主题：【原创】几个著名的神奇诅咒 (上) -- 巴山夜雨

图坦卡蒙王陵的木乃伊诅咒无依据

新华网 （ 2003-02-21 11:19:28 ） 稿件来源： 光明网

　　澳大利亚莫纳什大学的学者们对图坦卡蒙王陵的诅咒进行了研究，该陵墓于1923年被发掘。这座位于卢克斯（埃及中部城市）的陵墓被发掘后不久，与此事有关的一些人――其中包括赞助发掘的卡纳冯勋爵――纷纷英年早逝，关于木乃伊诅咒的传说由此而生。考古队中另一成员埃尔布?利斯苟于1934年死于中风。

　　然而，学者们发现，参与了王陵谷发掘工作或是此后的开棺行动的26个人平均活到了70岁。《英国医学杂志》称，由马克?纳尔逊主持的这项研究表明有关诅咒的传说并无事实依据。根据传闻，任何打开法老陵墓的人都将受到诅咒。但是，打开陵墓的探险行动负责人霍华德?卡特却活到了老年――尽管他的金丝雀在陵墓开启当天被一条眼镜蛇吃了。纳尔逊博士认为，关于诅咒的流言可能是与伦敦《泰晤士报》竞争的一些报纸散布出来的，因为《泰晤士报》获得了发掘行动的独家报道权。

BBC 的报道：

Science lifts 'mummy's curse'

Friday, 20 December, 2002, 01:26 GMT

Tutankhamen's tomb was opened in the 1920s

The infamous mummy's curse of Tutankhamen's tomb has little basis in hard science, research has found.

The curse was allegedly placed upon all those present at the opening of the tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt, in February 1923.

The legend is thought to have originated with the death of the expedition financier Lord Carnarvon, who died in 1923 after being bitten by a mosquito.

He developed a condition known as erysipelas at the site of the bite, which resulted in septicaemia and pneumonia.

It was said that Lord Carnarvon's three-legged dog howled at the very time his master died, and promptly also gave up the ghost.

According to the writings of archaeologist Howard Carter, 25 westerners were present at the breach of sacred seals in a previously undisturbed area of the pharaoh's tomb, and were therefore potentially exposed to the curse.

A further 19 were in Egypt at the time but were not recorded by him to have been present at the site at the relevant time.

Life expectancy

Mark Nelson, of Monash University in Australia, followed up the personal history of all those present to see if they had indeed died young.

He established dates of death for all of those exposed and 11 of those who were not present.

He found that the "cursed" group had lived slightly shorter lives - but still made it on average to a respectable three score years and ten.

Among the 25 people exposed to the "curse", the average age at death was 70 years compared with 75 in those not exposed.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, Dr Nelson said: "The Egyptian archaeological dig in the 1920s was inhabited by interesting characters and it was this, and the circumstances of the archaeological find of the modern age, that has kept the myth of the mummy's curse in the public eye.

"I found no evidence for its existence. Perhaps finally it, like the tragic boy king Tutankhamen, may be put to rest."

The findings would have pleased Howard Carter, who had no time for the idea of a curse.

He wrote that "all sane people should dismiss such inventions with contempt".