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KING TUT'S CURSE
More than 3,000 years ago, a boy named Tutankhamen ruled over Egypt. In 1922, the British explorer Howard Carter discovered King Tut's tomb. It was filled with treasures. The boy king's golden mask became one of the most famous objects from the ancient world.
The young pharaoh's treasures found a home in the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo. But this January, the museum admitted that workers had damaged the mask.
Last August, after the beard broke off the mask, workers used epoxy, a strong adhesive, to glue it back on. Epoxy is fast-drying and difficult to remove. It is not normally used to fix artifacts. The bad glue job appears to have left scratches on the priceless treasure.
"Epoxy has a very high property for attaching and is used on metal or stone, but I think it wasn't suitable for an outstanding object like Tutankhamen's golden mask," a museum official said.
Museum officials have asked German restoration expert Christian Eckmann to help repair the damage. He is hopeful the mask can be properly restored.
"It is a delicate operation," he told reporters at the museum. "It has to be done very carefully, but [the damage] is reversible."
Think
What can museums do to make sure ancient treasures are protected?
Power Words
pharaoh noun: a ruler of ancient Egypt
