King Tut's Tomb Might Collapse, the Louvre Heist, and More: Crossroads Roundup
This month's news in art, archaeology, culture, and more.
King Tutankhamun’s tomb is in danger of collapsing.
The Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun was laid to rest in 1323 BC. He slumbered undisturbed for thousands of years—miraculously, his tomb was never found by thieves, who had been picking through the Valley of the Kings since ancient times. This all changed in 1922, when an excavation team led by Howard Carter and funded by George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, opened the tomb for the first time in centuries.
A recent study by Sayed Hemeda, head of the Architectural Conservation Department at Cairo University in Giza, indicates that the tomb’s ceiling is at risk of collapsing:
Flash flooding with heavy rain caused by climate change significantly contributes to the activation of movements along the faults within the Valley of the Kings, particularly the prominent fault that runs through Tutankhamen’s tomb and is easily visible in the antechamber and burial chamber’s c…
