'Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of Pharaohs' brings iconic Egyptian era back to SF

When King Tut made his last big tour of the U.S. 30 years ago, it was compared to The Beatles? British Invasion of 1964.

Although no teen grabbed her cheeks and screamed, the ?Tutafacts? of the Boy King generated a furor more often reserved for rock concerts than museum exhibits.

When the dust had cleared, 8,000 Americans had ogled the archaeological plunder from Tutankhamun?s tomb and the world had a new term: ?blockbuster exhibition.?

Well, the Boy King is back.

?Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs? opens Saturday at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, 30 years after ?The Treasures of Tutankhamun? hit San Francisco on June 1, 1979 with tents, blimps, helicopters and banners creating, as the late columnist Herb Caen put it, ?a pyramid of light.?

The new exhibit will be around much longer, a full nine months, through March 28, hopefully easing the clamor for tickets. The de Young also has an open, ultra-modern and airy new home. And online purchasing of reserved, timed tickets that limit the number of people in the galleries at any one time and ?pulse? people through to create a more even flow, should make the experience more comfortable than 30 years ago, said John Buchanan, director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

?Tut is still a source of unending fascination,? he said. ?Not to mention the fact that as human beings we?re fascinated by the thought of life after death. And of course the objects we have on view here were all made to accompany or escort or prepare the dead for their rebirth in the afterlife.?

And yet, while the story of the 9-year-old boy who became a pharoah only to die at 18 continues to spark the imagination, it is less of a novelty than it was three decades ago. This is actually the second go-around for this particular exhibit, co-sponsored by National Geographic. It already has hit four U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, from 2005 to 2007.

Cable and satellite TV and the Internet have made the world smaller and information instantly available. More also is known about the young Pharaoh, whose story was enlivened with speculation about foul play and mummy curses.

CT scans of Tut?s mummy and closer examination of the artifacts buried with it, however, have helped egyptologists come up with a more plausible theory. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt?s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has said he believes Tut was not murdered but rather may have died of an infection stemming from a broken leg sustained falling from a chariot while hunting.

But back in the 1970s, in the wake of the Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon?s much heralded 1974 Middle East tour to Egypt, it simply was ?the right time to attract the public?s attention,? said David Silverman, a professor of egyptology at the University of Pennsylvania who is national curator for the new exhibition.

As a newly-minted Ph.D. of 29, Silverman lucked into an assignment to curate that earlier exhibit. ?Full of information? and eager to share it, Silverman pioneered the extensive use of text panels to give visitors a greater understanding and context for what they were looking at and to help ?break down the barriers between the museum and its audience.?

He is hoping this new exhibit, which is far more extensive than the first, with 80 pieces from the tombs of other 18th Dynasty royals in addition to 50 objects buried with Tutankhamun, will go even further toward engaging visitors and putting the young king into historical, genealogical context with his predecessors.

Some who have seen the exhibit in other venues were disappointed that the fabulous 24-karat gold mask, which became an iconic symbol of the first Tut tour, is not included in this collection.

?It?s a national treasure and because every time it travels there?s a risk, they have decided they need to keep it home,? said Silverman.

The mummy itself also is staying at home, having recently been returned to its tomb in The Valley of the Kings near Luxor.

But Silvernam said there is still much to ignite interest among the 130 objects that have made the carefully controlled journey from Cairo, accompanied by trained handlers from the Cairo Museum. Together, they provide insight into the daily life and royal burial practices during a period from 1555 to 1305 B.C., Eqypt?s Golden Age.

Among the most exciting pieces in this exhibit is the golden coffinette, inlaid with precious stones, that contained Tut?s mummified internal organs.

Less spectacular but more significant to Silverman is a wooden mannequin that, he says, is more true to life and brings you closer to the real young Tutankhamun.

?When you look at it you see somebody who looks almost alive. He?s wearing a simple tunic and he has a flat crown and an expression on his face that is very contemporary. When people stand in front of him there is a hush.?

The exhibit will also feature objects that represent the day to day life of the young king, such as a finely crafted child?s chair and an inlaid board game.

The chair, thought to have been owned by Tut?s aunt, includes gilded representation of her receiving gold from servants, quite possibly the gold used in the chair. Remarkably, the rush seat remains in perfect condition, despite the passage of millennia.

?To think of it being thousands of years old,? Silverman marveled, ?when you can?t even find a lot of early colonial furniture in this country.?

New to this exhibit also are two coffinettes containing the remains of two fetuses that are now undergoing DNA testing to reveal their relationship to King Tut.

There are also the expected treasures. Not seen in 1979 are a bracelet with the central image of a scarab and an inlaid pendant that contains a rare, yellow-green glass stone carved in the shape of a scarab beetle that some scientists now believe is a fragment from an ancient meteorite.

Another wonderful piece used in day to day life is a dog?s collar, made of two different colors of leather bonded together with horses that seem to be galloping across it.

?This apparently was so precious to somebody,? Silverman marveled, ?they took it into the afterlife with them.?

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com.