticulously and carefully excavated the tomb to allow photographic recording of the exact position where objects were found and the preservation of items and the tomb itself. This was a painstaking process conducted over several years, interrupted by political infighting over who had the right to exploit such a find. He received assistance from American experts from the neighbouring excavation of the Egyptian Department, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and officials and employees of the Egyptian government. These groups made up the bulk of the cohort studied.

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED

[M. Porcius Cato]

Were there more women in the unexposed group than the exposed group? I'm guessing that the nominal difference b/w groups is attributable to the fact that the women (who typically live longer) who were joining the expedition were less likely to be exposed to the tomb interior.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, guys! Finally, here's the last part of the article:

 

Limitations of study

My study has several limitations. Exposed people were more likely to be involved with the dig and therefore be mentioned in print. Hence there was a difference in the completeness and accuracy of data between the exposed and unexposed groups. There was a sex difference as spouses of professionals in the 1920s was more likely to be women and therefore over-represented in the unexposed group. The definition of exposure may also be questioned with the possibility of contamination of the "unexposed" if the curse acted longer or more widely. Carter recorded that the season after the discovery saw over 12 000 visitors to the site and therefore in the absence of an ensuing epidemic it was thought to be reasonable to limit the period to one day. The small numbers analysed, however, resulted in wide confidence intervals, and the study may have been underpowered to show a more subtle adverse effect.

 

Conclusion

An Egyptian archaeological dig in the 1920s was inhabited by interesting characters and it was this and the circumstances of the archaeological find of the modern age that has kept the myth of the mummy's curse in the public eye. I found no evidence for its existence. Perhaps finally it, like the tragic boy king Tutankhamen, may be put to rest.

 

References

1. Carter H. The tomb of Tutankhamen. London: Century Publishing, 1983.

2. Curse of the pharaoh denied by Winlock. New York Times 1934 Jan 26;19-20.

3. Malek J, ed. Howard Carter's personal diaries of the first excavation season in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Part 1, October 28 to December 31. Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1922. www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/gri/4sea1not.html (accessed Aug 2002).

4. Malek J, ed. Howard Carter's personal diaries of the first excavation season in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Part 2, January 1 to May 31. Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1923. www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/gri/4sea1no2.html (accessed Aug 2002).

5. Dawson WR, Uphill EP. Bierbrier ML, ed. Who was who in egyptology. 3rd ed. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1995.

6. Who was who. 4th ed. , Vol II. 1916-1928 London: A&C Black, 1967.

7. Who was who. 2nd ed. , Vol III. 1929-1940 London: A&C Black, 1967.

8. Who was who. 5th ed. , Vol IV. 1941-1950 London: A&C Black, 1980.

9. Who was who. 4th ed. , Vol V. 1951-1960 London: A&C Black, 1984.

10. Who was who. , Vol VI. 1961-1970 London: A&C Black, 1972.

11. Who was who. , Vol VII. 1971-1980 London: A&C Black, 1981.

12. Who was who in America. , Vol 1. 1897-1942 Chicago: Marquis Publications, 1966.

13. Debrett's peerage and baronetage. London, Macmillan , 1995.

14. Debrett's baronetage, knightage and companionage. London: Macmillan, 1995.

15. Burke's peerage and baronetage. 105th ed. London: Burke's Peerage, 1975.

16. Reeves N. The complete Tutankhamun. The king. The tomb. The royal treasure. London: Thames and Hudson, 1995.

17. Montserrat D. Louisa May Alcott and the mummy's curse. KMT A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt 1998; 9: 70-75.

18. France P. The rape of Egypt. London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1991.

19. Brier R. The murder of Tutankhamen: a true story. New York: GP Putnam's Sons, 1998.

[M. Porcius Cato]

There was a sex difference as spouses of professionals in the 1920s was more likely to be women and therefore over-represented in the unexposed group.

Aha! Just as I thought. Aside from there being more women in the unexposed group, the exposed group was at no higher risk of premature mortality than anyone else. No need for the mold theory, or the curse theory, or whatever nefarious vector you'd like to imagine--if the exposed group didn't die early, there's nothing to be explained.

[ASCLEPIADES]

There was a sex difference as spouses of professionals in the 1920s was more likely to be women and therefore over-represented in the unexposed group.

Aha! Just as I thought. Aside from there being more women in the unexposed group, the exposed group was at no higher risk of premature mortality than anyone else. No need for the mold theory, or the curse theory, or whatever nefarious vector you'd like to imagine--if the exposed group didn't die early, there's nothing to be explained.

Indeed, that is exactly the conclusion of Dr. Nelson and his team: there is no need to explain a curse simply because there is no curse at all. The "exposed group" had the same risk of death than the "unexposed".

PS: There is still some additional material. I will upload it soon.

[ASCLEPIADES]

SOMEBODY HEEELP!

I am still unable to upload pictures; the following links go to the 2 figures that complete this article, and I will ask for your help to set them in this thread:

Fig. 1. Tutankhamen's tomb

and

Fig. 2. Dose effect of exposure to mummy's curse and mean survival

Thanks in advance.