Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 3 – Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues (A.R. Williams) Extract/Passage based question Answers

 

NCERT Solutions For Class 11 English

Hornbill

Chapter 3 – Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues (A.R. Williams)

Extract/Passage based question Answers

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow :

Passage 1.

He was just a teenager when he died. The last heir of a powerful family that had ruled Egypt and its empire for centuries, he was laid to rest laden with gold and eventually forgotten. Since the discovery of his tomb in 1922, the modem world has speculated about what happened to him, with murder being the most extreme possibility. Now, leaving his tomb for the first time in almost 80 years, Tut has undergone a CT scan that offers new clues about his life and death and provides precise data for an accurate forensic reconstruc¬tion of the boyish pharaoh.

Questions :

(i) What led to Tut being referred to as the final heir?

(ii) When did Tut pass away, and how was his burial conducted?

(iii) What speculations has the contemporary world made regarding King Tut?

 (iv) For what reason did Tut's mummy undergo a CT scan?

(v) Form nouns from the following verbs. (a) ruled (b) speculated.

 

Answers :

(i) Tut has earned the title of the last heir due to his demise as a teenager without leaving any offspring or descendants.

(ii) Tut passed away during his teenage years and was interred adorned with gold.

(Hi) The contemporary world has engaged in speculation regarding King Tut's fate. There are concerns that he may have been a victim of possible murder.

(iv) The mummy of Tut underwent a CT scan to explore fresh insights into his life and death, aiming to gather accurate data for a precise forensic reconstruction.

(v) (a) ruler
(b) speculation

 

Passage 2

 

“The mummy is in very bad condition because of what Carter did in the 1920,” said Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, as he leaned over the body for a long first lock. Carter-Howard Carter, that is was the British archae¬ologist who in 1922 discovered Tut’s tomb after years of futile searching. Its contents, though hastily ransacked in antiquity, were surprisingly complete. They remain the richest royal collection ever found and have become part of the pharaoh’s legend.

 

Questions

 

(i) Identify Zahi Hawass and elaborate on his comments.

(ii) Provide information about Carter and his activities during the 1920s.

(iii) What was the significance of the contents found in Tut's tomb?

(iv) Did Carter encounter challenges in locating Tut's tomb?

(v) Define: (a) antiquities
(b) pharaoh

Answer :

(i) The Secretary-General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, remarked that the mummy's deteriorated state was a consequence of Howard Carter's actions in the 1920s.

(ii) In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter unearthed Tut’s tomb.

(iii) King Tut’s tomb contained exceptionally valuable contents, considered one of the most opulent royal collections ever unearthed.

(iv) After years of futile searching, Howard Carter finally succeeded in discovering Tut’s tomb.

(v) (a) remains of ancient times.
(b) a title of the ancient Egyptian Kings.

 

Passage 3

 

Archaeology has changed substantially in the intervening decades, focusing less an treasure and more on the fascinating details of life and intriguing mysteries of death. It also uses more sophisticated tools, including medical technology. In 1968, more that 40 years after Carter’s discovery, an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy and revealed a startling fact. Beneath the resin that cakes his chest, his breast-bone and front ribs are missing. Today diagnostic imaging can be done with computed tomography, or CT, by which hundreds of X-rays in cross section are put together like slices of bread to create a three¬dimensional virtual body.

 

Questions

 

(i) How has archaeology undergone changes in recent times?

(ii) What methods do archaeologists employ in their contemporary research practices?

(iii) What was the surprising revelation made in 1968?

(iv) What technology is utilized for diagnostic imaging in the present day?

(v) Find synonyms in the passage for

(a) situated between.

(b) the scientific study of body structure.

 

Answers:

 

(i) Archaeology is now concentrating more on the intriguing aspects of life and the concealed enigmas of death.

(ii) Presently, archaeologists conduct their research using advanced tools, including medical technology.

(iii) In 1968, an anatomy professor X-rayed Tut’s mummy and unveiled the astonishing fact that his breastbone and front ribs were missing.

(iv) Diagnostic imaging nowadays is conducted using computed tomography or CT.

(v) (a) intervening,

(b) anatomy.

 

Passage 4

 

Amenhotep III—Tut’s father or grandfather was a powerful pharaoh who ruled for almost four decades at the height of the eighteenth dynasty’s golden age. His son Amenhotep IV succeeded him and initiated one of the strangest periods in the history of ancient Egypt. The new pharaoh promoted the worship of the Aten, the sun disk, changed his name to Akhenaten, or “servant of the Aten”, and moved the religious capital from the old city of Thebes tq the new city of Akhetaten, known now as Amama. He further shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major God, smashing his images and closing his temples.

 

Questions :

 

(i) What was the duration of Amenhotep III's rule?

(ii) Following Amenhotep III, who assumed the throne, and what initiatives did they set in motion?

(iii) What was the focus of promotion by Amenhotep IV?

(iv) What caused a state of shock throughout the country?

(v) Use the following words in your own sentences :
(a) evidence
(b) ancient

 

Answers :

 

(i) For nearly four decades, Amenhotep III held sway, marking the pinnacle of the 18th dynasty's golden age.

(ii) Amenhotep IV, also known as Akhenaten, succeeded Amenhotep III, ushering in one of the most peculiar eras in ancient Egypt's history.

(iii) Amenhotep IV, later adopting the name Akhenaten, advocated for the veneration of the Aten, the sun disk.

(iv) The nation was in disbelief as Akhenaten launched an assault on Amun, a prominent deity, destroying his images and shuttering his temples.

(v)
(a) The evidence turned hostile and the real culprit could not be punished.
(b) India is an ancient country whose culture and civilization are very old.

 

Passage 5

 

Regardless of his fame and the speculations about his fate, Tut is one mummy among many in Egypt. How many ? No one knows. The Egyptian Mummy Project, which began an inventory in late 2003, has recorded almost 600 so far and is still counting. The next phase : scanning the mummies with a portable CT machine donated by the National Geographic Society and Siemens, its manufacturer. King Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned—in death, as in life, moving regally ahead of his countrymen.

 

Questions :

(i) Which institution is responsible for maintaining records of the mummies?

(ii) What is the current count of recorded mummies?

(iii) What comes after the current phase?

(iv) Who has donated the CT machine?

(v) Give noun forms of
(a) donated
(b) recorded.

Answers :

(i) Since 2003, the Egyptian Mummy Project has been maintaining records of the mummies.

(ii) The count currently stands at 600 recorded mummies, and the tally is ongoing.

(iii) The upcoming stage involves using a portable CT machine to scan the mummies.

(iv) Both the National Geographic Society and Siemens, the manufacturers, have contributed the portable CT machine.

(v) (a) donation.
(b) record.

 

Passage 6

 

ACT machine scanned the mummy head to toe, creating 1700 digital X-ray images in cross section. Tut’s head, scanned in 0.62 millimeter slices to register its intricate struc¬tures, taking an eerie detail in the resulting image. With Tut’s entire body similarly recorded, a team of specialists in radiology, forensics and anatomy began to probe the secrets that the winged goddesses of a gilded burial shrine protected for so long. The night of the  scan,workmen carried Tut from the tomb in his box. Like pallbearers they climbed a ramp and a flight of stairs into the swirling sand outside, then rose on a hydraulic lift into the trailer that held the scanner.

 

Questions :

(i) To whom does the term 'the mummy' allude?

(ii) What resulted from the scanning process?

(iii) In what manner was Tut’s head subjected to scanning?

(iv) Who initiated the investigation into the secrets?

(v) Find words in the passage which mean
(a) examine
(b) a vehicle drawn by another.

Answers :

(i) The term 'the mummy' denotes the well-preserved deceased body of King Tut.

(ii) Utilizing the CT machine, 1700 digital X-ray images were generated in cross-section.

(iii) Tut’s head underwent scanning in 0.62-millimeter slices, capturing intricate structures and revealing a peculiar and unsettling detail in the resulting image.

(iv) A team comprising specialists in radiology, forensics, and anatomy commenced the investigation into the mysteries surrounding Tut’s life and death.
(v) (a) probe
(b) trailer.