You don't have to travel to Egypt to see what was in King Tut's tomb. Tomorrow, the Putnam Museum in Davenport will open its new exhibit, "The Discovery of King Tut."
Lacy Scarmana reports after seeing the exhibit during today's media tour.
Summary
Mark Lach, the creative director of the exhibit, says it features exact replicas of the artifacts found in the tomb 94 years ago. He visited King Tut's tomb several times. An audio tour will guide visitors to discover King Tut just like Howard Carter.
"We had to make sure that the recreations were done in a perfect kind of way. It's so extraordinary what they have done, this kind of ability to bring the whole story: the discovery of King Tut, the adventures of Howard Carter, the British archeologist who made the discovery, and then objects that will never travel, have never traveled and I'm sure will never travel."
The rest of the exhibit includes shrines, Tut's throne, chariot, golden coffins and the iconic gold death mask.
And the Quad Cities has a local tie to King Tut's tomb because of Palmer College of Chiropractic. Putnam Museum President, Kim Findlay, says B.J. and Mabel Palmer were among only 100 people to ever to see King Tut's tomb exactly as Carter discovered it.
"You can't anymore because all of the objects have been taken out of the tomb, some are in different places around the world. So this exhibition brings them all back together so that each of us is the archeologist who turns the corner and sees exactly what Howard Carter saw when he said, 'I see wonderful things.'"
Experts believe King Tut lived nearly 4,000 years ago. Tickets for The Discovery of King Tut cost $19 for adults, and it runs for the next six months.