King Tut

On Friday we got to visit the King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.  We went with the school so tickets that would have cost us $36.50 each (and I would have gone at that price!) only cost $11.50.   I've been waiting to see this since I was a little girl.  In elementary school I was a huge Egyptologist.  I read every book on Ancient Egypt my school library had.  When I moved to Arlington in the 6th grade, I spent a lot of time at the Arlington library where I consumed every book they had on Ancient Egypt.   When the King Tut exhibit visited Seattle in 1979, I wanted to go so badly but didn't get to.  I was not to be denied this time!

Apparently this exhibit has more than twice as many objects as when it came to Seattle last time so maybe it was worth the wait.  I was surprised that most of the exhibit didn't have artifacts from Tutankhamun's tomb but included artifacts from many of the pharaohs tombs and temples.  Some of the statues were 5,000 years old.  Amazing!

The school brought 300 people down to the exhibit.  The science center staff told us to line up single file.  This is homeschoolers lining up single file.  We're total rebels!  The staff kept asking us to scrunch together so they could get others schools lined up next to us but once you get 300 people standing 5-6 wide, it's impossible to form a single line.

Finally!

There is no photography allowed inside the exhibit but I found some images of some of our favorite artifacts.

This coffin was for a cat owned by a Pharoh.  They believed cats were deities.  I think cats still believe that!   

This small coffinette held King Tut's stomach.   It was about 18 inches tall.  The Egyptians embalmed four of the organs separately: the stomach, liver, intestines and lungs.  The heart was left in the body because they believed it stored a record of all your good and bad deeds.  They believed that in the judgement hall after death, it could be weighed on the scales of truth.  If it weighed more than a feather, your soul was consumed by Ammut the devourer.  If it weighed less than a feather, you got to go on to the afterlife.  The brain was discarded because they thought it was useless, the only part of the body they did not keep.

A head rest or pillow.  We read a lot about these in Rick Riordan's series the Kane Chronicles.  

Anastaya was able to understand the purposes of a lot of the artifacts we saw and recognize the roles of some of the gods depicted in the artifacts because of those books.

The most famous King Tut artifact of all, his golden funery mask, was not included in the exhibit.  It has become too fragile and has been sent back to Egypt.

Tut's funery mask.  The vulture and the cobra show that he was pharaoh over upper and lower Egypt. 

We did get to see this mask of Psusennes who ruled Egypt for 50 years starting in 1047 B.C.

In contrast, King Tut ruled for only 10 years, dying at the age of 19.  His rule began in 1332 B.C. but he is so much more famous because his is the only intact royal tomb ever found.  It was amazing to look at all the detail on the mask.  It was interesting to think of all the hours craftsman put into creating the works of art that would be sealed up in tombs never to be seen again.  You'll notice that Psusennes' mask only has the cobra which shows he only ruled over lower Egypt.

The exhibit was divided into different galleries.  At each exit, a security guard stood there and would not let any unaccompanied children pass by.  The children found this very irritating because I was going slow.  Isaac later said, "R.J.'s family went through in a half hour and we were there two hours!"  I told him I'd been waiting more than 30 years to get there and I was enjoying myself.

After the visit.  Elizabeth took our photo.

After we finished with the exhibit, we ate a brown bag lunch and headed to see the rest of the Science Center's exhibits.  They were having a special event where different colleges from the area each had booths teaching about life sciences.  Anastaya is very squeamish and didn't want to get too close to any real specimens but Elizabeth was happy to hold a sheep heart and explore the aorta with her fingers.

lunch time entertainment

Enjoying the rest of the science center.

We spent a while in the butterfly house, always a great place to spend a grey day!  

My Isaac was in a mopey mood all day.  I think Isaac C. would have gone into the butterfly house with us but he was trying to be a good friend to our Isaac.  My opinion is, if he wants to be a punk, ignore him!

After some exploring the science center, it was time for an IMAX movie about the mummies of Egypt.  We had Isaac Colson with us and he was so excited because he'd never been to an IMAX movie before.  Afterwards he decided that if he ever gets rich, he's going to rent an IMAX theater for gaming purposes.  

Heading back to the car.  Isaac Colson thought it was amazing to be this close to the Space Needle.  Although, he didn't think it was so great to be using the restroom with a homeless person sleeping in one of the stalls. 

It was so great to see the exhibit.  When it leaves Seattle on January 6, 2013, it returns to Egypt forever.  The kids told me that they think I should get a chance to see the artifacts again, in Egypt.  They're willing to accompany me on my dime.  Sounds like an amazing trip, too bad I don't have a newspaper route anymore.  That would be a lot of years delivering papers at 10 cents each!