FEATURE STORY — Nov./Dec. 2006

In the Pharaoh’s Shadow

UIC Professor Emeritus James Phillips’ efforts behind the scenes at the Field Museum have educated hundreds of thousands about King Tut and Egyptian life in the 18th Dynasty

By Kevin McKeough

UIC Professor Emeritus of Anthropology James Phillips is the curator of the Field Museum’s highly successful “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” exhibition. It is expected to draw more than a million visitors. Lloyd DeGrane

Three thousand years haven’t tarnished the treasures taken from the tomb of Tutankhamun—better known as King Tut. Gold gleams from such artifacts as a crown found resting on the king’s mummified head, a miniature coffin that held one of his vital organs, a ceremonial dagger nestled in the mummy’s wrappings and a collar that once lay around his neck. Inlays of glittering diamonds, jet black obsidian, deep blue lapis and sea green turquoise decorate these objects in exquisite detail.

As dazzling as these artifacts are, they’re not being displayed for beauty’s sake alone. The Field Museum of Natural History’s exhibition, “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” (which continues through Jan. 1, 2007) also tells the complex story of an ancient civilization, religion and royal family.

It’s UIC Professor Emeritus of Anthropology James Phillips’ job to make certain that this story is told correctly. As the exhibit’s curator, he’s responsible for ensuring the accuracy of information presented with the artifacts, and he’s helped shape the overall concept that guides the presentation.

We want people to understand “why these things were made, how they were used and what context they have, as opposed to them just looking at these things and saying, ‘they’re pretty,’” explains Phillips, who also serves as the museum’s acting curator of Near Eastern and North African Anthropology.

So far, there’s been a huge audience to potentially learn these lessons. To date, more than 750,000 tickets have been sold since the exhibit’s opening in late May, and museum officials ultimately expect more than 1 million visitors.

The boy king’s reign

Clearly, Tutankhamun continues to capture the public imagination, even though the reign of the boy king—who ascended to the throne around 1332 B.C. at age 10 and died only nine years later—was too brief to be significant. “If I’m studying Egyptian history, he’s really not that important,” Phillips acknowledges.

Still, the 1922 discovery of his tomb by British archaeologist Howard Carter made King Tut an international sensation. Spared the ravages of grave robbers, it was the only tomb from its time period to be unearthed intact. The tomb was also the first to be discovered during the era of mass communication, which hastened the public’s awareness of Carter’s remarkable find. (By comparison, notes Phillips, “most of the tombs in the Valley of Kings [the pharaohs’ burial grounds] were discovered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”)

The exhibit includes 50 of the artifacts Carter discovered in the tomb, as well as an additional 70 artifacts gathered from other royal graves from the 18th Dynasty (1539-1292 B.C.), when the Egyptian empire was at its peak.

These objects include the stunning coffin of Tut’s great-grandmother Tjuya, which features her likeness sculpted in a gold inlaid with colored glass. In addition, the tomb of Amenhotep II (who reigned from 1426-1400 B.C.) yielded a model boat intended to ferry the pharaoh in the afterlife.

Other items, such as a drinking bowl, perfume bowl and dog collar, reflect everyday life in ancient Egypt.

These artifacts help illustrate both King Tut’s brief reign and Egyptian cultural, political and religious life during the 18th Dynasty. Wall panels and an audio guide (narrated by none other than Omar Sharif) explain the larger context of various displays.

Burial rituals and the afterlife

The exhibit devotes particular attention to ancient Egyptian religion and burial rituals. It explains how Tutankhamun reversed the unpopular decision of his predecessor and probable father, Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), to replace the traditional array of Egyptian gods with a single deity.

Above all, “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” focuses on the Egyptian belief in the afterlife. It details the elaborate process of mummification—which included the removal, desiccation, wrapping and separate entombment of vital organs—so that bodies would endure after death. It also examines the Egyptian practice of including objects in the tomb that the dead would need in the next realm, including shopti-miniature human figurines, which were expected to assist the dead as servants.

“Many of the objects were made and put in a tomb never to be seen again, but they symbolically represented aspects of the life of royalty and were there to help the individual cope with the afterlife,” says Phillips.

Reading King Tut’s X-rays and CT scans

Phillips has been studying—and literally digging up—ancient Near Eastern civilizations for more than 40 years. He’s spent much of that time in the Sinai Peninsula, looking for the earliest archeological signs of modern human development. (His studies have made him one of the world’s foremost authorities on the manufacture and use of early stone tools.)

Through his field work, Phillips developed a strong professional relationship with Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. That partnership was crucial to the Field Museum being included as one of only four U.S. cities to host “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs.” (The other host cities are Los Angeles, Ft. Lauderdale and Philadelphia.)

“Zahi and I have known each other for many years, and he likes Chicago and he likes the Field Museum,” relates Phillips.

Phillips also played an active role in devising the exhibit’s focus on the artifacts in their larger anthropological context. The Egyptian government chose which artifacts would be made available. David Silverman, a fellow graduate student of Phillips’ at the University of Chicago (and now chairman, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania) wrote most of the exhibition’s text and narration.

But Phillips is ultimately responsible for the information presented at the Field Museum. “My role is to see that everything is right academically, that the descriptions are correct [and] that the objects are put into proper context,” he explains.

To that end, Phillips has edited and revised the text that accompanies the display in order to correct factual and grammatical errors. He’s also added features unique to the Field Museum’s exhibit, including a panel he wrote explaining where Egyptian craftsmen obtained the materials used to create the elaborately decorated objects.

The exhibit’s final room in particular bears Phillips’ stamp. It features panels he helped write and edit, which accompany X-ray and CT scan images taken of Tut’s remains, in an effort to determine the mysterious cause of his early death. (The latest imaging technology indicates that Tut may have died from an infection after his leg was broken, but the cause of the injury remains unknown.) “I wanted to emphasize the scientific aspect of this research,” he says.

On the talk show circuit

Phillips’ duties aimed at educating people about the meaning of the artifacts didn’t end with the exhibit’s opening. As curator, he often gives presentations about the exhibit to sponsors, donors, civic groups and the media. (During the exhibit’s opening week, for example, Phillips stayed in a downtown hotel in order to be at the museum at 4:30 a.m. for television appearances.)

Phillips has been a guest speaker for the Midwest chapter of the Biblical Archeological Society and a group of actuaries who were interested in the mortality rates of Egyptians in the 18th Dynasty. He’s also organized a monthly symposium series covering various themes pertaining to the exhibition, including art and religion, new archeological studies, and the relationship between Nubia and Egypt.

It’s clear that as long as the exhibit runs, Phillips will be in great demand to feed the public’s seemingly inexhaustible hunger for understanding Tutankhamun and his world. “He has a cachet now that’s much greater than his own reign was,” Phillips observes. “He brings people to ancient Egypt.”