The Death Mask of Tutankhamen.

The death mask is made of 110 kg of gold inlaid with coloured glass and semiprecious stone.

Lesson Heading/Title
Ancient Civilisations: Lesson 1 - The Ancient Egyptians.

CURIOSITY
So who were the Ancient Egyptians and how do we know so much about them?
Write a list showing some of the sources of evidence we might have which allow us to know about the Ancient Egyptians and how they lived.

Which source of evidence did you think was the most significant (important) and why?
Choose from your list the evidence that has contributed the most to our understanding of the Ancient Egyptians.

This object takes pride of place at the entrance to the British Museum. Anyone know what this object is?

Exploration -The Rosetta Stone

Class Discussion: Why might a broken dull grey stone weighing 760 kilograms be so important?

Who thinks it might be what is written on the stone?

In actuality what is written on the stone is also rather boring and dull. Rather it is that it has the same thing written 3 times. Why might this be significant? It says the same thing in 3 different languages or scripts. Why might this be significant?

A key for unlocking and decoding the past

Three scripts: The upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs (used by priests in Egyptian society), the middle portion Ancient Demotic script (another type of Ancient Egyptian writing, used for everyday writing), and the lowest Ancient Greek. Because it presents essentially the same text in all three scripts (with some minor differences between them), it provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

See hand-outs Please complete the written activity in class (otherwise for homework). Make sure you read the hand-outs and complete the homework task for Lesson 3 next week. Ensure you return the hand-outs so that they can be glued into your books.

Discovery - Learning Outcome

Understand the importance of writing as a source of evidence in studying the past. (See Note in hand-out - Written records)

Literacy Objectives
Hieroglyphs Text Script Decipher Papyrus

But how did they read it?

Experts trying to read the Egyptian language could already understand the ancient Greek script, so they could pick out certain words. They used these words to help read the rest of the message. The oval around the writing above is called a cartouche - it shows the name 'Ptolemy'. Only very important people had their names written in a cartouche. This was the First word to be deciphered on the Rosetta Stone.