Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

31

ArchAeology

The Leakeys

The Leakey family has made major discoveries

about the origins of human beings. Louis and his

wife, Mary, began to work in the Olduvai Gorge

in Tanzania (africa) in the 1930s. There they

showed that ancestors of human beings existed

1,750,000 years ago. since the 1960s, their son

Richard has continued their research. We can

now trace our ancestors back over more than

six million years. Modern humans evolved

around 200,000 years ago.

TuTankhaMun

The discovery of the

tomb of Tutankhamun

was one of the most

sensational events in the

history of archaeology.

Tutankhamun was a boy-

king who ruled in egypt

3,500 years ago. In 1922,

the British archaeologist

howard Carter (1873-1939)

found Tutankhamun’s

fabulously rich burial place in

the Valley of the kings. near the

boy-king’s remains lay gold treasure

and beautiful furniture.

shIpWReCks

The development of lightweight diving equipment over the

last 50 years has enabled archaeologists to excavate sites

underwater. They use many of the same methods that are

used on land. Most underwater archaeologists look for

shipwrecks, but they sometimes discover landscapes,

buildings, and even towns of ancient civilizations.

Howard Carter

(left) found the

sarcophagus,

or coffin, of

Tutankhamun.

It was remarkably

well preserved.

TOLLund Man

In 1950, archaeologists in

denmark made a dramatic

discovery. They found the

remarkably well preserved

body of a man in a peat bog

called Tollund Mose. The

man had been hanged and

buried about 2,000 years

ago. Most dead bodies soon

rot underground, but the

peat had tanned Tollund

man so that his flesh was

hard like a leather shoe.

Many details remained,

and scientists could even

tell that his last meal had

been a kind of porridge.

AeriAl photogrAphy

photography of the ground from airplanes began in

the 1920s. It made archaeology easier because the high

viewpoint reveals traces of buildings, roads, and fields

that are invisible from the ground.

Find out more

Bronze age

egypt, ancient

evolution

Fossils

Geology

Iron age

prehistoric peoples

Among the objects found

in the tomb of Tutankhamun

was a pectoral,

or brooch, in the

shape of a

scarab beetle.

Richard Leakey measures and

records every detail of the

human remains that he digs up.

Archaeologists

excavating

the wreck of the

Slava Rossi found

Russian icons

(religious paintings).

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