palimpsest

The oft-repeated phrase “the Amarna era is shrouded in mystery” could be a thing of the past if only closer scrutiny of key artifacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb are permitted by the authorities concerned. Courtesy reuse and usurpation, the cleverly disguised inscriptions can yield a wealth of information on the political and religious upheaval of that period, and enable us to peer through the mists of time to gain accurate insights into one of Egypt’s most puzzling epochs. Among the plethora of KV62 mysteries, a modern one exists in the form of Tutankhamun’s missing skullcap.