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Persons.
On October 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday" descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed due to widespread panic selling, speculators were wiped out, and the Great Depression began.
In 1936, Fortune Magazine hired author James Agee and photographer Walker Evans to document the lives of Alabama sharecroppers. Fortune rejected the final product, however, as too long, but it was published in book form a few years later. Once he got to Alabama, he actually envisioned a three volume set documenting the the three families, but only one was completed. I often cite Let Us Now Praise Famous Men as my favorite nonfiction read, not only for the fantastic prose and photos, but because my maternal ancestors included sharecroppers and small farmers in South Georgia during that time, and I recognize parts of their story. (I even have a passed down iron bed identical to one photographed by Evans.) I also have read 1990's And Their Children After Them by Dale Maharidge that updates the story and James Agee's Cotton Tenants, using previously unpublished text and photos, published in 2013.
Agee (1999-1955) was born in Knoxville Tennessee went to work as a writer for Time and Fortune magazines and became an influential film critic. His novel A Death in the Family, published posthumously, is critically acclaimed and was awarded the 1958 Pulitzer. He was also a screenwriter, writing two of my favorite classics, "The African Queen" and "The Night of the Hunter."
Evans ( 1903-1975) was born in St. Louis, and he worked in libraries until taking up photography at 25. In 1933, he was assigned to photograph Cuba as illustrations for the book The Crime of Cuba, by Carleton Beals. The New Deal provided lots of work for Evans, documenting Depression conditions and New Deal programs in action. After WWII, he continued writing and editing for Time and Fortune, and he became a professor of photography at Yale.
Place.
On October 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday" descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed due to widespread panic selling, speculators were wiped out, and the Great Depression began.
In 1936, Fortune Magazine hired author James Agee and photographer Walker Evans to document the lives of Alabama sharecroppers. Fortune rejected the final product, however, as too long, but it was published in book form a few years later as Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
Alabama was perhaps the hardest hit and longest suffering state in the US during the Great Depression. The fact is many Alabamians, black and white, lived on the edge of poverty even in good times, a situation that had existed ever since the Civil War. The Civil War and Reconstruction had totally disrupted the state's plantation economy, and sharecropping and farm tenancy had replaced plantations, essentially creating a new cycle inescapable poverty for blacks and whites. Add to that the boll weevil infestations of the early 20th century, and Alabama was in dire straits long before the stock market crashed.
Thing.
On October 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday" descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed due to widespread panic selling, speculators were wiped out, and the Great Depression began.
In 1936, Fortune Magazine hired author James Agee and photographer Walker Evans to document the lives of Alabama sharecroppers. Fortune rejected the final product, however, as too long, but it was published in book form a few years later as Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
Sharecropping developed across the South after the Civil War. Plantation owners lost their forced labor due to the abolition of slavery, and poor blacks and whites had no money with which to purchase or to rent their own land and pay all of the expenses of a family. Planters might offer a deal, with an official contract signed by the sharecroppers who may or may not have known what they were signing.
In the contract, the landowner would usually agree to provide a home, equipment, seeds, fertilizer, maybe a mule. In return, the sharecroppers would plant and grow crops specified by the landowner and agree to give some fraction of the future harvest to the landowner.
Landowners often extended credit to sharecroppers in their own stores so that the families could purchase food, household essentials, clothing, and cloth. The store kept running tabs for each family. At harvest time the value of the crop share was applied toward the year's credit. Usually, the credit exceeded the share, and the cropper had to abide by the agreement for another year. Sharecroppers were often stuck in a neverending cycle of poverty and indebtedness, leading many to call sharecropping "slavery by another name."
Person.
Steve Allen, one of the great pioneers of television, a true Renaissance Man, died as the result of a car accident on October 30, 2000 at age 78. He was a radio and tv star, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. He was the co-creator and first host of The Tonight Show, the first late-night tv show.
He was born in New York City to a husband and wife vaudeville team. Milton Berle called his mother Isabelle "the funniest woman in vaudeville." He ran away from home at 16 and made his way to Phoenix, landing a radio job. He then moved to Los Angeles and became a radio announcer and then the host of a man-on-the-street interview show, which later became a major part of his television shows. His TV man-on-the-street spots introduced America to greats like Tom Poston, Don Knotts, Louis Nye, Bill Dana, and Pat Harrington. His show was also Elvis Presley's second national TV appearance. He produced TV shows and made regular appearances on TV through the 1980s. Dozens and dozens of performers from all genres of entertainment were either introduced or inspired by him.
From 1977 to 1981, he created, wrote, and produced a series on PBS called Meeting of Minds in which he served as moderator as a small group of famous and infamous historical figures came together for a roundtable discussion of topics like racism, sexism, crime and punishment, slavery, and religious tolerance. (And the shows inspired a few activities I used in my classroom from time to time.)
The MOM scripts have been collected and published in four volumes, and you may be able to find an episode or two on YouTube or some other source.
Place.
Steve Allen, one of the great pioneers of television, a true Renaissance Man, died as the result of a car accident on October 30, 2000 at age 78. He was a radio and tv star, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. He was the co-creator and first host of The Tonight Show, the first late-night tv show.
According to his own estimate, Allen was a prolific composer who wrote more than 8,500 songs, although only a small fraction of them was ever recorded. In one famous stunt, he made a bet with singer-songwriter Frankie Laine that he could write 50 songs a day for a week. Composing on public display in the window of Wallich's Music City, a Hollywood music store, Allen met the quota and won $1,000 from Laine. One of the songs, "Let's Go to Church (Next Sunday Morning)" became a chart hit for the duo of Jimmy Wakely and Margaret Whiting, hitting #13 pop and #2 country in 1950. Allen continued writing music his entire life. There weren't any really huge hits, but he had songs recorded by top artists and wrote ad jingles, music for TV shows, and songs for two Broadway musicals.
From 1977 to 1981, he created, wrote, and produced a series on PBS called Meeting of Minds in which he served as moderator as a small group of famous and infamous historical figures came together for a roundtable discussion of topics like racism, sexism, crime and punishment, slavery, and religious tolerance. (And the shows inspired a few activities I used in my classroom from time to time.)
The MOM scripts have been collected and published in four volumes, and you may be able to find an episode or two on YouTube or some other source.
Things.
Steve Allen, one of the great pioneers of television, a true Renaissance Man, died as the result of a car accident on October 30, 2000 at age 78. He was a radio and tv star, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. He was the co-creator and first host of The Tonight Show, the first late-night tv show.
Even if you know about Steve Allen, I bet you didn't know that he had a major impact on professional wrestling. Allen's first television experience came in 1949, when he answered an advertisement for a television announcer for professional wrestling. Knowing nothing about wrestling, he watched some shows to gain insight and discovered that the announcers did not have well defined names for the wrestling holds: when he got the job, he created names for many of the holds, some of which still are in use. After the first match got underway, Allen began ad-libbing in a comedic style that had audiences outside the arena laughing. An example:
Leone gives Smith a full nelson now, slipping it up from either a half-nelson or an Ozzie Nelson. Now the boys go into a double pretzel bend with variations on a theme by Veloz and Yolanda. (Wikipedia)
From 1977 to 1981, he created, wrote, and produced a series on PBS called Meeting of Minds in which he served as moderator as a small group of famous and infamous historical figures came together for a roundtable discussion of topics like racism, sexism, crime and punishment, slavery, and religious tolerance. (And the shows inspired a few activities I used in my classroom from time to time.)
The MOM scripts have been collected and published in four volumes, and you may be able to find an episode or two on YouTube or some other source.
Persons
On October 31, 1846, a group of families headed to California made winter camp in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. They were soon snowbound because they had elected to take the Hastings cutoff, a new route promoted by riders delivering flyers to wagon trains. They left the larger train and unknowingly added 150 miles and doubling the usual trip time of between 4 to 6 months. They lost wagons and animals along the way. Snowbound, they are all surviving animals, belts,and shoe leather before they began to eat their dead companions. Of the 87 original members of the Donner or Donner-Reed Party, 48 survived, reached by the first rescue party in February 1847.
The party had been part of a 500 wagon train that left Independence Missouri in the spring of 1846 in stages. George Donner, his wife and five daughters, his brother Jacob, his wife, seven children, and some hired teamsters joined the James Reed family, their employees and some fifty other wagons leaving Independence in May, the last group to leave for the season. On July 20, the large group voted. The majority opted to follow the known route, passing through Fort Hall. Some of the families, including the Donners and Reeds decided to go via Fort Bridger instead. Pathfinder Jim Bridger knew wagons passing his way meant profits for his trading post, so he urged them to take the Hastings Cutoff, claiming it would save 350 miles and would be safer. This group made George Dinner and James Read their leaders, and they took the Cutoff route despite warnings of several men familiar with the trail.
After much hardship, they decided to make camp in the Sierra Nevada in late October, using tents and a few ramshackle abandoned cabins. They ate all of their domestic animals, then boiled and roasted leather belts, shoes, harnesses, and rugs before turning to consuming the dead, butchering and drying the meat, ensuring that no family was given their own relative to eat, but survivors challenged the truth of tales of cannibalism for decades.
Place.
On October 31, 1846, a group of families headed to California made winter camp in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. They were soon snowbound because they had elected to take the Hastings cutoff, a new route promoted by riders delivering flyers to wagon trains. They left the larger train and unknowingly added 150 miles and doubling the usual trip time of between 4 to 6 months. They lost wagons and animals along the way. Snowbound, they are all surviving animals, belts,and shoe leather before they began to eat their dead companions. Of the 87 original members of the Donner or Donner-Reed Party, 48 survived, reached by the first rescue party in February 1847.
The party was headed to California from Independence Missouri, normally a journey of 4-6 months on the established trail. They left in May, among the last of the season, but still optimistic. In early July, they parted ways with the majority, deciding to follow the Hastings Cutoff, a brand new trail, to Fort Bridger. They expected to find Hastings himself there to guide them, but he left with another party a week earlier. Jim Bridger, a legendary mountain man and owner of Fort Bridger trading post, urged them to continue as he was looking to increase traffic, and profits. They did, and ......
Thing.
On October 31, 1846, a group of families headed to California made winter camp in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. They were soon snowbound because they had elected to take the Hastings cutoff, a new route promoted by riders delivering flyers to wagon trains. They left the larger train and unknowingly added 150 miles and doubling the usual trip time of between 4 to 6 months. They lost wagons and animals along the way. Snowbound, they are all surviving animals, belts,and shoe leather before they began to eat their dead companions. Of the 87 original members of the Donner or Donner-Reed Party, 48 survived, reached by the first rescue party in February 1847.
In 1893, a group decided to raise money to memorialize the ill-fated wagon train. They did it partially by selling small glass bottles of wood splinters and fragments taken from the cabins of the winter camp. The bottles sold for $1 each. Some of them have sold recently at auction for around $300 each.
Daniel James Brown's book, The Indifferent Stars Above, is an excellent book for learning more about the tragedy.
Person.
On or around November 1, 1348, the bubonic plague or Black Death reached London, part of the 1346 to 1353 pandemic that swept through western Eurasia and the deadliest pandemic in recorded history, causing the deaths of 75 to 200 million people.
The plague's arrival in Britain is a major plot point of World Without End, by Ken Follett, the sequel to his The Pillars of the Earth.
Follett is one of the world's most prolific bestselling authors of thrillers and historical fiction, having sold at least 160 million copies of his books around the world. He was born in Cardiff Wales in 1949 and studied philosophy at University College London. After a few years as a journalist, he entered publishing, becoming the deputy managing director of a small London publisher by the late 1970s. He began writing as a hobby, but not seriously pursuing it until he needed money to keep his car running. He wrote spy thrillers. The first st published, Eye of the Needle in 1978, sold over 10 million copies.
After several more Cold War and World War II novels, he published his first non-spy thriller in 1989, The Pillars of the Earth, about the building of a cathedral in 12th century England. It has sold 26 million copies so far. World Without End is its sequel, set 157 years later in the same village.
His Pillars series and The Century trilogy (covering the entire 20th century) are among my favorite reads ever.
Place.
On or around November 1, 1348, the bubonic plague or Black Death reached London, part of the 1346 to 1353 pandemic that swept through western Eurasia and the deadliest pandemic in recorded history, causing the deaths of 75 to 200 million people.
The plague's arrival in Britain is a major plot point of World Without End, by Ken Follett, the sequel to his The Pillars of the Earth.
In the novel, structural problems with the cathedral were inspired by events at the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque province of Araba and seat of the Basque Autonomous Government.
According to the Center for Basque Studies, Follett conducted research trips to Vitoria-Gasteiz for the novel and presented the Spanish translation of the book in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
So if you're ever in Vitoria-Gasteiz, you may just find a statue of Follett in front of the cathedral.
Thing.
On or around November 1, 1348, the bubonic plague or Black Death reached London, part of the 1346 to 1353 pandemic that swept through western Eurasia and the deadliest pandemic in recorded history, causing the deaths of 75 to 200 million people.
The plague's arrival in Britain is a major plot point of World Without End, by Ken Follett, the sequel to his The Pillars of the Earth.
The origin of the Black Death is disputed. The pandemic originated either in Central or East Asia but its first definitive appearance was in Crimea in 1347. From Crimea, it was most likely carried by fleas living on the black ratsthat travelled on Genoese ships, spreading through the Mediterranean Basin and reaching North Africa, Western Asia, and the rest of Europe via Constantinople, Sicily, and the Italian Peninsula There is evidence that once it came ashore, the Black Death mainly spread person-to-person as pneumonic (in aerosol form through air, coughs and sneezes) plague, thus explaining the quick inland spread of the epidemic, which was faster than would be expected if the primary vector was rat fleas causing bubonic plague. In 2022, it was discovered that there was a sudden surge of deaths in what is today Kyrgyzstan from the Black Death in the late 1330s; when combined with genetic evidence, this implies that the initial spread may not have been due to Mongol conquests in the 14th century, as previously speculated. (Wikipedia)
Just in the last week, researchers have suggested that rheumatoid arthritis, Chrohn's Disease, and lupus today may be related to genetic effects from our ancestors who survived bubonic plague.
Person.
A few years ago, we were giving pop-up camping a try, and we stayed in Ocean Springs Mississippi. There, we discovered a little known artist who has become our favorite American Artist, Walter Inglis Anderson. A fantastic new documentary about him was released in 2021, and the companion book, Walter Anderson: The Extraordinary Life and Art of the Islander, is a treasure.
Walter Anderson (1903-1965) was born in New Orleans, and his artistic ability was present as a child. He created projects to convince his parents that he should go to art school. After attending the New York School of Fine and Applied Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, he moved to Ocean Springs where his brother opened the Shearwater Pottery Factory, and he worked as a designer and decorator. He also began painting the natural world around him, particularly that of Horn Island off the coast.
Throughout his life, he was plagued by mental illness, bouts of depression and possibly bipolar disorder, and migraines. He checked himself into mental hospitals several times, leaving when he felt able. He married and fathered several children, who work to continue his legacy today, but there was always a distance. He and his wife lived in separate homes nextdoor to each other, and he often disappeared for days or weeks at a time, rowing out to Horn Island to draw and paint, usually without a tent or other supplies. He once went to the island during a hurricane in order to experience its effects. He became known as the town eccentric, and his children admit to having been embarrassed by what others said of him.
He died of cancer in 1965. His family continues promoting his work and creating their own pottery and paintings. In 2005, much of his work was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, but the Anderson Museum and Shearwater Pottery in Ocean Springs are must-visits if you are in the area.
The Extraordinary Life is full of his work, from cover to cover, as well as stories and memories from his children and his own writings.
Place.
A few years ago, we were giving pop-up camping a try, and we stayed in Ocean Springs Mississippi. There, we discovered a little known artist who has become our favorite American Artist, Walter Inglis Anderson. A fantastic new documentary about him was released in 2021, and the companion book, Walter Anderson: The Extraordinary Life and Art of the Islander, is a treasure.
Anderson spent many days on Horn Island, a barrier island off the coast of Mississippi. It is one of the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands and part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Horn Island is several miles long, but less than a mile wide at its widest point. It occupies about 4.2 square miles.
The Extraordinary Life is full of his work, from cover to cover, as well as stories and memories from his children and his own writings.
Thing.
A few years ago, we were giving pop-up camping a try, and we stayed in Ocean Springs Mississippi. There, we discovered a little known artist who has become our favorite American Artist, Walter Inglis Anderson. A fantastic new documentary about him was released in 2021, and the companion book, Walter Anderson: The Extraordinary Life and Art of the Islander, is a treasure.
From the Walter Anderson Museum of Art website:
"The Little Room served as Walter Anderson’s sanctuary on the mainland during the latter years of his life. To mentally transport himself back to the Eden he had found in nature, Walter Anderson painted the Little Room, floor-to-ceiling murals chronicling the transition from night to day through the synthesis of plants, animals, and brilliant colors. Through the Little Room, Anderson preserved for himself a never-ending connection to the wonders of nature.
During his life, he never allowed anyone but himself, some cats, and the occasional possum to enter the room. After his death in 1965, Walter’s wife opened the door to the Little Room and found these spectacular murals. Covering the floor were thousands of paintings and drawings – including his treasured Horn Island watercolors – some of which Walter had attempted to destroy in the fireplace, and some which he had carefully selected and stored in a chest in the corner. The Little Room is the Museum's crown jewel, the most intimate evidence of Anderson's creative vision and genius."
Person
Last night, we saw the terrific Broadway musical "Six," about the wives of Henry VIII. Actually, it's more of a concert, maybe like a Spice Girls concert, than a Broadway show. Great fun! And November 3, 1534 happens to be the day that Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, making Henry and subsequent monarchs the head of the newly created Church of England.
The recently deceased author Hilary Mantel published a highly acclaimed fictionalized history of the Henry-Anne Boleyn years, told from the viewpoint of one of Henry's chief ministers, Thomas Cromwell. It's called the Wolf Hall Trilogy.
Cromwell (c. 1485-1540) played an instrumental role in the English Reformation and in the establishment of the Church of England. He served in various bureaucratic and parliamentary positions to become a trusted advisor to Lord Chancellor Cardinal Wolsey, overseer the dissolution of nearly thirty Catholic monasteries and seizing their assets to enrich both Wolsey and Henry VIII, and the King rewarded him with numerous appointments. When Wolsey fell from the King's grace and was ousted from power, Cromwell expertly distanced himself from his former patron and became the King's favorite and chief minister.
It was Cromwell who deftly maneuvered Henry's annulment to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, the break from Rome and creation of the Church of England, and the passage of the Act of Supremacy. Although he had done the king's bidding and paved the way for Henry to marry Anne Boleyn, Cromwell detested her. When Henry was done with Boleyn an ready to live in to Jane Seymour, Cromwell made all the arrangements, charging her with adultery, which was high treason when the aggrieved husband is the king, with several men including Princess Elizabeth's music tutor and Anne's own brother, torturing the men into confessions. Cromwell also probably stoked the rumors of Anne's alleged witchcraft. He oversaw Anne's prosecution and execution, only to fall from favor and be executed himself a few years later.
Place.
Last night, we saw the terrific Broadway musical "Six," about the wives of Henry VIII. Actually, it's more of a concert, maybe like a Spice Girls concert, than a Broadway show. Great fun! And November 3, 1534 happens to be the day that Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, making Henry and subsequent monarchs the head of the newly created Church of England.
Thomas Cromwell was Henry's chief minister who oversaw the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, his marriage to Anne Boleyn, her execution, and the creation of the Church of England. Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall Trilogy is an historical fiction account of that time told through Cromwell's eyes.
In the 1530s, Cromwell built a huge 58-room mansion in the London neighborhood called Austin Friars. Unfortunately, he had little time to enjoy it. Cromwell fell from favor because he had pushed Henry to marry wife number 4, Anne of Cleves. Henry felt deceived by Cromwell and Holbein's portrait of her and was embarrassed that he never consummated their marriage. Convicted of various charges, Cromwell spent the last weeks of his life in the Tower of London before his executioner required three blows with an ax to get the job done in July 1540.
Henry VIII then confiscated the mansion and sold it to the Draper's Company, after removing the elegant furnishings and prized damson plum trees from the garden.
Thing.
Last night, we saw the terrific Broadway musical "Six," about the wives of Henry VIII. Actually, it's more of a concert, maybe like a Spice Girls concert, than a Broadway show. Great fun! And November 3, 1534 happens to be the day that Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, making Henry and subsequent monarchs the head of the newly created Church of England.
Thomas Cromwell was Henry's chief minister who oversaw the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, his marriage to Anne Boleyn, her execution, and the creation of the Church of England. Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall Trilogy is an historical fiction account of that time told through Cromwell's eyes.
A carved wooden falcon sold at auction for just $101 in 2019 was once owned by doomed Tudor queen Anne Boleyn, a new analysis suggests. The artifact’s true value is estimated at around $270,000.
When dealer Paul Fitzsimmons of Marhamchurch Antiques first spotted the gilded oak bird, it was covered in a black layer of what may have been soot. Still, he instantly realized that it was a valuable object. Artifacts relating to Boleyn are very rare because Henry VIII made it a point to destroy everything related to her that he could.
At last report, Fitzsimmons planned to offer the piece back to Hampton Court, the palace it originally came from, on a long term loan basis.
Persons.
On November 4, 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the intact tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, the first such undisturbed tomb discovery. The world went Egypt-mad in the 1920s, and Egyptian motifs we're slapped on everything imaginable.
A new book is gaining a lot of attention that focuses on one if the ancient world's most fascinating couples, Akhenaten, believed to have been Tut's father, and his wife, Nefertiti, Egypt's Golden Couple is on my TBR list.
Carter (1874-1939) had very little formal education as a child but showed a talent for art and became interested in all things Egyptian. He accompanied his first expedition at only 17. In 1907, he began working in the Valley of the Kings under the patronage of Lord Carnarvon. On November 4, 1922, the expedition 's water boy literally stumbled on what turned out to be the hidden entrance to a stairway, and the rest is history.
Tut (c. 1341-c. 1323 BC) took the throne at age 8 or 9, and died around age 18. His reign was mostly consumed with undoing what his father Akhenaten had done, although it is not clear how much undoing was his and how much those around him were responsible for.
Akhenaten and Nefertiti had ruled over a huge social revolution in Egyptian history, not only building a new capital city, Amarna, but abandoning traditional polytheism and introducing an entirely new religion, Atenism, worship centered around the sun or Aten, perhaps the first monotheistic religion in the world. Ruling less than twenty years, everything he did as Pharaoh was erased after his death, and Egypt reverted to polytheism. He was lost to history altogether until the late 1800s, referred to in Egyptian archives as "the enemy" or "that criminal." In 1907, a mummy was discovered that is possibly his. DNA shows that the mummy is Tut's father, but it is still not certain that the mummy is Akhenaten.
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On November 4, 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the intact tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, the first such undisturbed tomb discovery. The world went Egypt-mad in the 1920s, and Egyptian motifs we're slapped on everything imaginable.
A new book is gaining a lot of attention that focuses on one if the ancient world's most fascinating couples, Akhenaten, believed to have been Tut's father, and his wife, Nefertiti, Egypt's Golden Couple is on my TBR list.
From Wikipedia:
The tomb of Tutankhamun, also known by its tomb number, KV62, is the burial place of Tutankhamun (reigned c. 1334–1325 BC), a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb consists of four chambers and an entrance staircase and corridor. It is smaller and less extensively decorated than other Egyptian royal tombs of its time, and it probably originated as a tomb for a non-royal individual that was adapted for Tutankhamun's use after his premature death. Like other pharaohs, Tutankhamun was buried with a wide variety of funerary objects and personal possessions, such as coffins, furniture, clothing and jewellery, though in the unusually limited space these goods had to be densely packed. Robbers entered the tomb twice in the years immediately following the burial, but Tutankhamun's mummy and most of the burial goods remained intact. The tomb's low position, dug into the floor of the valley, allowed its entrance to be hidden by debris deposited by flooding and tomb construction. Thus, unlike other tombs in the valley, it was not stripped of its valuables during the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1070 – 664 BC).
Thing.
On November 4, 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the intact tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, the first such undisturbed tomb discovery. The world went Egypt-mad in the 1920s, and Egyptian motifs we're slapped on everything imaginable.
A new book is gaining a lot of attention that focuses on one if the ancient world's most fascinating couples, Akhenaten, believed to have been Tut's father, and his wife, Nefertiti, Egypt's Golden Couple is on my TBR list.
The bust of Nefertiti is a painted stucco-coated limestone sculpture discovered by a German archaeological team in 1912. The work is believed to have been crafted in 1345 BC by Thutmose because it was found in his workshop in Amarna, Egypt. It is one of the most-copied works of ancient Egypt. Nefertiti has become one of the most famous women of the ancient world and an icon of feminine beauty. It is currently displayed in a Berlin museum, but questions over its ownership continue to cause some tensions between Germany and Egypt.
In recent years, various experts have used computer technology to create three-dimensional re-creations of what the real-life Nefertiti looked like, as you see in these photos.
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