Bbc bitesize tutankhamun ks2

This is an artefact from Ancient Egypt. It's called a shabti and this little statue tells us about the beliefs and rituals of the AncientEgyptians.

Shabti were buried in tombs with important members of Egyptian society.

They were made holding little tools, so they'd look like mini servants and agricultural workers and that's because the people at the time believed that the statues would come to life in the afterworld and do all the work that was needed.

In 1922 - after searching for six years - a team led by the British archaeologist, Howard Carter, discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

And inside they found more than four hundred shabti.

In total, there were over 5 000 objects in that tomb which took eight years for Carter and his team to remove and catalogue.

The tomb had four chambers, each filled with a huge range of objects including gold jewellery, chariots, model boats, a tiny thrown and paintings.

One of the most amazing items was King Tutankhamun's golden mask, which weighed a whopping ten kilograms and was found on his mummified body in the innermost coffin.

Tutankhamun became pharaoh around 1333 BC and ruled for about ten years. We know he was eighteen whenhe died, so that tells us he was only eight when he became the pharaoh.

Inside his tomb the archaeologists found child-sized thrones as well as games and puzzles all helping to tell the story ofthe child pharaoh ruling over his kingdom.

King Tutankhamun: I win! Now I want a snack.

Recent scans of the mummified remains of Tutankhamun help us to understand what he looked like when he was alive.

They show that he was born with a misshapen left foot and a twist in his spine. So he used sticks to help him walk.

Lots of those sticks were found in his tomb. We also learn about the pharaoh from tomb paintings and carvings on temple ruins.

It appears that Tutankhamun and his dad Aktenaten and did not agree on their favourite god.

So when Tutankhamun became pharaoh, he set about changing all things Aten to all things Amun starting with his own name - and moving on to demolishing his father's prized temple and even moving his body from the sacred ground of Aten to the sacred ground of Amun.

Tutankhamun was reported to have had a wicked temper.

Paintings in the tomb of General Horemheb, who later became pharaoh himself, recorded that he was the only one brave enough to talk to Tutankhamun when he was angry.

King Tutankhamun: Oh it's not fair, get out of my way I'm the king!

From mummified body, personal items and paintings inside Tutankhamun's tomb we learn a lot about his life, but we also learnabout his death.

Scans of his mummified remains show that shortly before his death he broke a bone in his left leg.

This, along with damage to his ribcage led some experts to believe he was killed in a chariot crash or perhaps even a hippopotamus attack. What a way to go!

But experts now think it was more likely to have been a fall.

Today King Tutankhamun is one of the most famous Ancient Egyptian pharaohs, mostly thanks to the determination andpersistence of Howard Carter.

Carter and his team unearthed an ancient tomb, so full of artefacts that it transports us back over 3 000 years, bringing to life another world, where the child king ruled.