English (Core) · Class 11 Languages
Ch 4Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues — Class 11 English (Core), concept-first.
A. R. Williams is a journalist and writer whose work appears in National Geographic, the magazine that first carried this piece (National Geographic, Vol 207, No. 6).
29
Q&A
2
Concepts
31m
Section weightage
Section C · Literature Textbooks (Hornbill & Snapshots) · across all 16 lessons
Key concepts
Hover a concept to preview it and jump to its most relevant Q&A.
Historical Legacy Continuation
Imagine you're solving a problem that involves a sequence of steps, like finding the next number in a pattern. You notice that each step depends on the one before it.
Most relevant Q&A
- Give reasons for the following. (i) King Tut's body has been subjected to repeated scrutiny. (ii) Howard Carter's investigation was resented…Free
- (i) List the deeds that led Ray Johnson to describe Akhenaten as “wacky”. (ii) What were the results of the CT scan? (iii) List the advances…Preview
- Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view. Scientific intervention is necessary to u…Free
- Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view. Advanced technology gives us conclusive e…Free
- Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view. Traditions, rituals and funerary practice…Preview
Chapter contents
The NCERT structure, section by section. Open a section to see its questions, then read the concept-first solution.
About the Author and the Text
A. R. Williams is a journalist and writer whose work appears in National Geographic, the magazine that first carried this piece (National Geographic, Vol 207, No. 6).
Summary of the Lesson
The 2005 scan. On the evening of 5 January 2005, as an angry wind stirred up dust and dark clouds veiled the stars, King Tut's mummy was lifted from its rock-cut tomb, some 26 feet underground in the…
Themes
Science and technology unlocking the past The central theme is how modern science — X-rays in 1968, and the CT scanner in 2005 — reopens questions the ancient world left unanswered.
Character Sketches
Being an informational essay rather than a story, the text has no fictional characters, but it turns on a few real key figures — the boy pharaoh at its centre, the archaeologist who first uncovered hi…
Tutankhamun (King Tut)
Tutankhamun — 'King Tut' — is the boy pharaoh at the heart of the essay. He came to the throne as a very young child under the name Tutankhaten, then changed it to Tutankhamun ('living image of Amun')…
Howard Carter
Howard Carter was the British archaeologist who discovered Tut's tomb in 1922 after years of futile searching — a discovery that made both him and the boy king world-famous.
Zahi Hawass
Zahi Hawass is the modern face of Egyptian archaeology in the essay — the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, who supervised the 2005 CT scan.
Title and Message
The title and the closing image of the essay together carry its larger meaning — that the study of King Tut is not a finished chapter of history but an unfolding 'saga' that modern science keeps reope…
Significance of the Title
The title Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues works on two levels. First, 'Discovering Tut' recalls Howard Carter's original discovery of the tomb in 1922 — the event that made King Tut famous.
Message of the Lesson
The essay's central message is that modern science can reveal the secrets of the distant past while treating it with the respect it deserves.
Summary
- Context: An informational essay by A. R. Williams (from National Geographic) on how modern medical technology re-examines the mummy of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun (King Tut).
Understanding the Text
+−Understanding the Texti2 questions
Talking about the Text
+−Talking about the Texti4 questions
- Q1Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view. Scientific intervention is necessary to u…Free
- Q2Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view. Advanced technology gives us conclusive e…Free
- Q3Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view. Traditions, rituals and funerary practice…Preview
- Q4Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view. Knowledge about the past is useful to com…Preview
Thinking about Language
+−Thinking about Languagei4 questions
- Q1Read the following piece of information from The Encyclopedia of Language by David Crystal. Egyptian is now extinct: its history dates from…Free
- Q2What do you think are the reasons for the extinction of languages?Free
- Q3Do you think it is important to preserve languages?Preview
- Q4In what ways do you think we could help prevent the extinction of languages and dialects?Preview
Working with Words
+−Working with Wordsi2 questions
Things to Do
+−Things to Doi3 questions
- Q1The constellation Orion is associated with the legend of Osiris, the god of the afterlife. Find out the astronomical descriptions and legend…Free
- Q2Some of the leaves and flowers mentioned in the passage for adorning the dead are willow, olive, celery, lotus, cornflower. Which of these a…Preview
- Q3Name some leaves and flowers that are used as adornments in our country.Preview
About the Unit
The Hornbill textbook closes the chapter with a short descriptor page (its 'Notes') explaining what each exercise section is designed to do.
Additional Practice
Extra exam-style practice questions written by us on this lesson — beyond the NCERT textbook's own exercises — for more CBSE board-exam preparation.
+−Additional Practicei14 questions
- Q1Who was Tutankhamun, and why does the writer say that his saga 'continues' even today? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Free
- Q2Describe the atmosphere in the Valley of the Kings on the night of 5 January 2005, when Tut's mummy was taken for the CT scan. (Answer in 30…Free
- Q3Besides fabulous gold, what everyday things were buried with Tutankhamun, and what belief of the ancient Egyptians do they reflect? (Answer…Free
- Q4Why did Howard Carter have to chisel Tut's mummy free from its coffin, and what did he try before resorting to the chisel? (Answer in 30–40…Preview
- Q5How did Carter justify the severe damage his men caused to the mummy while removing it? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
- Q6What startling fact did the X-ray of 1968 reveal about Tut's body, and what speculation did it fuel? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
- Q7What drastic changes did Amenhotep IV bring about after he came to the throne? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
- Q8What did the boy king Tutankhaten do during his short reign, and how did his story end? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
- Q9What technical hitch interrupted the CT scan, and how was it overcome? What did the scan finally produce? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
- Q10'Archaeology has changed substantially since Carter's day.' Discuss this statement, contrasting Carter's treatment of Tut's mummy in 1922 wi…Preview
- Q11Draw a character sketch of Howard Carter, bringing out both his determination as an archaeologist and the ruthlessness of his methods. (Answ…Preview
- Q12Justify the title 'Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues'. In what sense has Tutankhamun been 'discovered' again and again? (Answer in 120–150…Preview
- Q13Trace the fortunes of Tut's dynasty from Amenhotep III through Akhenaten and Smenkhkare to the boy king himself, and show why Tut's death ha…Preview
- Q14The lesson raises the question of whether the living have the right to disturb the dead. Discuss this ethical theme with reference to the cu…Preview