November 4th marks the date in November of 1922 that King Tut’s tomb was first discovered. According to Discovery Channel,“King Tutankhamen, a boy king who reigned from around 1361 B.C. until his death at the age of 18, was a pharaoh in the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. His tomb, located in the Valley of Kings, was discovered in 1922, and aside from taking the archaeological community by storm, the find caused increased fascination with archaeology among the general public. With its 2,000 treasures, King Tut’s tomb was the richest Egyptian tomb that had ever been discovered; it allowed archaeologists and historians to see for the first time many artifacts that they had previously only read about. Archaeologist Howard Carter from Britain discovered the tomb with financing from the Earl of Carnarvon. Tutankhamen’s treasures had lain intact for more than 3,000 years.”
Perhaps the finding of the tomb in 1922 created a major interest in archaeology, but it doesn’t seem to have waned much since! The section in our non-fiction area that houses books on Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome is very popular with school-age children, and not just for school-related assignments–kids love to browse the section just because the subject is interesting. In addition to tombs, mummies, and pyramids; the mythology, art, and hieroglyphics are interesting to kids of most ages.
In this day of CCSS (Common Core State Standards) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), teachers may be looking for ways to tie in quality non-fiction texts into their everyday lessons. Doing a social studies unit on Ancient Egypt and the discovery of King Tut’s tomb would be fun and educational. Check out our extensive selection of books on Ancient Egypt!
Here are some interactive projects you could do with your children:
- Try some hands-on building of pyramids
- Research hieroglyphics and make some of your own
- Talk about the mummification process and why it worked so well
- Make artifacts out of salt dough and hold your own archaeological dig in clean play sand
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