King Tut’s olive branch

The discovery of boy king Tutankhamen’s tomb hit the headlines in 1923 as the most sensational find of its time. But the discovery of several olive branches buried along with the pharaoh to help him in the after life is a much lesser known fact.

At the time a mystery surrounded what type of plant the branches were, so a professor took a sample and sent it to the Botanical Gardens at Kew to be named.

Botanists at the herbarium at Kew identified the plant as an olive branch, which still remains neatly pressed in the collection centre to this day, along with more than seven million other plant species from around the world.

[...]

The herbarium will open its doors to the public on September 17 and 18.

Scientists and botanists will be on hand to explain their vital work in plant conservation and librarians and archivists will be available to talk about the history of Kew.

source : http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.629594.0.glimpse_king_tuts_olive_branch_at_kew.php
Informations about this article
  • Author(s) : Thomas
  • Publication : 16 September 2005
  • Update : 16 September 2005

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