11.

2022
 An immersive journey through the life of King Tut
straight from the National Geographic archives.

DISCOVER MORE
Tickets at BeyondKingTut.com
 FURTHER N OV E M B E R 2 02 2

On the Cover
C O N T E N T S A life-size statue
of Tutankhamun—but
in the guise of Osiris,
god of the underworld,
depicted in Egyptian
art with black skin—
was one of a pair found
guarding the pharaoh’s
opulent tomb.
SANDRO VANNINI

15
P R O O F E X P L O R E

THE BIG IDEA

Plant-Based Meat:
Making the Grade?
The quest to create the
perfect faux meat feeds
an American obsession.
BY M A R K W I L S O N

32
6
DECODER

Octo Mothers
Their innate extreme ARTIFACT

behaviors may make Threads of Memory

octopuses the ultimate
self-sacrificing moms.
BY TAY LO R M AG G I AC O M O
A N D M E S A S C H U M AC H E R
Nearly lost to time,
the felting of carpets
is making a comeback
in southern Russia.
BY E V E C O N A N T

TOOL KIT

When Family
Is a Circus
During four years
of traveling with circus
troupes in Europe, a
photographer focused
on moments out of
the spotlights.
P H OTO G R A P H S BY
ST E P H A N I E G E N G OT T I
The Art of
Immortality
These implements
help artists at Madame
Tussauds fashion wax
figures of the famous.
BY H I C K S WO GA N
ALSO ALSO
The Butterfly Effect Too Warm for Edelweiss?
Using DNA to Do Good A Crested Auklet Love-In
Puppy-Dog Eyes Tips for Greener Holidays
N O V E M B E R | CONTENTS

F E AT U R E S EGYPT, PAST & PRESENT

A Pacific Rebirth In the lagoon
A B OV E :

The Enduring Warming waters nearly of Millennium Atoll,

Power of King Tut
A century after their
discovery, his treasures
fill a majestic museum.
BY TO M M U E L L E R
P H OTO G RA P H S BY
H A R RY B U RTO N ,
S A N D R O VA N N I N I , A N D
P A O L O V E R Z O N E . . . . . . . P.
A New Order
To relieve Cairo crowd-
ing, Egypt builds a new
capital city from scratch.
B Y R O B E RT D R A P E R . . . P.
destroyed these coral an island belonging to
reefs, but they’ve made the central Pacific Ocean
a remarkable recovery. nation of Kiribati, a resil-
S TO RY A N D P H OTO -
ient reef attracts a colorful
GRAPHS BY ENRIC SALA
crowd of fish. Though area
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 104 reefs have suffered from
extreme ocean-warming
Fire Island events, they’ve bounced
34 Last year’s eruption in back—in part because
Spain’s Canary Islands herbivorous fish prepare
offers lessons in living dead corals for new ones
with volcanoes. to grow atop them.
BRIAN ZGLICZYNSKI
B Y M AYA W E I - H A A S
P H OTO G RA P H S BY
96 C A R S T E N P E T E R . . . . . P. 122
N O V E M B E R | FROM THE EDITOR

THE
SPELLBINDING
LEGACY OF
Discovering Egypt,
EGYPT

From Tut to Today

B Y N AT H A N LU M P P H O T O G R A P H B Y S A N D RO VA N N I N I

LIKE SO MANY of you, we at National

Geographic have long been fascinated
by ancient Egypt. Its incredible sophis-
tication in everything from agriculture
to architecture to art, its court politics
and intrigue, its elaborate rituals, par-
ticularly around death—much of what
holds our interest in this civilization
is what we still don’t fully understand.
Perhaps that’s why Egyptology remains
as popular today as when it took the
Jazz Age by storm following the dis-
covery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.
National Geographic correspondent
Maynard Owen Williams was among
the first observers granted entry to
Tut’s tomb at its official opening. In
our May 1923 issue, he reported “dis-
appointment” at getting to visit only
chambers that were mostly cleared of
items, rather than the one said to be
“filled to the roof” with treasures. Those
treasures have appeared prominently
in our pages since, including in our 75th
anniversary issue (October 1963), when
we featured F.L. Kenett’s color images
of Tut’s “golden trove.” And in June
2005 we showed a new facial recon-
struction of the boy pharaoh, thanks to
a CT scan of his mummy created using
equipment donated by the National
Geographic Society and Siemens AG. texts on their history and legacy; an The gilded hardwood
We’re devoting much of this issue inventory of the tomb; a closer look at “Tutankhamun the
Harpooner” statue, about
to Egypt in celebration of two open- Tut’s mummy; and an exploration of 30 inches tall (head and
ings: Tut’s tomb, a century ago, and the GEM and of conservators’ work to shoulders shown above)
the highly anticipated Grand Egyptian uncover and share Egyptian history. portrays the young king
standing on a papyrus
Museum, where nearly all of these trea- And because how societies treat their boat about to hurl a spear
sures will be showcased. The GEM, as past often reflects ideals of the present, at an unseen quarry. Found
it’s known, has been 20 years in the we also take you to Egypt’s gleaming wrapped in linen and in a
varnished box, it was one
making and cost more than a billion New Administrative Capital, being built of 35 such ritual figures
dollars. Two of its 12 exhibition halls 30 miles from Cairo. It will be the 20th buried with Tut in the
are devoted to Tut and will display— capital city in Egypt’s history. tomb, by archaeologists’
count. The statue is to
together, for the first time—nearly all We hope you enjoy reading this issue
be displayed in the new
the finds from his tomb. Our spectac- as much as we did creating it. Grand Egyptian Museum.
ular coverage includes a photographic
portfolio of some of these artifacts, with
 P R O O F

N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

VO L . 2 4 2 N O. 5

WHEN FAMILY
IS A CIRCUS

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LO O K I N G
STEPHANIE GENGOTTI AT T H E
E A RT H
After four years on the road F RO M
with family circuses in Europe, a E V E RY
photographer remains spellbound POSSIBLE
by the magic of the big top. ANGLE

6 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
 The troupes that Gengotti
photographs use the circus as
a vehicle for storytelling. In this
performance, Vincent Schmitt
and Florence Dusset, husband-
and-wife duo of Les Pêcheurs de
Rêves (The Fishers of Dreams),
reenact their wedding.

NOVEMBER 2022 7
P R O O F

For Gengotti’s Circus Love project, the first troupe she followed was the Brunette Bros., roaming Italy. Lisa Skjoth Madsen,
Emanuele Fiandri, and son, Ernesto, pose in this 2016 portrait. In 2020, amid fallout from COVID-19, the circus disbanded.

8 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
Top: Fred Zagato prepares for a show with Cirque Bidon; it’s toured Europe by horse-drawn caravan since the 1970s. Bottom:
Iovany Sanchez Guerrero (at left) and Yandisley Leal of Cuba’s Havana Circus Company perform with Giffords Circus in England.

NOVEMBER 2022 9
P R O O F

10 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
 At Giffords Circus, some
front-of-house workers
dance while the main event
takes place inside the tent.
The troupe’s co-founder and
matriarch, Nell Giffords, died
of breast cancer in 2019,
but her legacy lives on.

NOVEMBER 2022 11
P R O O F

THE BACKSTORY
O N T H E ROA D W I T H E U RO P E ’ S T R AV E L I N G C I RC U S FA M I L I E S ,
A P H OTO G RA P H E R F I N D S A S E N S E O F H O M E .

of two flight atten-

A S T H E DA U G H T E R
dants who took her on work trips to
far-flung places—Singapore, Venezu-
ela, Australia, India—photographer
Stephanie Gengotti was used to a life
on the go. So when she began following
family circus troupes through Europe
six years ago, the experience seemed
familiar to her. “I feel very similar to
these people because I also come from
a family of travelers,” Gengotti says.
“I connected to them. It reminded me
of who I was.”
The troupes she tracks come from
the nouveau cirque school, in which
trained humans, not trained animals,
are the stars of the show. While the cir-
cuses might include a few laying hens
or horses that pull their caravans, most
scenes are performed by artists who
lead audiences through a story arc via
theater, music, dance, and acrobatics.
When Gengotti embeds with a
circus—whether it’s a mom-and-pop
troupe with barely a web presence, or a
Broadway-caliber operation with doz-
ens of performers—she likes to take
her time. Before Gengotti begins pho-
tographing, she observes and settles
into the rhythms of life on the road.
Then when she does pull out her cam-
era, she focuses her lens more on the
work, play, and family dynamics that
occur offstage than on the action under
the big top.
“The show is something that every-
one can see,” Gengotti says. “What is
behind the show, very few people have
the privilege to see.”
Like her parents, Gengotti has
started to bring her young child along
for the ride. But even when she’s back
home in Rome, her time with circuses
has inspired her to live in ways that
are “more linked to the natural cycle
of life,” she says. “For example, I got
a piece of land and started farming. I
started to do more things that bring
me into the no-time dimension of
the circus.” —A B B Y S E W E L L

Zia, adolescent daughter of Les Pêcheurs de Rêves’ husband-and-wife couple, Schmitt and
Dusset, waits in one of the circus caravans for her parents to finish their show.
 WET AGE-RELATED MACULAR
DEGENERATION (WET AMD)

KEEP LIVING LIFE

THROUGH YOUR EYES
TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR SIGHT WITH EYLEA

If Wet AMD has impacted your eyes—and how you see life—fight back with EYLEA.

EYLEA can help improve vision— EYLEA helped maintain vision

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INDICATIONS
EYLEA® (aflibercept) Injection 2 mg (0.05 mL) is a prescription medicine approved for
the treatment of patients with Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), Macular
Edema following Retinal Vein Occlusion (RVO), Diabetic Macular Edema (DME), and
Diabetic Retinopathy (DR).
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
EYLEA® (aflibercept) Injection is a prescription medicine administered by injection
into the eye. You should not use EYLEA if you have an infection in or around the
eye, eye pain or redness, or known allergies to any of the ingredients in EYLEA,
including aflibercept.
Injections into the eye with EYLEA can result in an infection in the eye and retinal
detachment (separation of retina from back of the eye) can occur. Inflammation in
the eye has been reported with the use of EYLEA.
In some patients, injections with EYLEA may cause a temporary increase in eye
pressure within 1 hour of the injection. Sustained increases in eye pressure have
been reported with repeated injections, and your doctor may monitor this after
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There is a potential but rare risk of serious and sometimes fatal side effects,
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 FDA-APPROVED treatment in its class
for patients with Wet AMD*

The most common side effects reported in patients receiving EYLEA were increased
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You may experience temporary visual changes after an EYLEA injection and
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ASK A RETINA SPECIALIST ABOUT EYLEA VISIT EYLEA.COM EYL.22.04.0014
 (Pronounced: eye•lee•ah)

Consumer Brief Summary The most common side effects include

This summary contains risk and safety information for patients about EYLEA. It
does not include all the information about EYLEA and does not take the place
of talking to your eye doctor about your medical condition or treatment.
What is EYLEA?
EYLEA is a prescription medicine that works by blocking vascular endothelial
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light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye responsible for sharp central vision).
Blocking VEGF helps reduce fluid from leaking into the macula.
What is EYLEA used for?
EYLEA is indicated for the treatment of patients with:
• Neovascular (Wet) Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
• Macular Edema Following Retinal Vein Occlusion (RVO)
• Diabetic Macular Edema (DME)
• Diabetic Retinopathy (DR)
How is EYLEA given?
EYLEA is an injection administered by your eye doctor into the eye. Depending
on your condition, EYLEA injections are given on different schedules. Consult
with your eye doctor to confirm which EYLEA schedule is appropriate for you.
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Do not use EYLEA if you have an infection in or around the eye, eye pain or
redness, inflammation in the eye, or are allergic to aflibercept and/or any other
ingredients in EYLEA.
What is the most important information I should know about EYLEA?
• EYLEA must only be administered by a qualified eye doctor. Injection
into the eye with EYLEA can result in an infection in the eye and retinal
detachment (separation of retina from back of the eye) can occur.
Inflammation in the eye has been reported with the use of EYLEA. If
your eye becomes red, sensitive to light, painful, or develops a change
in vision, seek immediate care from an eye doctor
• In some patients, injections with EYLEA may cause a temporary
increase in eye pressure within 1 hour of the injection. Sustained
increases in eye pressure have been reported with repeated injections,
and your eye doctor may monitor this after each injection
• There is a potential but rare risk of serious and sometimes fatal side effects
related to blood clots, leading to heart attack or stroke in patients
receiving EYLEA
• Serious side effects related to the injection procedure with EYLEA
are rare but can occur including infection inside the eye and retinal
detachment
• You may experience temporary visual changes after an EYLEA injection
and associated eye exams; do not drive or use machinery until your
vision recovers sufficiently
• Because EYLEA is composed of large molecules, your body may react to
it; therefore, there is a potential for an immune response (allergy-like)
in patients treated with EYLEA
What are possible side effects of EYLEA?
EYLEA can cause serious side effects, including
• See important safety information listed under “What is the
most important information I should know about EYLEA?”
• Increased redness in the eye
• Eye pain
• Cataract
• Vitreous (gel-like substance) detachment
• Vitreous floaters
• Moving spots in the field of vision
• Increased pressure in the eye
There are other possible side effects of EYLEA. For more information, ask your
eye doctor.
It is important that you contact your doctor right away if you think
you might be experiencing any side effects, including eye pain or
redness, light sensitivity, or blurring of vision, after an injection.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription
drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call
1-800-FDA-1088.
What should I tell my eye doctor before receiving EYLEA?
• Tell your eye doctor if you have any medical conditions
• Tell your eye doctor if you are pregnant or are planning to become
pregnant. It is not known if EYLEA may harm your unborn baby
• Tell your eye doctor if you are breastfeeding. It is not known if EYLEA
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How is EYLEA supplied?
EYLEA is supplied in a clear, colorless to pale yellow solution. It is provided in a
pre-filled glass syringe or glass vial containing the amount of product required
for a single injection into the eye, which is 0.05 mL (or 2 mg of the medicine
product).
Where can I learn more about EYLEA?
For a more comprehensive review of EYLEA safety and risk information,
talk to your health care provider and see the full Prescribing Information at
EYLEA.com.
Manufactured by:
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
777 Old Saw Mill River Road
Tarrytown, NY 10591
EYLEA is a registered trademark of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
© 2020, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. All rights reserved.
Issue Date: November 2020
Initial U.S. Approval: 2011
based on the August 2019 EYLEA® (aflibercept) injection full Prescribing information.
11/2020
EYL.20.06.0003
 IN THIS SECTION

The Whys of Puppy Eyes

E X P L O R E Octopus Motherhood
Celebrate Sustainably
Madame Tussaud’s Tools

I L L U M I N AT I N G T H E M Y S T E R I E S — A N D W O N D E R S — A L L A R O U N D U S E V E R Y D AY

N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C VO L . 2 4 2 N O. 5

Plant-Based Meat:
Making the Grade?
N U G G E T S , B U R G E R S , B R AT W U R S T M A D E O F P L A N T S — I ’ V E TA S T E D T H E M
A L L A N D B E C O M E A F A N . B U T T H E R E ’ S S T I L L T H AT M E AT M Y S T I Q U E .

T
BY MARK WILSON

my Le Creuset pan with a

T H E P O RTO B E L LO S S T R I K E
sizzle. Leeks, onions, and carrots go in next, along
with a full bottle of California Cabernet. After hours
of braising, I reduce the burgundy slurry to syrup,
which I spoon over the mushrooms again and again
until they’re glazed like an ube doughnut.
Because chef Thomas Keller’s braised short ribs
was my favorite meat dish, I felt confident adapt-
ing the recipe with portobellos for my first vegan
Thanksgiving. But as I placed the mushrooms onto
the plates of my guests—some of my closest rela-
tives—I already sensed that I’d made a mistake.
The portobellos had turned the unappealing color
of organ meat. As I sliced in, they didn’t taste bad;
they simply tasted like portobellos. Every single
portobello I’ve ever eaten, off every single vegetarian
menu anywhere.
To this day I remember it as the Thanksgiving
when no one talked.

NOVEMBER 2022 15
E X P L O R E | THE BIG IDEA
NOW THAT I’VE EATEN ALMOST EVERY MAJOR
P RO D U C T O N T H E M A R K E T, I F I N D M Y S E L F
WISHING I COULD MIX AND MATCH THEIR TRAITS
TO CREATE A SUPERMEAT OF SORTS, ONE
PLANT MEAT TO RULE THEM ALL .
It was never my mission to exalt vegetables. I
was a nose-to-tail carnivore until a high-cholesterol
diagnosis led me to embrace a plant-dominant
diet. And I certainly couldn’t have imagined at that
Thanksgiving that a decade later I’d be one of the
nation’s principal journalists covering the new wave
of plant-based proteins.
Impossible. Incredible. Awesome. Sensational.
Beyond. Meat alternatives branded with these and
other superlatives now constitute a multibillion-
dollar market that could be nearly 20 times larger
by 2030. And yet, my singular question about each
new product is always the same: Well, what does that
taste like? Does it … taste like meat?
Quite often it does. These new foods are engi-
neered to mimic meat, designed to match its distinct
chewiness, bloodiness, and umami flavor. Nowhere is
this achievement clearer than at Beyond Meat’s labo-
ratory in Los Angeles. There, the company puts beef
and chicken samples under a microscope to under-
stand how their proteins and fats are woven together.
Then it uses all the modern marvels of industrial
production—including heating, cooling, and the
same extrusion process used to make Cheetos—to
alchemize animal doppelgängers out of pea protein,
coconut oil, and other nonmeat ingredients.
special to Americans in that
M E AT I S S O M E T H I N G
it’s absolutely mundane. We in the United States
now eat more meat than ever before: a total of 264
pounds of beef, veal, pork, and chicken per person
per year. And though we’ve curbed our love for beef
over the past 40 years, we’ve more than made up
those pounds in chicken (see chart, page 18).
Eight years ago, to avoid going on medication
to correct my high cholesterol, I switched to a diet
that’s 85 percent plants and plant-based foods. (So
far, it’s working.) Only as I consumed less meat did
I begin to see the meat all around me driving this
market by chargrilling its way across every avenue
of advertising into my consciousness.
A single hamburger is by all measures an unsus-
tainable product, requiring 660 gallons of water to
produce, including lettuce, tomato, and a bun. And yet
we’ve come to expect this subsidized luxury, the result
of tens of billions of dollars in annual U.S. reimburse-
ments to the meat and dairy industries over the past
decade (versus a fraction of that subsidizing fruits and
veggies). None of meat’s true cost—ethical, environ-
mental, or nutritional—really matters to most people,
16 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
an Arby’s restaurant executive told me in 2019. He
also vowed that his company would never sell plant
meat, because, as he declared, “people are not going
to pay more for something that tastes worse.”
Years before that conversation, when I first adopted
what I call my “mostly vegan” diet, I hunted down the
finest plant-based meats that America’s chefs had to
offer. I sampled jackfruit carnitas on home-pressed
masa tortillas at Gracias Madre in San Francisco, a
beet-dyed seitan Reuben at the Chicago Diner, and the
namesake sandwich at Superiority Burger (a mixture
of quinoa, chickpeas, walnuts, and veggies) in New
York City. All were just as delicious, and functionally
not replicable in my daily life, as Thomas Keller’s
short ribs. And still, they weren’t quite meat.
So I turned to the machines of industrialization,
which over the past decade have been churning out a
Cambrian explosion of plant-based alternatives made
for meat-loving Americans. When companies have
new products they want me to try, they overnight
them to me with dry ice (the resulting skyscraper of
plastic-foam coolers in my garage is the worst skeleton
in my closet). I’ve tasted dozens of plant-meat items:
burgers, bratwursts, bacon, chorizos, taco meat, Ital-
ian sausages, breakfast sausages, meatballs, chicken
fingers, chicken nuggets, beef jerky.
Now that I’ve eaten just about every major product
on the market, I appreciate each for its distinctive
sensations. I find myself wishing I could mix and
match their traits to create a supermeat of sorts, one
plant meat to rule them all. I’m fascinated by the
way that Daring chicken chunks char up in a pan,
just like a leg of chicken on the grill. And the way an
Impossible Burger “bleeds” heme, a meaty-tasting
form of iron that’s produced here with soy protein
instead of animal protein. I find it remarkable how
Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Beyond Fried Chicken
chunks shred with the same stringiness as ever-so-
overcooked white meat, which is perfectly imperfect
at re-creating the sensation of KFC’s.
My biggest shock recently was a chicken breast
made with mycelium, the subterranean heart of a
mushroom. It looked like a giant breaded guitar pick
but flavorwise was so indistinguishable from breaded
baked chicken that I wondered, from a practical
standpoint, why we still bother raising chickens (or
portobellos for that matter). Yet no company is good
at making everything. When I tried the same vendor’s
steak, made from the same mycelium, it had the
texture of an aged fillet but the odor of a subway pole.
ILLUSTRATION: EDDIE GUY NOVEMBER 2022 17
E X P L O R E | THE BIG IDEA

I WATC H T H E plant-based meat industry like I watch

the Chicago Bears—with marvel, skepticism, and
frequent disappointment.
But truth be told, much of the world solved its
meat addiction millennia ago. Examine cuisines
across the world, and you’ll see that cultures have
evolved to harvest protein without meat.
I am not simply referring to the original plant
meats: tofu, commonly thought to have been
invented during the Han dynasty circa 150 B.C., or
seitan, thought to have been developed in the area
even earlier. In Mexico, corn tortillas and beans
marry the essential amino acids to create a complete
protein. Across South America, it’s beans and rice. In
Ethiopia, it’s lentils and the ancient grain teff. And
in India, ground rice and black gram, a relative of
the mung bean, ferment together into a batter used
to make steamed idli cakes and crisp dosas.
It’s difficult to imagine the human sacrifices that
brought our culture this incredible knowledge. How
many poisonous things did we eat before we learned
that rice was worth cultivating? How many genera-
tions were malnourished until a tribe realized that
one family—stronger and healthier than the rest—
always ate certain plants in combination?
The first amino acid wasn’t discovered until 1806
(from asparagus, by the way). The last wasn’t dis-
covered for another 120 or 130 years. By the time
scientists found the 20 amino acids inside a complete
protein, cultures had been reverse-engineering them
into their diets for thousands of years.
Through this historical lens, I will admit that I
begin to see plant meat differently—and for what
it really is.
Consider that when we talk of the pea protein
inside any popular plant burger, it’s not made from
EXAMINE CUISINES ACROSS
THE WORLD, AND YOU ’LL
S E E T H AT C U LT U R E S H AV E
E V O LV E D T O H A RV E S T
P RO T E I N W I T H O U T M E AT.
garden-fresh green peas but from an ingredient many
Americans ignore in the grocery’s ethnic foods aisle:
the split yellow peas cooked into popular Indian dals.
Here, the cutting-edge combination of pea protein
and rice in a plant-based burger is not particularly
novel or unique. Rather, it is what the West does best:
We have reconstituted tradition into a logo.
Repackaging these staple proteins as “meat” is
more than a hot business trend; it is the colonial-
ization of the global diet. We’re Americanizing and
corporatizing the very components behind historical,
meatless world cuisines that have successfully and
satisfyingly fed countless generations.
And yet, standing in my backyard with a bottle of
Lite beer in my hand and an Impossible Burger on
the grill, I feel a certain satisfaction. I am reaching
my own manifest destiny as a suburban American
man, all while dodging the guilt of greenhouse
gases, animal cruelty, and the damage I’m doing
to my own heart.
This bleeding patty is desire. This bleeding patty
is patriotism. This bleeding patty is brand.
It is meat. j
Mark Wilson, the global design editor at Fast Company, has been
writing about design, food, technology, and culture for nearly
two decades. He still loves a meatball sub.

The meat of U.S. meat

consumption
per capita per year

the matter 1990

0 lbs 40 80 120 160 200

The United States leads the

world in meat consumption per Poultry Pork Beef
capita, with an intake three and veal
times as high as the world aver-
age. But in the U.S. and other
2008 Production costs, a weak
high-income nations, demand is
economy, and livestock
expected to level off as popula-
2014 disease caused this decline.
tions age and add more diverse
protein sources to their diets.
The shift to poultry over the past
2021
three decades has been driven
by the perception that white
meat is a better food choice and 2029
more convenient to prepare.

LUCAS PETRIN, NGM STAFF. SOURCE: GREGOIRE TALLARD, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
E X P L O R E | BREAKTHROUGHS

A warmer Alpine greening

Satellite images of the Alps show
that the amount of vegetation
D I S PAT C H E S above the tree line has increased
by nearly 80 percent in less than
FROM THE FRONT LINES 40 years. As climate change
OF SCIENCE warms the region, new species
A N D I N N OVAT I O N may outcompete those used to
harsher conditions, such as this
edelweiss. — S I M O N E E I N Z M A N N

TECHNOLOGY

The butterfly
effect via
3D printing
Light interacting
with microscopic
ridges on the wing
surfaces of the
African Cynandra
opis butterfly gives
rise to iridescence.
These “structural
colors” can appear
in a wide spectrum
of visible hues,
including some
not in the butter-
fly’s pigmentation.
SELECTIVE BREEDING
Now researchers
in Switzerland
SPEAKING EYE TO EYE have replicated
the wings’ nano-
M U S C L E S M A K E FAC E S M O R E E X P R E S S I V E I N D O G S
A N D H U M A N S T H A N I N W O LV E S , S T U D Y F I N D S . structure with
3D printing on
Saying no when Fido gives you his best “puppy-dog eyes” can be translucent plas-
extremely difficult. For thousands of years, dogs have been cajoling
tic. The innovation
people by making this pitiful, adorable expression—an ability that
may be the result of selective breeding, a new study says.
could be used
Tiny muscles around the eyes and mouth enable terrestrial for banknotes,
mammals to form myriad facial expressions. Those muscles are inks, and display
more similar in dogs and humans than in dogs and wolves, says screens. — S E
the study by researchers from Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University.
In wolves, most of the facial muscles are slow-twitch fibers, which
adjust less rapidly, while in humans and domesticated dogs, most
of the muscles are fast-twitch fibers, which react quickly. It’s this
musculature difference that allows dogs to make puppy-dog eyes
and other animated, humanlike expressions that wolves can’t.
Communicating with facial cues is “fundamental to all humans,”
says study lead author Anne Burrows. “So it seems reasonable that we
would have selected dogs during selective breeding that would gaze
into our eyes.” Burrows and colleagues are now investigating whether
the evolution of fast-twitching muscles around dogs’ mouths played
a role in the barks they developed to communicate. —A N N I E R OT H

PHOTOS (FROM TOP): ZOONAR GMBH/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION (WOLF);
MADISEN OMSTEAD, DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY (DOG); ETH ZURICH
E X P L O R E

INNOVATOR
KEOLU FOX
B Y B I J A L P. T R I V E D I
PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALE

He analyzes DNA to
empower Indigenous
populations.
When a graduate school professor
told Native Hawaiian Keolu Fox that
studying the genetics and genomics of
Indigenous peoples was “career suicide,”
Fox vowed that all his projects would
prioritize the health of minorities.
Fox followed through on that
commitment after learning that most
genetic studies and clinical trials
are based on people of European
ancestry—a bias that could result in
unsafe or useless treatments for people
of other backgrounds, as well as poli-
cies that compound health inequities.
An assistant professor at the Uni-
versity of California, San Diego and a
National Geographic Explorer, Fox says
it’s critical for “historically vulnerable
communities to be in control of their
information.” So he co-founded the
school’s Indigenous Futures Institute
and the Native BioData Consortium,
which he calls the “Motown Records of
genomics.” Fox believes that identify-
ing genetic signatures that predispose
Indigenous peoples to disease—and
others that confer adaptations to their
Native lands—could lead to better med-
icines and health care.
To ensure that Indigenous peoples
benefit from drugs developed from their
genes, he wants them to receive at least
4 percent of the revenue—money he
hopes they’ll use to take back ancestral
grounds that shaped their genomes. j

The National Geographic Society has

funded the work of geneticist Keolu Fox
since 2017. Learn more about its support of
Explorers at natgeo.com/impact.
 Flex your
antioxidant muscles.

The Antioxidant Superpower, PHM Wonderful, has 700 mg of polyphenol

antioxidants in every 8oz bottle. Making it the perfect workout partner
the next time you hit the gym.
E X P L O R E | DECODER

OCTO MOTHERS
After mating, female octopuses care for their eggs—sometimes tens
of thousands of them—in an elaborate ritual that’s their final act.

B Y TAY L O R M AG G I AC O M O A N D M E S A S C H U M AC H E R

with their dexterity

O C TO P U S E S FA S C I N AT E U S
and keen intelligence, their capacity for
problem-solving and play. Most coastal octopus
species live for about a year; the largest and
longest-lived, the giant Pacific octopus (shown
here), may live up to five years. Most octopuses
reproduce just once, late in life, and at this
time they enter senescence, a monthslong
period of decline marked by diminished
feeding and coordination, tissue breakdown,
and even self-cannibalization. What explains
these phenomena? Scientists suggest that this
fast-growing, competitive species evolved an
internal self-destruct system that triggers
mature animals’ death after reproduction,
to make way for a new generation.

1
Cephalopod sex
A male extends a specialized arm into
the female’s mantle to pass a sperm
packet (spermatophore), which she
stores until egg laying.

MALE Hectocotylus FEMALE

mating arm

Testes Ovary

Spermatophore

Stringing the pearls

2 The female fertilizes her eggs with saved

sperm, strings them together, and attaches
them to the den wall. A giant Pacific brood
averages about 100,000 eggs.

ACTUAL SIZE
EGG FESTOON
Stalk

Yolk
Fertilized
Chorion

Mantle
Developing Eyes
Arms
Yolk
Predators, such as
red rock crabs, will
attempt to feed
Before on detached eggs. EARLY SENESCENCE
hatching As decline begins, she looks
Digestive normal outwardly but is
gland hypersensitive to stimuli.

24 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
 ALASKA CANADA NORTH
RUSSIA (U.S.)
AMERICA E I G H T- A R M E D R E C O R D H O L D E R
The giant Pacific octopus grows
UNITED
A S I A
S TAT E S larger than any other octopus;
it averages about 25 to 45 pounds,
though one individual topped
P A C I F I C O C E A N out at 402 pounds. Carnivorous,
JAPAN
the octopus hunts clams, snails,
Range of giant Pacific octopus fish, and other creatures in the
(Enteroctopus dofleini) temperate waters of the Pacific.

4
Living on
As her life is ending, the mother
may help her babies emerge from Hatchlings’ early life
the den and disperse to open is spent floating with
water. Only a small fraction of the plankton near the
hatchlings will reach adulthood. ocean’s surface.

ACTUAL SIZE
HATCHLING

She strokes the egg festoons

with her suckers, and waves
her limbs to aerate them
and dissuade parasites.

In an experiment when her

optic gland was removed,
the female abandoned her
eggs and resumed eating.

Eye Optic gland

Brain

Near the end, lesions

won’t heal; tissue
degrades, and she may
cannibalize her arms.

CELLULAR DENSITY
Before During
senescence senescence

3
Beginning of the end
Hormones released from the optic
gland boost maternal behaviors During senescence, skin and
LATER SENESCENCE and discourage foraging and eating. neurons degenerate and
Color, muscle tone, and An octopus in senescence stays in cellular replacement may
sensitivity wane, and her her den guarding her eggs and may stop. She loses coordination
reactions slow. lose more than half her body weight. and no longer changes color.

MAP: KATIE ARMSTRONG, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: Z YAN WANG, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON;
MEGHAN HOLST, AQUARIUM OF THE BAY; DAVID SCHEEL; ALASKA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY; AQUAMAPS NOVEMBER 2022 25
E X P L O R E | PLANET POSSIBLE

Throughout the holidays

that will close out 2022,
may we all find ways to P L A N E T
celebrate sustainably.

B Y C AT H E R I N E Z U C K E R M A N

Green the greenery

Each Christmas, revel-
ers glorify live trees.
But later, millions of firs,
pines, and spruces end up
decomposing in dumps,
releasing methane into the
environment. Now some
green-thumbed companies
are renting out trees, which
they tend the rest of the
year. If you prefer to buy,
look for local growers with
advice on where to recycle.
To complete the natural
look, make ornaments from
collected and dried foliage.

Go for a healthy glow

Whether illuminating the
menorah during Hanukkah,
the kinara during Kwanzaa,
or tea lights during Diwali,
consider how the candles
are created. They are often
manufactured with paraf-
fin wax, a petroleum-based
fossil fuel. Affordable and
cleaner alternatives include
those made with soy, eth-
ical beeswax, and coconut
wax. Using artificial lights?
LEDs are eco-friendly.

Save on gift wrap

Some 2.3 million pounds
of wrapping paper go to
landfills every year, accord-
ing to recycling database
Earth911.com. The Japa-
nese tradition of furoshiki,
swaddling gifts in reusable
squares of cloth, is a fes-
tive form of packaging that
doesn’t compromise for-
ests. Simpler still: Wrap with
brown paper grocery bags.

Watch the waste

Holiday traditions often
include tables laden with
tasty fare. But a third of
the food produced for
human consumption each
year goes to waste, the UN
World Food Programme
reports. Instead of throw-
ing away the excess, find
groups that redistribute
it at epa.gov by searching
for “reduce wasted food.”
What’s no longer edible
might be compostable.

PHOTO: REBECCA HALE, NGM STAFF

 Pets are domestic
violence survivors, too.
Creating more safe spaces for domestic
violence survivors and their pets so they
can escape and heal together.
Purina.com/EscapeTogether
E X P L O R E | BASIC INSTINCTS

THESE BIRDS
has been studying the crested
F O R 3 6 Y E A R S , B I O LO G I S T I A N J O N E S
auklet (Aethia cristatella). The small seabirds flock in ocean waters
between Siberia and Alaska. They nest in colonies on rocky coasts

STAGE ROWDY
of remote islands. And each spring, they hold courtship displays
that resemble rowdy, carnal swim parties. Jones, a professor at
Memorial University in Newfoundland, has observed the birds’

LOVE-INS ON
eight-week breeding season: the sights, sounds, smells, and moves.
In sum, he says, “it looks like some sort of 1960s-style love-in.”
When the snowmelt signals spring, crested auklet males of

ROCKY COASTS
breeding age choose a courtship staging spot, and the flaunting
begins. The males puff up their feathers, strut around, and flash
their forward-curving crest (its size does matter to females, research
has shown). They also make trumpeting, hooting, and yapping
sounds “like the barking of small dogs,” Jones says.
B Y K E R RY BA N KS If a female likes a male’s show, she approaches him. If there’s
mutual interest, both birds pose and vocalize, and stroke each other
with their bills. That distributes a tangerine-scented substance
released from a gland beneath their nape feathers. The smell may
be an auklet turn-on—and the bird is already “extremely gregari-
Bering ous,” Jones says. “You can have a one-meter-square flat rock with
Sea hundreds of birds on it, jostling, crowding, and doing all sorts of
R USS IA ALASKA
(U.S.) weird things.”
A S I A A couple’s wooing usually leads to intertwining of necks, then
mating—but never on dry land, Jones says. “They do it frequently.
Range of
Several times in an hour. And always at sea.” Not always alone,
JAPAN
PA
crested auklet however: Sometimes a “scrum” of other auklets tries to thwart or
CI
F I C O CE A N cut in on the sex, until the male backs them off with jabs of his bill.
In a single season the mates produce one egg, co-parent dur-
ing the chick’s early months, and often remain a pair. The next
CRESTED AUKLET
Native to the northern Pacific year, the same birds may find each other and do it all again. j
Ocean, the seabird flocks in
ice-free waters and nests in col-
onies on coastlines and cliffs.
Although the IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species assesses
it of least concern now, the pop-
ulation is affected by invasive
predators and climate change.

PHOTO: MARIE READ, NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY. NGM MAPS

 Establishing a charitable gift
annuity with the National
Geographic Society is a great
way to receive guaranteed
payments for life and save on
taxes—while protecting our
planet for generations to come.

PHOTOGRAPH BY HENRIK K ARLSSON

A N N U I T Y R AT E S H AV E I N C R E A S E D ! S E C U R E YO U R F U T U R E W I T H L I F E T I M E PAYM E N T S .
E X P L O R E | TOOL KIT

THE ART OF IMMORTALITY

PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALE

30 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
 1. Marie Tussaud
The founder, who opened
an exhibition of wax mod-
els in London in 1835, lives
on through her likeness.
2. Paints and palette
Hilshorst and his team
replicate skin tones by
applying layers of oil paints
mixed with turpentine.
3. Paintbrushes
Worn brushes are used for
splattering paint onto the
wax, soft-bristled ones for
blending the paint, and
tiny ones for detail work.
4. Hairbrushes
Hairdos get a regular re-
fresh with brushes, rollers,
and curling and flat irons.
If needed, new hair strands
are individually inserted.
5. Teeth and eyeballs
During the creation of a
double—a process that
takes over 800 hours—the
7 celebrity often helps by
providing body measure-
ments, dental records, and
eye-color confirmation.
6. Thread
When a figure’s clothing
needs mending, the team
takes to the machines in
the sewing area.
9 7. Wooden tools
Warmed with a flame and
then pressed into “skin,”
these delicate utensils
reshape or smooth wax.
8
8. Molten wax
Heated in a pot atop
a hot plate, it facilitates
making larger repairs
or transplanting busts
onto new bodies, which
are formed separately.
9. Blocks of wax
Extra wax is available for
repair work—and offers a
place to rest hairs that
10 may be added to the head,
eyebrows, or eyelashes.

Where else but Madame

WA X . PA I N T. R E A L H A I R . FA K E E Y E B A L L S .
Tussauds do these parts add up to onlookers’ delight in the (unblink-
ing) presence of their favorite celebrities? At the Tussauds location
near New York City’s Times Square—one of 25 such attractions
worldwide—studio manager Matt Hilshorst and four other artists
maintain the roughly 200 figures on view, from Albert Einstein and
10. Hot knife
Ariana Grande to Kamala Harris, the first ever VP in wax. By hand, This tool can slice through
the artists touch up and, when necessary, repair the sculptures, blocks of wax or shave
ensuring they’re always ready to greet their fans. — H I C K S W O G A N down a bust to fit a body.

NOVEMBER 2022 31
E X P L O R E | ARTIFACT

T H E A RT O F F E LT I N G C A R P E T S —for
warming stone
homes, for decoration and cultural expression—has
long been a pursuit of women and girls in Ingushe-

THREADS OF
tiya, one of Russia’s southernmost republics. Folk
music has immortalized the wisdom woven into
these rugs (called istings in Ingush), which are tra-

MEMORY
ditional throughout Central Asia and the Caucasus.
But the labor-intensive craft foundered in Ingushe-
tiya after Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the
deportation of nearly the entire, predominantly
Muslim, populace during World War II.
PHOTOGRAPH BY
“We had to hurry,” says Ingush ethnogra-
S V E T L A N A B U L ATOVA
pher Tanzila Dzaurova. Ten years ago, she and a
small group of young enthusiasts scoured their
mountainous homeland for carpet fragments,
memories, and guidance. The investigation led to
a new workshop in the capital, Magas, as well as
classes in schools, competitions, and a book that
includes hundreds of historical “ornaments,” or
designs, from fertility symbols for newlyweds
to labyrinths intended to confuse evil spirits.
In this photo taken in the village of Khayrakh,
IA

S S
U Khava Kodzoeva displays an isting by Zalina
EUROPE R
ASIA Khamkhoeva—both of whom learned felting
Ingushetiya at the Magas workshop. Today the wool craft
AFRICA is a thread connecting them to generations of
women before, says Dzaurova. “It’s as if there is
a genetic memory in the hands.” — E V E C O N A N T

NGM MAPS
 TUTANKHAMUN’S LAVISH TOMB IGNITED A FOCUS ON EGYPT’S ROYAL HISTORY.
NOW THE PAST AND FUTURE INSPIRE PROJECTS STIRRING NATIONAL PRIDE.

34
THE BOY KING
Riches buried with
him awed the world.

54
THE EXPLORER
Howard Carter’s ambi-
tious quest for Tut’s
tomb nearly failed.

68
THE MUMMY
Within 17 layers
of linen, the
wonders unfold.

76
THE MUSEUM
A majestic new
home displays
Tut’s treasures.

96
THE DESERT
CAPITAL
It’s a bold vision:
a new city for six
million people.

Made from wood,

ebony, and ivory, a
cartouche-shaped box
features hieroglyphs
symbolizing the
pharaoh’s name and
the world he ruled.

PHOTO: SANDRO VANNINI

Little was written about the young pharaoh Tutankhamun,
but the many artifacts from his tomb—including this life-size
wooden statue—offer clues to his life and times.

34
 THE STUNNING
DISCOVERY OF
KING TUT’S TOMB
100 YEARS AGO
OPENED A WINDOW INTO
EGYPT’S GOLDEN PAST.
NOW THE WORLD WILL
GET A NEW LOOK
AT THE YOUNG
PHARAOH’S RICHES.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SANDRO VA n N I N I

Tut’s resplendent burial 18th dynasty (16th to

mask immortalizes 13th centuries B.C.),
his features in gold, when trade routes
glass, and semiprecious converged in the Nile
stones. The master- Valley and caravans
piece also embodies brought extravagant
the wealth of Egypt’s goods from afar.
A guide to the great which Tut’s successor, a living king, is wel-
beyond, three scenes Ay—wearing a leopard comed to the realm
on the north wall of skin and holding a tool of the gods by the
Tut’s burial chamber called an adze—sym- sky goddess Nut. The
map out his journey to bolically revives the final scene shows Tut
the next world. From mummified pharaoh, (in striped headdress)
right to left, scene one here depicted as Osiris. and his ka embracing
depicts the “opening In the middle scene, Osiris, with whom he
of the mouth” ritual in Tut, now dressed as then becomes one.
 Tut’s golden throne Akhenaten, decreed shows him before
features a tender that Aten was the only Amun-Re, who offers
scene: His queen, god, causing great tur- him an ankh, the sym-
Ankhesenamun, rubs moil. Tut restored wor- bol of life. The breast-
him with perfumed ship of the old gods, plate was found in
oil as they bask under particularly Amun-Re. pieces, likely damaged
the sun disk Aten. Tut The king’s corselet by robbers who ran-
came to the throne (right), worn during sacked the tomb but
after his predecessor, state ceremonies, took only small items.

48
Tut was the last heir weaponry, clues that design (above) that
of a powerful family he had learned to hunt may have been a gift
that had ruled Egypt and fight like other from a distant ruler.
for centuries and pharaohs. His mummy A pair of Tut’s sandals
built a far-reaching wore two daggers, one (left) are decorated
empire. His burial made of iron possibly with war captives,
goods included char- sourced from a mete- allowing the king to
iots, bows, arrows, orite, and another symbolically crush ene-
shields, and other of gold and foreign mies with every step.
A bed used only for tomb (known as the the primordial sea car-
funerary rites depicts antechamber and pic- rying Re, the sun, into
two sacred cows bear- tured on the following the sky. Six other, more
ing a sun disk between pages)—embodies the practical, beds were
their horns. The gilded ancient Egyptian myth placed in the tomb to
bed—one of three from of Mehet-Weret, a cow ensure the boy king’s
the first room of Tut’s goddess who rose from eternal rest.
When British archaeologist Howard Carter peered into Tutankhamun’s tomb on November 26, 1922,
he beheld a scene of organized clutter. Writing in his journal, he described the tangle of treasures as
a “strange and wonderful medley of extraordinary and beautiful objects heaped upon one another.”

55
 AFTER YEARS OF
FRUITLESS DIGGING,
HOWARD CARTER HAD
LITTLE TIME AND
FUNDING LEFT. THEN A
MEMBER OF HIS CREW
STUMBLED UPON A
BURIED STAIRWAY.
B Y T O M M U E L L E R
P H O T O G R A P H S B Y H A R R Y B U R T O N

After workers raised

Tut’s coffins from the
tomb’s stone sarcopha-
LADY FIONA HERBERT, the eighth Countess of gus—a complex opera-
Carnarvon, turns the folio pages of a leatherbound tion requiring a system
of pulleys and slings—
guest book, pointing out the signatures of illustri- Carter gently cleans
the lid of the second
ous visitors who frequented her famous home a coffin. The king’s
century ago. We are high in Highclere Castle, the mummy still lay inside
the innermost coffin.
grand country estate some 50 miles west of Lon-
don that in recent years became the setting for the
popular period drama Downton Abbey. Now every
table, chair, and much of the floor in Lady Carnar-
von’s small study is stacked with books and original

56 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
documents from the 1920s: letters, diaries, and
yellowed photographs mounted in albums
or rolled up like ancient papyrus scrolls. The
guest register contains the cast of characters
for a book Lady Carnarvon is writing about her
husband’s forebear, George Edward Stanhope
Molyneux Herbert, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon.
“The Fifth Earl,” as she refers to him, famously
sponsored British archaeologist Howard Carter
in his dogged search for the lost tomb of King
Tutankhamun. Lord Carnarvon also hosted lav-
ish parties at Highclere that brought together an
eclectic mix of explorers, diplomats, socialites,
and—a bit surprising for an English aristocrat—
leaders of Egypt’s independence movement.
Lady Carnarvon stops at July 3, 1920, and
introduces the guests as if she’d been at the soi-
ree herself. “Here is Howard Carter, of course,
who spent weeks here each summer planning
the excavations with the Fifth Earl … British High
Commissioner Lord Allenby … Alfred Duff Coo-
per and his beautiful wife, Lady Diana Cooper.”
She indicates a noble who signs only one name,
Carisbrooke—a grandson of Queen Victoria: “A
minor member of the royal family, to give the
gathering a little street cred.”
THE EXPLORER 57
Carter had the tomb’s breaking through the
artifacts numbered and plastered doorway,
photographed, includ- he found the cham-
ing the life-size stat- ber nearly filled by an
ues that guarded the ornate, gilded box—
burial chamber. After Tut’s burial shrine.
To escape England’s
cold, damp winters
and improve his poor
health, British noble-
man Lord Carnarvon
made Egypt his second
home. His keen interest
in antiquities led him
to employ Carter and
fund the search for Tut-
ankhamun’s lost tomb.

She points out a series of signatures, some in
Arabic script. “And look there … Saad Zagloul,
Adly Yeghen, and other fathers of the mod-
ern Egyptian state.” Zagloul, a national hero
in Egypt, had been arrested and exiled for his
opposition to British occupation. Yet here he
was, hobnobbing with British bigwigs.
“I can see what he was doing, because I do it
myself,” Lady Carnarvon says of the earl. “The
Fifth Earl was putting people together infor-
mally, where they could develop a measure of
personal trust, maybe even friendship, before
negotiating a treaty or solving a political crisis.”
I notice that Zagloul signed his name next to
Carter’s and wonder if they conversed about
the fate of Egypt’s ancient treasures. Zagloul
decried foreign control of Egyptian antiquities
as a pernicious form of colonialism—an issue
over which he would soon clash with Carter and
the archaeologist’s blue-blooded benefactor.
Lord Carnarvon began spending winters on
the Nile in 1903, on the advice of his doctor. He
suffered congenitally poor health, made all the
worse by a near-fatal car accident that left him
with badly injured lungs. (An avid “automobil-
ist,” Carnarvon owned one of the first cars in

60 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

England.) Breathing Egypt’s desert air was, he
said, like drinking champagne.
Soon Lord Carnarvon was relishing Egyptian
antiquities as much as Egypt’s air. In 1907 he
hired Carter to search for artifacts for his grow-
ing collection at Highclere and to supervise the
excavations he was funding.
Carter had left England for Egypt at 17 with no
formal training in archaeology but with marked
talent as an artist. He developed a keen eye for
artifacts and in 1899 was appointed one of two
chief inspectors of antiquities in the Egyptian
Antiquities Service.
Carter’s fortunes took a sharp turn in 1905,
after what he called a “bad affray” with a group
of French tourists. (They were drunk and abu-
sive, Carter claimed, although he later admitted
to having a “hot temper.”) To avoid a diplomatic
incident, his superior told him to express his
regrets. He refused, feeling that his only honor-
able option was to resign, which he did several
months later.
Carter had been scratching out a living sell-
ing watercolors to well-heeled tourists when he
was introduced to Lord Carnarvon two years
later. The two men stood far apart in the social
pecking order, but they shared a passion for
ancient Egypt. Their partnership would lead
to the discovery of a little-known boy king who
had been laid to rest with a staggering store of
treasures, then largely forgotten for more than
3,000 years. The find was one of archaeology’s
greatest triumphs, offering the world a dazzling
vision of ancient life on the Nile and instilling in
modern Egyptians a new sense of national pride
and self-determination.
IMPORTANT CLUES to the whereabouts of
Tutankhamun’s tomb came to light in the early
1900s in the Valley of the Kings, a complex of
rugged canyons across the Nile from modern
Luxor, site of the ancient Egyptian capital of
Thebes. Unlike earlier pharaohs who were
interred in towering pyramids that became easy
targets for looters, Theban royals were buried
in tombs dug deep into the secluded valley’s
rocky hillsides.
By the turn of the 20th century, the Theban
necropolis was Egypt’s most productive and
prized archaeological site. Excavations spon-
sored by Theodore Davis, an American business-
man, produced a string of important discoveries.
Among them were a few artifacts bearing the
name of the mysterious Tutankhamun.
Carter had developed an intimate knowl-
edge of the Valley of the Kings during his years
as chief inspector. But before he and Lord Car-
narvon could start digging there, they had to
acquire the excavation permit, called a conces-
sion, which was jealously held by Davis.
Archaeologists and treasure hunters had been
digging in the valley for decades, and many
believed the heyday of discovery had come
and gone. After years of funding successful
THE EXPLORER 61
excavations, Davis was coming to the same
conclusion. “I fear the Valley of the Tombs is
now exhausted,” he wrote in 1912. When he
relinquished his concession, Lord Carnarvon,
at Carter’s urging, snapped it up in June 1914.
Later that same month, the assassination of
an Austro-Hungarian archduke plunged Europe
and the Middle East into World War I, delaying
a full-on search for Tutankhamun’s tomb until
the fall of 1917, when improving news from the
war allowed resumption of excavations. Over
the next five years, Carter and a team of Egyp-
tian laborers moved an astonishing 150,000
to 200,000 tons of rubble. The work was hard,
dusty, and sweltering under the desert sun.
Those five years of pain produced little gain,
and Carter’s benefactor grew disillusioned.
Perhaps the valley was indeed picked over and
played out. In June 1922 Lord Carnarvon sum-
moned Carter to Highclere and announced he
was giving up on the valley. Carter pleaded for
one more season of digging, even offering to
pay for it himself. Lord Carnarvon reluctantly
agreed. When Carter arrived back in Luxor on
October 28, 1922, the clock was ticking down.
Seven days later, a chance discovery lifted his
hopes—and soon upended his world.
ON NOVEMBER 4, a member of Carter’s team
whose name is lost to history stumbled upon a
carved stone, the top of a buried stairway. In his
pocket diary, Carter wrote just five words: “First
steps of tomb found.”
The next day, the team uncovered 12 steps
and descended to a doorway that had been plas-
tered over and stamped with pharaonic seals.
The seals were too indistinct to be read but were
clearly unbroken. Convinced he’d discovered an
intact royal tomb, Carter cabled Lord Carnarvon
in England: “At last have made wonderful dis-
covery in valley; a magnificent tomb with seals
intact ... congratulations.”
News of the discovery spread quickly, and
reporters raced to the valley to witness the
opening of the tomb. Lord Carnarvon arrived
on November 23, and by the 24th, Carter and
his team had exposed the entire doorway and
found seals that were more easily read. Several
contained the long-sought-after name: “Neb-
kheperure,” the throne title of Tutankhamun.
Carter and his companions were elated, but a
62 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
Tut was buried in a (walled enclosure in
subterranean crypt in foreground) was hid-
a royal necropolis den from robbers—
known as the Valley and archaeologists—
of the Kings. The by debris from tombs
entrance to his tomb built above his.
second discovery cast a shadow over the celebra-
tion: The doorway bore evidence of forced entry.
Someone had been there before them.
The door was cut away, revealing not a trea-
sure-filled tomb but a sloping passage filled with
rubble. Two more days of digging brought them
to the tomb, more than 20 feet underground.
Another plastered doorway bore more seals
naming Tutankhamun. Carter made a small hole
in the masonry, held up a candle, and looked in.
In what would become one of the most famous
exchanges in the annals of archaeology, an
impatient Lord Carnarvon asked, “Can you see
anything?” to which Carter replied, “Yes. It’s
wonderful.”
The objects he spied were indeed wondrous:
golden beds, life-size guardian effigies, disas-
sembled chariots, a richly decorated throne, all
in a jumble. Carter wrote later, “At first I could
see nothing, the hot air escaping from the cham-
ber causing the candle flame to flicker, but pres-
ently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light,
details of the room within emerged slowly from
the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold—
everywhere the glint of gold.”
Tutankhamun’s tomb, Carter soon learned,
included four rooms, now known as the ante-
chamber, annex, treasury, and burial chamber.
The tomb was unusually small for a pharaoh,
but the rooms were packed with everything he
would need to live like a king for all eternity—
some 5,400 objects in all. (See “Filled With
Riches—and Meaning,” page 74.)
It was an archaeologist’s dream—and night-
mare. Unpacking, cataloging, preserving, and
moving the hoard of artifacts—many of which
were damaged and fragile—would take a decade
of painstaking work and involve an interdisci-
plinary team of specialists, including conserva-
tors, architects, linguists, historians, experts in
botany and textiles, and others. The project sig-
naled a new era of scientific rigor in Egyptology.
Carter’s friend Arthur “Pecky” Callender,
an engineer, built a pulley system to lift heavy
objects, installed electric lights, and, when
necessary, sat at the tomb entrance with a loaded
gun to fend off intruders.
Alfred Lucas, a chemist and forensics expert,
analyzed the tomb as a crime scene and con-
cluded that two break-ins had occurred in antiq-
uity, soon after Tut was laid to rest. The robbers
ransacked some rooms but managed to get away
only with smaller, portable items. (Scholars now
believe the thieves made off with more than half
the royal jewelry.)
Harry Burton, who, like Carter, had been an
English country lad of modest background, was
by 1922 widely recognized as the world’s preem-
inent archaeological photographer. He set up a
makeshift darkroom in a nearby tomb, and his
evocative images helped make the discovery and
excavation a global media event.
Egypt had bewitched its invaders ever since
Roman legions conquered the Nile and hauled
Egyptian obelisks, hieroglyphs, and deities back
to the Eternal City. But the new power of media
in a world desperate for diversion after the drain-
ing horrors of World War I unleashed a modern
wave of Egyptomania that made the boy king a
pop-culture celebrity.
Soon there were King Tut lemons from Cali-
fornia, King Tut cigarette cards and biscuit tins,
even a board game called Tutoom in which little
metal archaeologists on donkeys searched for
treasures. Songs such as “Old King Tut” were
Jazz Age hits danced to by flappers wearing
cobra headpieces and eye of Horus kohl eyeliner.
Egyptian symbols flowed into art deco. Hiero-
glyphs and cartouches invaded wallpaper, cloth-
ing, and furniture fabrics. Egyptian-themed
movie theaters opened in some 50 U.S. cities,
adorned with gods and sphinxes, papyrus col-
umns, and faux tomb frescoes.
When Lord Carnarvon returned to England,
he was invited to Buckingham Palace for a per-
sonal audience with King George V and Queen
Mary, so eager were the royal couple for Tut
news. Carnarvon gave the London Times exclu-
sive rights to the unfolding story in return for
5,000 pounds sterling and a percentage of future
sales. The deal enraged Egyptian journalists and
the international press, whose reporters had to
scramble for any scrap of news.
Nowhere was Tutmania more powerful than
in the pharaoh’s homeland. Egyptians flocked
to the Valley of the Kings to see the excavation.
Schoolchildren performed plays celebrating the
young pharaoh, with props inspired by Burton’s
64 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
photographs. Political leaders and poets greeted
Tutankhamun as a national hero.
“He reminds them of their past greatness,”
says historian Christina Riggs, “and what their
new nation, which only months before had won
its independence from Britain, may achieve in
the future.”
Egyptians saw Tutankhamun’s return to the
world as a message from their glorious past.
Ahmad Shawqi, the muse of Egyptian indepen-
dence, addressed Tutankhamun in his poems as
the spiritual leader of the Egyptian people. “Pha-
raoh, the time of self-rule is in effect, and the
dynasty of arrogant lords has passed,” Shawqi
wrote. “Now the foreign tyrants in every land
must relinquish their rule over their subjects!”
Egyptians were claiming sovereignty not only
over their laws and economy but over their antiq-
uities as well. Archaeology and empire had long
been tightly interwoven, with major excavations
funded by European and North American muse-
ums, universities, and wealthy collectors such as
Lord Carnarvon. In return, funders expected to
receive up to half the antiquities discovered, in
keeping with a decades-old tradition known as
partage, from the French partager, “to share.”
But Egypt’s new leaders would soon insist
that all of Tutankhamun’s treasures were part of
Egypt’s patrimony and would remain in Egypt.
“The new Egyptian government’s decision to
keep the collection of Tutankhamun all in Egypt
was an important statement of cultural indepen-
dence,” says Egyptologist Monica Hanna. “This
was the first time that we the Egyptians actually
started to have agency over our own culture.”
A SECOND GREAT DISCOVERY came in
February 1923. Carter chipped a hole in the wall
of Tut’s burial chamber, held up a flashlight,
and peered through. “An astonishing sight its
light revealed,” he later wrote, “a solid wall of
gold.” The golden wall was, in fact, part of a
large, gilded box, or funeral shrine, inside of
which were three more shrines and a quartzite
sarcophagus. Inside the sarcophagus, Carter
would later discover, were three mummy-shaped
coffins nested one within the other.
Lord Carnarvon joined Carter in the tomb
for the much anticipated opening of the burial
chamber. Less than two months later, the Fifth
Earl was dead from an infected mosquito bite
 OBJECTS FROM THE TOMB HAVE LED TO CONFLICTING
CONCLUSIONS ABOUT TUTANKHAMUN’S SHORT
LIFE. SOME EXPERTS BELIEVE HE WAS PHYSICALLY
ACTIVE; OTHERS IMAGINE HIM AS AN INVALID.
that led to blood poisoning and pneumonia. His
sudden demise gave rise to rumors—and many
imaginative newspaper articles—of a mummy’s
curse that brought death or misfortune to those
who disturbed the pharaoh’s resting place.
Undaunted, Carter pressed ahead with the
excavation, now supported by Lord Carnarvon’s
widow, the Dowager Countess Almina Carnar-
von. But when Egyptian authorities began tak-
ing a more active role in the excavation, Carter
stopped work in protest—spurring his new over-
seers to bar him from the tomb. It would take
nearly a year for him to regain access, and only
after he and his patroness had renounced all
claims to Tut’s burial goods.
When work resumed in 1925, Carter focused
on disassembling the nested coffins, a herculean
task that required clever engineering. The inner-
most coffin was made of solid gold and weighed
almost 250 pounds. Inside lay Tut’s mummified
remains, with a stunning mask of gold covering
his head and shoulders—an artifact destined to
become the symbol of Egypt’s proud past. Yet
the man behind the mask would be slow to give
up his secrets.
A series of autopsies, x-rays, CT scans, and
DNA tests performed over the past century
have sought to shed light on Tutankhamun’s
parentage, life, and death. Yet time and again,
the evidence uncovered points several ways and
is open to interpretation.
Tut’s father—most likely King Akhenaten—
and his mother (whose identity is still debated)
were brother and sister, leaving their children
vulnerable to genetic defects. In Tut’s case, a
congenitally deformed foot may have been the
legacy of royal incest—a not uncommon practice
in his time and place.
His birth name wasn’t Tutankhamun but Tut-
ankhaten, “living image of Aten.” His presumed
father—often referred to as the “heretic pha-
raoh”—had spurned the traditional pantheon
of Egyptian gods, Amun supreme among them,
and worshipped a single deity known as Aten,
the disk of the sun. Akhenaten, “servant of
Aten,” shuttered temples, seized the power and
wealth of priests, and elevated himself to the
status of a living god.
After his radical father died, Tutankhaten
ascended to the throne at eight or nine years
old. He would later oversee a restoration of
the old ways—no doubt under the direction of
advisers and priests eager to restore their stand-
ing. His name became Tutankhamun, “living
image of Amun,” and he wed a daughter of
Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti named Ankh-
esenamun (presumably his half sister). Two
mummified fetuses discovered in Tut’s tomb
were likely his stillborn daughters.
Objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb have led
scholars to contradictory conclusions about his
short life. Noting the numerous throwing sticks
and chariots, some experts have claimed that
the young pharaoh led a physically active life of
hunting and warfare. Other observers, pointing
out the large number of walking sticks and his
clubfoot, imagine him as an invalid.
Causes of the king’s death proposed over the
years have included a chariot accident, a hippo-
potamus attack, a fatal bout of malaria, and mur-
der. One thing is clear: The young ruler’s death
was sudden and unexpected, and his officials
had to quickly appropriate a courtier’s cramped,
unfinished tomb and round up an ample supply
of grave goods, some of which appear to have
been made for other royal figures.
His successors would try to erase from history
nearly every trace of the heretic Akhenaten and
his associates, including the birth name Tut-
ankhaten. And so, for Carter and others, search-
ing for the boy king was like chasing a ghost.
“The mystery of his life still eludes us,” Carter
wrote. “The shadows move but the dark is never
quite uplifted.” j
THE EXPLORER 65
 160

220

160
1,150 feet to the
West Valley Ramses VII Cairo

180
KV 1

Nile
Y
Only a few tombs, carved
deep into limestone
slopes, have been discov- E G Y P T
Valley of 180
ered in the nearby West
Valley. One belongs to the Kings
Eg
Amenhotep III, thought
to be Tut’s grandfather. E 180
to
re
22
0 to
Son of ar

0
L

20
Ramses IV Ramses III
KV 2
KV 3 w
Yuya and
Tuyu re
KV 46
L

Dynasty of entombed
200
New Kingdom official Ramses XI
18th KV 4
19th
20th N
A

Sons of
Ramses II
KV 5
Pharaoh 180
Queen
Userhet
220

0
KV 5 Tomb number

20
V

KV 45 KV 44
Ramses II
100 feet 0 KV 7
20
20 meters Merneptah KV 28

24 20
Contour interval: 180

0
2
KV 8 Sit-Ra
5 meters Ramses IX
KV 55 Akhenaten; KV 6 (royal nurse)
KV 27 KV 60
Smenkhkare
Ramses V;
Ramses VI Thutmose I;
KV 9 TUTANKHAMUN KV 21 Hatshepsut
KV 62 KV 20

0
26
KV 63 Ramses I
KV 16 Tutankhamun
KV 56 10
embalming cache
Seti I KV 54
T

KV 17 Mentuherkhepshef
Horemheb KV 58 KV 19
KV 57 Ramses X
Amenmesse
KV 10 KV 18 200
KV 12
KV 48
S

Amenhotep II;
KV 50,51,52 KV 49 Ramses III 1
Younger Lady
(likely KV 11
Tutankhamun’s
A

220
mother)
KV 35 KV 61
Thutmose IV
Maiherpri KV 29 KV 43
KV 36
E

Tomb of king’s
Bay; daughters 240 20
Amenherkhepshef; and sons
Mentuherkhepshef KV 40
KV 13 Siptah KV 26
KV 47

200 KV 30 KV 59
Twosret; 0
28
Setnakhte
KV 14 260 The way camp
KV 31
Workers accessed the 2
Tiaa KV 37 tombs by climbing a steep
KV 32
Thutmose I mountain path, saving an
22
0

KV 38 hours-long walk through

Seti II KV F
KV 15 KV 33 the valley. Along the way,
respite could be found in
24

Thutmose III stone houses on a hilltop

0

KV 34
between the tombs and the
Hatshepsut-
Meryetre artisans’ village on the plain.
Amenhotep I
KV 42 KV 39; 650 feet to tomb
26

30
0
AFTERLIFE IN THE
PHARAOHS’ VALLEY
‘IT WAS A SIGHT
SURPASSING ALL
gypt’s later pharaohs were believed to begin their journey
o the afterlife in the Valley of the Kings, just west of the
eligious hub of Thebes. Most of the valley’s 64 known
ombs were looted over the centuries. But in 1922, British

PRECEDENT, AND
rchaeologist Howard Carter made an astonishing discovery
when he opened tomb KV 62: the treasures and mummified
emains of the 18th dynasty pharaoh Tutankhamun.

ONE WE NEVER
DREAMED
A.D.

Greco-Roman Minor King in an Epic Dynasty

332 B.C.-A.D. 395 Tutankhamun ruled for about nine years

OF SEEING.’
and died young. He was one of the lesser
known pharaohs of his era, but the dis-
covery of his relatively unspoiled tomb
elevated King Tut’s modern stature.
500 Late Period
B.C. 664-332

Horemheb
1323-1295 — H O WA R D C A R T E R , N O V E M B E R 2 7, 1 9 2 2

Third Ay 1327-1323
Intermediate TUTANKHAMUN 1336-1327
1069-664 Smenkhkare G R A P H I C S B Y A L B E R T O L U C A S L Ó P E Z
Pharaohs had a
000 Akhenaten personal name and a
B.C. 1352-1336
throne name, once they
ascended to power.

New Tutankhamun
Kingdom Amenhotep III
1390-1352 Personal name
1550-1069
Amun
18th Dynasty (god)
1550-1295 Thutmose IV
500 1400-1390 tut
B.C.
Second (image)
Intermediate ankh
1650-1550 Amenhotep II (living)
1427-1400
ruler
Middle
Kingdom “Living image of
2055-1650 Amun, ruler of Upper
Thutmose III Egyptian Heliopolis”
1479-1425
000
B.C.
First Nebkheperure
Intermediate
Queen Throne name FANTASTICAL GILDED CREATURES. Life-size effigies
Period
2160-2055
Hatshepsut
1473-1458 Re
of a king. Parts of chariots that were “glinting with
(sun god) gold.” These were just a few of the treasures cataloged
Old
Kingdom
Thutmose II
1492-1479
kheper
(manifes-
by British archaeologist Howard Carter and his team
tation)
500
B.C.
2686-2160 as they ventured into a previously overlooked tomb
Thutmose I
1504-1492 neb
(lord)
in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. They would eventually
Amenhotep I “The lordly uncover three layers of coffins; in the final, solid-gold
1525-1504
manifestation
Early Dynastic of Re”
one, they found a golden masked mummy, stuck fast to
3000-2686
Ahmose
its encasement by a libation poured by ancient priests.
000 1550-1525
MATTHEW W. CHWASTYK, NGM STAFF
B.C. SOURCES: THEBAN MAPPING PROJECT;
THE OXFORD HISTORY OF ANCIENT 68
EGYPT, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
SEVEN DAYS Bandage layer 1 of 17
OCTOBER 28, 1925
Layers 2-3
NOVEMBER 11, 1925
Layers 3-4
NOVEMBER 12, 1925

OF UNWRAPPING “From the hands downwards the royal

mummy has been covered by a libation,
“The under bandages which were very
voluminous were found to be equally
“Further layers of decayed wrappings were
carefully removed from the lower part of

THE KING
which has darkened the linen and hidden decayed and fragile, in fact, as it the mummy ... Objects were removed. This
the detail of the inlaid gold bands which eventually proved the deeper and nearer enabled the body to be bared down to the skin,
bear texts edged with rows of beads.” the body, the worse the condition.” from the top of the abdomen to the feet.”

“How greatly the dangers were

feared for the dead is shown by
the profusion of amulets and
sacred symbols placed on the
mummy, which were intended to The pharaoh’s mask
in its striped royal
protect it against injury on that headdress had to
journey in the underworld.” remain fixed in place
—Howard Carter as the team exam-
ined the mummy,
layer by layer, to
prevent damage.
The historic examination of
Tutankhamun’s mummy inside
the innermost coffin was
performed over seven days
in October and November
of 1925, and meticulously
recorded in Carter’s journals.
The extraordinary effort, led
by medical experts Douglas
Derry and Saleh Hamdi Bey,
with assistance from Carter,
revealed hidden wonders of
ancient craftsmanship. The
king’s mummy was stacked,
mostly over the neck and chest,
with protective amulets and
jewels, many in avian, scarab,
and serpent forms. Ancient
Testing confirmed “Near the flesh
embalmers also had concealed high levels of cobalt of the king the
more than 140 precious objects and nickel in the iron wrappings were
(nearly all illustrated here) dagger (on thigh),
nothing more than
signs of its possible
between 17 layers of thin linen charred powder.”
meteoric origin.
bandages, reverently wrapped
around Tut’s remains. All were
thought to magically assist the
Gold bands encrusted Six thin gold collars When removing the
king in his life after death. with colored glass and hung around the neck lower leg bandages,
semiprecious stones of the pharaoh, who the team found gold-
swaddled the king— was considered the capped toes wrapped
positioned like Osiris, divine intermediary in thimble-like stalls,
Explore
god of the dead, with between Egyptians the mummy’s feet
the digital
version of this crossed golden hands and their gods. The carefully placed in
graphic. Use clasping a crook vulture, serpent, and sandals to preserve
your phone’s and flail. Symbols falcon are traditional the delicate append-
camera to scan for resurrection iconography of ages. A falcon-headed
the QR code. and rebirth were eternal protection in pectoral over his chest,
fashioned out of the hereafter. Other a bangled arm, and a
ALBERTO LUCAS LÓPEZ AND PATRICIA HEALY, NGM
STAFF. ART BY ROCÍO ESPÍN (HERE AND PREVIOUS PAGE)
stone, ceramics, symbolic objects and hilted gold dagger
wood, and metals a ceremonial dagger were studded with
SOURCES: AFTER TAA.1.4.1-16 HELD AT THE GRIFFITH
INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD; SALIMA IKRAM,
into intricate designs rested lower on small, colored glass and
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO and hieroglyphics. Tutankhamun’s body. stone with inlaid gold.

69
Layers 4-5
NOVEMBER 13, 1925
“In all the material we have just seen we have a
clear insight of the work of the skilled craftsmen
of Thebes. The court artisans were naturally
picked men, and in this last discovery we
can discern the refinement of their art.”
Layers 6-10
NOVEMBER 14, 1925
“The lower part of the body and limbs having
been completely bared and thoroughly
examined ... we were able to proceed with
the uncovering of the upper part of the
trunk of body as far as the shoulders.”
Layers 11-17
NOVEMBER 15, 1925
“It is now five days since the examination
of the mummy was begun, and by this
afternoon we have reached only as
far as the neck, having completed the
investigation from the feet thus far.”
Head work
NOVEMBER 16, 1925
“It was found that like the body of the king
the back of the head was stuck to the mask—
so firmly that it would require a hammer
chisel to free it. Eventually we used hot
knives for the purpose with success.”

The Book of the Dead, a funerary guide, prescribed

the form and placement of amulets. Vultures
were thought to protect rulers from evil forces.

Amulets chan-
neled divine forces
and protected the
A linen pad
deceased. Djed pillars,
filled hollow
amulets associated
space in the
with the god of the
gold mask.
underworld, Osiris,
were found around
Tut’s neck and body. Serpent and vul-
ture adornments
signifying rule
over Egypt’s two
regions had bro-
The team discovered “The result of Drs. The process of pre- ken off this jew-
hinged bracelets and [Douglas] Derry and paring a pharaoh’s eled headband
rings adorning the Saleh Bey’s study of body traditionally and were found
pharaoh’s fingers, took 70 days. Priests Skullcap by the legs.
the bony frame of the of beaded
after unwrapping removed Tutankh-
the decayed layers of mummy, so far exposed, amun’s internal linen
cloth over the left arm. has enabled them to give organs and brain,
Some pieces had fine a definite pronounce- storing them in ala-
patterns of granulated ment as to the age of baster jars. The resin
beads and were fash- Tut.ankh.Amen. This applied during this
ioned out of electrum, period hardened over Tutankhamun’s head, once extricated from the
controversial question
a mixture of silver and millennia, so much golden mask, was found to be closely shaved.
has now been settled
gold. The signet rings so that the body had The autopsy also revealed pierced ears, partially
bore the likeness of the and his age definitely to be dismantled to erupted back molars, and that his brain had
young king, his name, fixed between the limits free it from the been extracted. Pressure of the bandages
scarabs, and the gods. of 17 to 19 years of age.” coffin and mask. over his nose flattened his appearance.

First shrine The first outer shrine
in Tut’s burial chamber consisted
of 20 gilded wood sections.
Linen pall A gilded wood frame
held a linen cloth with gilt
bronze, rose-shaped sequins.
Second shrine (16 sections)
Third shrine (10 sections)
Fourth shrine (five sections)
Sarcophagus lid (painted granite)
1st coffin lid Three nesting
coffins, two of
embellished
2nd coffin lid gilded wood and
an inner one of
solid gold, held the
3rd coffin lid pharaoh’s mummy.
King Tut’s mummy Crowned
with a gold mask, the body was
wrapped within many layers of
linen, jewels, and amulets.
The three coffin bases
rested on a lion-headed bed.
Sarcophagus base (carved
from a solid block of quartzite)
FILLED WITH CANES Experts are
RICHES—AND
sticks in the tomb. I
suggests he might
MEANING
MODELS A miniatu
for farming in the h
wood, and faience (
“As the better light fell upon the in which the dead w
objects we endeavoured to take even for pharaohs—
them in. It was impossible. They the dead were buri
were so many.” —Howard Carter
CATEGORIES (illustrated here)
are depicted in proportion to
the number of objects found.
Tutankhamun was born during Pha-
raoh Akhenaten’s reign—a time when
the traditional worship of a pantheon
of gods was replaced with worship
of a sun deity. When Tutankhamun
took the throne, he brought back
Egypt’s many gods. And when he
died, their images—as well as objects
specially crafted for the burial and
heirlooms from his predecessors—
went with him to the grave. All
were believed to accompany the
pharaoh to a comfortable afterlife.
More than 5,000 objects, from
miniature model agricultural tools
to room-size palatial shrines, were
packed into the 1,200-square-foot,
four-room tomb. Clothing, games,
jewels, weapons, furniture, cos-
metics, food, and wine were found
with his mummy. Most items were
inscribed with Tut’s name or included
a design with his likeness. Carter and
his team recorded the placement
and details of each object, from the
smallest fragments to items hap-
Many of the over 40
hazardly piled by ancient priests
figurines were inscr
cleaning up after two tomb robber-
ies. Today archaeologists are still
investigating the artifacts and the
context in which they were found.
*INCLUDES BROKEN ITEMS AND THOSE THAT DON’T FIT
INTO OTHER CATEGORIES.
ALBERTO LUCAS LÓPEZ AND PATRICIA HEALY, NGM STAFF RITUAL FOOD CO
ART BY MATTHEW TWOMBLY
SOURCES: SALIMA IKRAM, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN
OARS among t
CAIRO; FREDRIK HIEBERT, NGS
74
e studying the precise function of 130 BANDAGES These safeguarded BEDS Nine were mostly intact. BOARD GAMES AND TOYS
magery on some of Tut’s belongings against afterlife hazards.
CHARIOTS Six were FURNITURE Over 80
have used them for support.
found overturned and in pieces included three
more than 150 pieces. adult thrones and
ure workforce, outfitted with more than 1,800 tools one child’s throne.
BASKETS Woven from grasses
ereafter, these figurines were formed from stone, or palms and lidded, some
(ceramics). Ancient Egyptians imagined an afterlife 130 baskets came in many COSMETIC OBJECTS FANS
would take part in daily activities that included— sizes and held dried foods
—agricultural tasks. To avoid a too-laborious afterlife, such as nuts, dates, or seeds. JEWELS AND AMULETS More than 200 pieces—
ed with hardworking figurines called shabtis. encrusted with semiprecious stones and glass,
and symbolic of nature and gods—would imbue
the wearer with powers and protection.

PIECES OF
CLOTH CLOTHING Inside wooden Sandals
boxes were gloves, more
than 130 triangular-shaped
loincloths, and 93 shoes
and sandals. Tut’s reserves
also included a child’s LABELS MUMMY
linen outfit and priestly ORNAMENTS
leopard-skin garments.
LAMPS
MISC.*

Loincloths

RAW MATERIALS TOOLS Knives, flyswatters, and FIGURES AND EMBLEMS BOUQUETS
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS measuring sticks were included.
REGALIA

CLAY AND MUD SEALS
VESSELS More than 30 wine bottles—some still
containing residue and many with labels that
described their vintage and vineyard—were
discovered among hundreds of different vessels.
ROYAL WEAPONS Tut’s tomb was stocked with
hundreds of arrows for use in bows and crossbows,
as well as armor and throwing sticks. Hunting is a
common decorative theme on many of his objects.

Iron
model
tools

00 four-to-24-inch-tall pharaoh-shaped shabti

ribed with spells or their owner’s names. Wine bottles

WRITING BOXES AND CABINETS Many had

MATERIALS elaborate painted scenes. Others had
inlaid stone and wood veneering.

MODEL
BOATS

ONTAINERS Boxes of preserved meat were BURIAL SHRINES, COFFINS,

he first objects found upon opening the tomb. AND A SARCOPHAGUS
A 3,200-year-old statue of Ramses the Great dominates the atrium of the new Grand Egyptian
Museum, popularly known as the GEM, on the outskirts of Cairo. Two decades in the making at an
estimated cost of more than a billion dollars, the facility brings together for the first time nearly
all 5,000-plus artifacts from King Tutankhamun’s tomb.

77
Egypt’s wealth of
antiquities increases
with every excavation,
including this dig in
the shadow of the
Pyramids at Giza.
The new GEM, located
within sight of the
famous monuments,
celebrates the coun-
try’s rich cultural heri-
tage as never before.
 THE NEW GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM
IS A MONUMENTAL SHOWCASE FOR KING
TUT’S TREASURES—AND A SYMBOL OF
A NATION THAT HAS RECLAIMED
OWNERSHIP OF ITS PAST.
B Y t o m m u e l l e r
P h o t o g r a p h s b y p a o l o v e r z o n e

AN UNUSUAL MUSEUM DIRECTOR who wears cam-

ouflage clothing and combat boots to work, but Maj.
Gen. Atef Moftah isn’t your typical museum director,
and the Grand Egyptian Museum isn’t your typical
museum. Seen from a distance, the sprawling, post-
modern GEM, as it’s called, is so huge that it’s hard to
make sense of. Its jutting, prowlike lines resemble an
enormous ship run aground in the desert. Closer up,
the museum’s exterior is covered in pyramid motifs,
echoing the Pyramids at Giza that rise little more than Many of Tut’s trea-
sures, including this
a mile away. The design may be disorienting, but the figurine, were kept
message is clear: This is a museum fit for a pharaoh. until recently at the
cramped Egyptian
An engineer by training, General Moftah is compact Museum in Cairo,
which opened in 1902.
and erect, with close-cropped hair, a swift gait, and a Artifacts long hidden
take-charge manner, though his kindly expression in storage will be dis-
played at the GEM,
and self-effacing humor don’t fit my stereotype of a some for the first time.

80 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
Hussein Kamal (center,
without mask), director
of the GEM’s state-of-
the-art conservation
labs, briefs a team of
conservators on aspects
of Tutankhamun’s
outer coffin. “You
can’t find an Egyptian
without a passion for
archaeology,” says
Kamal. “We’ve all been
born in or near archae-
ological sites.”
Egyptian excavators,
some with skills and
positions passed down
for generations, give
attention to their crew
leader at a dig site on
the Giza Plateau, out-
side Cairo. A century
ago, Egyptian partici-
pation in archaeology
was limited mostly to
manual labor, but that
began to change when
Egypt won its indepen-
dence from Britain and
insisted that no arti-
facts from King Tut’s
tomb would go to
foreign museums
or collectors.

military leader. Nor does his calm demeanor
square with the intense pressure he’s under.
The GEM is a signature project of the Egyptian
government, a monumental undertaking begun
20 years ago that, because of the Arab Spring
uprisings and the COVID-19 pandemic, is many
years behind schedule. In a nation highly depen-
dent on tourism revenue, and where archaeol-
ogy and politics are deeply entwined, General
Moftah and his staff are under orders to ensure
that the GEM is a resounding success.
As we walk across the broad esplanade toward
the museum’s entrance, the general gestures
toward the towering tombs in the distance,
shimmering in the heat. A pedestrian walkway
is under construction to link the museum area
with the pyramids. “It will be longer than the
Champs-Élysées or the Rambla,” he says.
Turning to the museum, General Moftah
reviews its statistics: 484,000 square feet of floor
space, 12 exhibition halls, 100,000 artifacts, total
cost of more than a billion dollars. “And we are
99 percent finished!” he declares, clapping his
hands in satisfaction.
The GEM fits the scale and theatrics of other
recent archaeological projects sponsored by the
Egyptian government, including the reopening of
the Avenue of Sphinxes, in Luxor, and the inaugu-
ration of major new museum spaces in Sharm el
Sheikh, Cairo, Hurghada, and elsewhere.
In April 2021, during a flamboyant, state-
sponsored event branded the Pharaohs’ Golden

84 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

Parade, 22 royal mummies were placed on cus-
tomized vehicles tricked out to evoke ancient
funeral barges. The vehicles moved in grand
style from the old Egyptian Museum, through
the streets of Cairo, to the new National Museum
of Egyptian Civilization. On arrival, they were
greeted by President Abdel Fattah el Sisi and
received a 21-gun salute.
“The mummy parade really helped raise
awareness among Egyptians,” says Khaled al
Anani, the former minister of tourism and antiq-
uities. “It told us that we all belong to a great
civilization, that we respect our ancestors. The
Grand Egyptian Museum will send the same
messages in powerful new ways: pride, respect,
unity, strength.”
Formerly separate entities in the national gov-
ernment, the ministries of tourism and antiqui-
ties were merged in 2019—much to the dismay
of some Egyptologists, who say archaeology has
become tourism’s handmaiden. The GEM also
has its critics. Some worry the museum will cater
more to foreign visitors and their money than to
ordinary Egyptians. Others say the huge struc-
ture is ugly—like a graceless series of aircraft
hangars—and that it will be dreadfully expensive
to cool and illuminate.
But as General Moftah and I step out of the
fierce sunlight into the museum’s soaring atrium,
my doubts fade. The play of light and shadow
created by the layered metal mesh roof is dra-
matic and ever changing. The pyramid motifs
that seemed tacky on the exterior are somehow
elegant here, variations on an eternal theme.
The ceiling rises so high that a statue of Ramses
the Great (the leading candidate for the pha-
raoh of the Bible) seems unremarkable—until
you approach close enough to realize that it’s a
36-foot-tall colossus.
From the central atrium, broad staircases
lined with statues of pharaohs ascend to the 12
exhibition halls. With a laser pointer, General
Moftah indicates the shallow pool in the granite
floor where cooling water will soon splash. He
points to decorative cartouches and squares of
golden alabaster on the walls, and explains the
avant-garde lighting system.
Then he turns and zaps his beam up one of
the staircases. “And that is where Tutankhamun
lives,” he says. Two exhibition halls are devoted
entirely to Egypt’s most famous pharaoh and will
display, for the first time, nearly all of the more
than 5,000 objects discovered in King Tut’s tomb.
When I request a sneak peek, General Moftah
smiles and shakes his head. “Out of the question.
President El Sisi’s orders. Nobody enters until
the inauguration.”
I thank the general for his time, then head to
the GEM’s state-of-the-art conservation labs,
which were the first part of the museum to open
in 2010. Priceless pieces from Tutankhamun’s
tomb are being cleaned and restored before
being put on display.
At one station, a conservator is examining
the black resin on Tut’s massive outer coffin. At
another, Ahmed Abdrabou, an expert in gilded
wooden artifacts, is restoring an elegant char-
iot in elm wood that is a masterpiece of joiner’s
art. “For a young Egyptian, it’s such an honor to
THE MUSEUM 85
Still wrapped like
mummies after their
move to the GEM from
sites across Egypt,
statues of pharaohs
and gods surround
Maj. Gen. Atef Moftah,
the museum’s direc-
tor. In 2016 Moftah,
an engineer by train-
ing, was appointed by
Egypt’s president to
oversee work on the
long-delayed museum,
originally scheduled
to open in 2011.
88 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
CLOCKWISE FROM
TOP LEFT
Today’s custodians of
Egypt’s cultural heri-
tage include Mohamed
Megahed, who over-
sees the pyramid
complex of Pharaoh
Djedkare at Saqqara.
The ancient burial
ground has been the
site of many finds in
recent years.

Egyptologist Yasmin
el Shazly spent years
curating priceless
antiquities—such as
this bust of Tutankh-
amun—at the Egyptian
Museum in Cairo. “I
used to be completely
overwhelmed by these
pieces,” she says. “I still
feel their power.”

Salima Ikram, a profes-

sor of Egyptology at
the American Univer-
sity in Cairo, examines
a tiny coffin made for a
mummified shrew. “For
the ancient Egyptians,
no animal was too small
to be ignored, and
each occupied a very
particular place in
the cosmos.”

When the pandemic

kept most foreign
archaeologists at
home, Mostafa Waziri,
head of Egypt’s
Supreme Council of
Antiquities, hired locals
to carry on the work,
greatly increasing the
number of digs over-
seen by Egyptians.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECTS LED BY EGYPTIANS
HAVE JUMPED DURING THE PAST DECADE. THERE NOW
ARE MORE THAN 40 EGYPTIAN-LED MISSIONS,
MANY PRODUCING REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES.
see many treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb
come through our laboratories,” he says. “Month
after month, our heritage passes before me.”
Other restorers, mostly women in headscarves
and face masks, work at benches around the
perimeter of the room. I pause with Manar
Hafez, who wears surgical gloves and holds
something like a dental tool, and ask about the
war shield she’s restoring. As we talk, she gen-
tly runs her fingers over the ancient wood, as
if caressing a child. “This was like a dead body
when I first saw it—all in pieces, no identity,” she
says. “Slowly, slowly, I have seen it come back to
life. Sometimes it feels like my daughter.”
SUMMER IN UPPER EGYPT makes exca-
vating a very unpleasant, even dangerous, busi-
ness. At 10 in the morning, as I leave the shade of
date palms along the Nile and drive into the sun-
seared desert beyond, the temperature already
is nearing 100 degrees. Yet a team of Egyptian
archaeologists is hard at work in the so-called
Lost Golden City, an amazingly well-preserved
site that is ancient Egypt’s version of Pompeii.
Excavation leader Afifi Rohim Afifi guides
me down a path that was a bustling city street
decades before Tutankhamun’s time. “I almost
expect to see an ancient Egyptian turn the corner
and walk toward me,” he says. Local workers have
helped him decipher features he’s uncovering,
such as the matraha, a wooden tool for cooking
bread, and the manama, a low-ceilinged room
for sleeping. “ ‘We still use these in our village,’
they tell me,” Afifi says. “They feel a strong spir-
itual connection to this place and want to keep
working even after the season ends.”
Archaeological projects led by Egyptians
have multiplied during the past decade. The
shift to local leadership was accelerated by
the pandemic, which grounded air travel and
90 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
halted most fieldwork by foreign archaeologists.
Egyptians stepped in to fill the void, and today
they lead more than 40 archaeological missions
throughout the country.
As with the Lost Golden City, many of those
sites are producing remarkable discoveries and
a wealth of artifacts: 30 painted coffins in Luxor;
40 mummies in Tuna el Gebel, a major necropolis
near Minya; and an enormous haul from Saqqara,
including 250 painted wood sarcophagi, 150
bronze statuettes, and scores of mummies and
statues of cats, mongooses, crocodiles, and ibises.
Egyptian authorities are proud of this
spate of discoveries and the media attention it’s
attracted. Every new find is free publicity for
Egypt and its travel industry, says Zahi Hawass,
the former minister of antiquities.
Some Egyptologists are less enthusiastic,
however. “Right now, all the stress is on gold, on
treasures, on secrets, and on people in Indiana
Jones hats, all of which appeal to the Western
audience,” says Monica Hanna, acting dean of
the College of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
at the Arab Academy in Aswan. “This is treasure
hunting, not real scientific archaeology.”
Even so, Hanna echoes the glowing comments
I heard from Khaled al Anani and other officials
about the parade of royal mummies and the
interest it has stirred among Egyptians.
“Thousands and thousands of Egyptians
contacted us, asking for books on ancient
Egypt,” Hanna says. “People were eager to
learn more about their ancestors. But there are
Egyptologist Monica will be a museum that
Hanna has been lead- “speaks to Egyptians,
ing the charge against that shows them how
looting of ancient they are descendants
sites across the coun- of this great civiliza-
try, even confronting tion, and how they can
armed looters herself. relate to and identify
She hopes the GEM with their past.”
A team of geneticists
led by Yehia Gad (sec-
ond from left) exam-
ines the mummy of
an unidentified boy
in the tomb of Pha-
raoh Amenhotep II.
A pioneer in the DNA
analysis of ancient
mummies, Gad is
studying samples from
King Tutankhamun and
his extended fam-
ily, looking for clues
to their ancestral ties
and genetic maladies.
Winged goddesses
protect each corner of
Tutankhamun’s stone
sarcophagus—which,
along with his mummy,
remains in his tomb in
the Valley of the Kings.
Other Egyptian roy-
als are known to have
been buried in the val-
ley, but their graves
haven’t been located,
raising a tantalizing
question: Are there
more tombs like Tut’s
to be discovered?

no books in Arabic on the pharaohs, or even on
Tutankhamun. So, in a way, most Egyptians feel
estranged from their past. How can they fully
understand and engage with their history when
they can’t access the knowledge about it?”
A 15-MINUTE DRIVE from the Lost Golden
City takes me to the Valley of the Kings, site
of Tutankhamun’s tomb. More of Egypt’s new
generation of archaeologists are at work here,
and Zahi Hawass has invited me to meet his
team of young excavators. When I arrive, Fathy
Yaseen and his colleagues usher me into a tomb
they’re using as a workshop and storage area.
They show me the 700 amulets, statuettes, and
ostraca, each carefully cataloged, that they’ve
unearthed recently in deposits near Tutankha-
mun’s tomb. As we talk, they remember their
more spectacular finds of the past and muse
about what the coming season may bring. Then
they walk me toward the stairs leading down to
Tutankhamun’s tomb.
“Whatever we find, it probably won’t be like
this,” Yaseen says with a wry smile.
Descending the 16 steps, the desert heat and
brilliance fading to a memory, it’s hard not to hear
the footfalls of history: Tut’s burial party; the tomb
robbers; Howard Carter and George Herbert, the
fifth Earl of Carnarvon; the throngs of visitors
drawn here over the past century. At the bottom,

94 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

I pass through the remains of the wall Carter and
Lord Carnarvon broke down on that fateful day
a century ago and stand in the first of the tomb’s
four rooms, which Carter called the antecham-
ber. The wall frescoes are still bright, despite some
discoloration caused by long-dead microbes. On
the north wall, Tut is embraced by Osiris, god
of the underworld. To the south, the goddess
Hathor holds an ankh, symbol of life, to Tut’s lips.
Once, parts of this tomb were packed so
densely with splendid objects that the excavators
had to dangle from ropes attached to the ceiling
to avoid trampling them. Now all those artifacts
reside in the GEM, some 400 miles away. The
one exception is the hulking sarcophagus carved
from a single block of quartzite, which once
QUOTES FROM HOWARD CARTER © GRIFFITH INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
contained Tut’s three nested coffins. At almost
five feet tall and weighing untold thousands of
pounds, the sarcophagus evidently was too much
trouble to remove. Four stone goddesses stand
at the corners, wrapping their graceful wings
protectively around it. Nothing else remains of
Tut’s treasures.
Tutankhamun’s mummy is still here, how-
ever. Tucked away in a corner of the tomb, in a
climate-controlled glass box, the young king lies
beneath a white coverlet. His face, wizened by
the ages, is a far cry from the golden death mask
he once wore, with its iconic, self-assured smile,
sly as the Mona Lisa.
For the field of Egyptology, this tomb rep-
resents a unique resource. As an icon of ancient
Egypt, a symbol of the current government, and
a magnet for hard currency, Tut possesses star
power that remains undimmed. Yet the boy king
seems forlorn here in this tomb, stripped of his
treasures, deprived of all that ancient Egyptians
believed he would need in the afterlife.
Still, Tutankhamun would probably be
pleased at how his saga is playing out. Egyptians
believed that a person’s being was composed
of many layers, each of which fared differently
in the next world. The khat, or physical body,
was thought eventually to decompose to dust,
despite elaborate mummification rites. The ba
was the deceased’s unique character or person-
ality, often depicted as a falcon with a human
head. The ka was the life force that required food
and drink after death.
A particularly important layer was the ren,
or name. The Egyptians obsessively repeated
the names of their famous dead in inscriptions,
prayers, spells, and funerary text, believing that
by doing so the deceased was in some sense
revived. If the name was forgotten, the dead
person’s soul would be lost for eternity—a much
feared second death.
Down here in Tutankhamun’s tomb, his khat
has seen better days, and about his ba and ka,
I can’t say for sure. But his ren is sitting pretty.
No pharaoh has been named as often and as joy-
fully over the past hundred years as Tutankh-
amun. It seems a safe bet that the boy king who
once was a historical footnote will live forever
in our imaginations. j
Longtime contributor Tom Mueller has lived or
worked in 48 countries. Paolo Verzone has photo-
graphed dinosaur bones, biblical manuscripts,
and other treasures for National Geographic.
THE MUSEUM 95
In a drive to modernize, Egypt plans to move millions of people to new desert cities, including a seat of
government east of Cairo. The business district, with its 77-story Iconic Tower, is still under construction.
NICK HANNES, PANOS PICTURES
97
 WITH A MIX OF AUDACITY AND
AMBITION, EGYPT AIMS TO RELIEVE
CAIRO’S CROWDING BY TRANSFORMING
ARID LAND INTO A GLEAMING CAPITAL
CITY BUILT FOR SIX MILLION PEOPLE.
B Y R O B E R T
WHEN I RETURNED TO EGYPT in June for
the first time in 15 years, I struggled to recog-
nize it. In Cairo, alongside the Nile River, the
first mile of a promenade called the Mamsha Ahl
Misr (“walkway of the Egyptian people”) had just
opened, affording sweeping views of the famed
waterfront. The sprawling nearby neighborhood
known as the Maspero Triangle was in the mid-
dle of a drastic face-lift. Run-down sections had
been razed, and pricey riverside condos will take
their place—part of a plan to demolish 357 res-
idential areas throughout Egypt’s 27 governor-
ates. Hundreds of houses on Warraq, a small
island in the Nile, have been bulldozed to make
way for hotels. The river’s storied houseboats
were being dismantled or towed off one by one.
Departing the city on the Tahya Masr Bridge—
the world’s widest cable-stayed span, opened
in 2019—I traveled north through a welcoming
green burst of farmland before reaching the
desert around Alexandria. The roadways were
so new the asphalt was sticky; the main exits
to towns under construction on the coast were
yet to be completed. A posh beach resort to the
98 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
D R A P E R
west of Alexandria, New El Alamein, arose from
the shore of the Mediterranean just four years
ago. With a projected price tag of $60 billion, it
will eventually include three universities and a
presidential palace. An upscale area called the
Latin Quarter was offering four-bedroom seaside
“chalets” for as little as a quarter million dollars.
Returning to Cairo, I headed east to a satellite
city, New Cairo, replete with shiny office towers
and plush restaurants, most of which had sprung
up since my previous visit from what had been
the emptiness of the Eastern Desert. The city
projected a sedate affluence, far more akin to
suburban Dallas than to the clamorous pulse of
historic Cairo.
Another half hour farther east, along a not
yet fully paved highway, the New Administra-
tive Capital sprawled before me. Still lacking
a permanent name, with only a fraction of its
projected population of six million living there,
the city being built nonetheless lies at the heart
of Egypt’s ambitious modernization plans. In
a year’s time, perhaps less, what also had been
nothing but desert will shimmer with thousands
of new residences.
The spectacle will seem discordant with the
everyday chaos that is Cairo. Here, everything
will be orderly and polished—and gigantic: the
tallest office building in Africa, the continent’s
biggest mosque and biggest cathedral, a public
gathering area twice as long as New York City’s
Central Park. There will be plenty of diver-
sions too: museums, restaurants and shopping
malls, a sumptuously marbled opera house,
and a library collection of more than five mil-
lion books. Visiting Cairo and the beach resorts
from here will seem effortless, thanks to a new
high-speed rail system.
IN THIS OZ-LIKE urban miracle, one rather
idiosyncratic building, already finished, stands
out: Egypt’s Capitals Museum. As the name sug-
gests, the museum celebrates cities that have
been the seat of government during the coun-
try’s 5,000 years of recorded history.
For simplicity’s sake, the exhibits focus on the
six most consequential capitals: the first, Mem-
phis, just south of Cairo; Thebes, the ancient
dominion of the pharaohs; Tell el Amarna,
Egypt’s birthplace of monotheism; Alexandria,
namesake of Alexander the Great; Cairo under
Islamic influence; and the modern era’s urban
Cairo, under Ottoman and British rule until
independence in 1922. Implicit in this narrative
of Egyptian history is the argument that relocat-
ing one’s capital constitutes a momentous but
also somewhat customary turn of events.
Indeed, Egypt hardly stands alone in hav-
ing done so recently. In 1960, the Brazilian
government relocated from Rio de Janeiro on
the southeastern coast to a more central site
in the savanna heartland, creating Brasília
from scratch in 41 months. Four decades later,
to relieve congested Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
moved its administrative and judicial offices
two dozen miles south, to Putrajaya. In 2019, the
president of Indonesia declared his intention
to create a new capital on Borneo to relieve the
population pressures in Jakarta, which is slowly
sinking because its wells pump out too much
groundwater. Each of these countries used the
relocation as an opportunity to create a modern
urban showcase for the world to admire.
As to why Egypt has elected to do so, the
Capitals Museum offers a clue. In addition to
hulking marble likenesses of historic Egyptian
rulers displayed prominently on the first floor,
a life-size bronze statue of President Abdel
Fattah el Sisi stands in solitude on the second
floor. The statue is easy to miss, in that it doesn’t
loom from a great pedestal and is away from the
pedestrian flow. Still, its presence is an indica-
tion that Egypt’s authoritarian leader has tied
his legacy to the founding of a new capital. Also
telling is how El Sisi is depicted facing outward,
toward his creation—attentively presiding over
how contemporary Egypt will be shaped and how
its story will be told.
El Sisi’s audacious plan—one that he inau-
gurated in 2015 without first addressing the
public, much less putting the matter to a ref-
erendum—to relocate the seat of government,
embassies, and the entire financial district out
Traffic and shoppers
throng Port Said Street
in a historic area of cen-
tral Cairo. Congestion
is a daily scourge in
the crowded city, which
is growing by about
1.8 million people a
year. As part of the
nation’s building
boom, some older
neighborhoods are
being demolished
and rebuilt.
MARTIN ROEMERS
99
into the desert some 30 miles east of Cairo has
been set in motion. About a tenth of the gov-
ernment workforce already resides in the New
Administrative Capital; the president may move
to the new presidential palace there at the end
of next year. This government-induced mass
migration is part of El Sisi’s greater remaking
of Egypt, which involves relocating millions of
citizens to newly constructed cities and devel-
oping an elaborate transportation network that
will connect residents from Cairo to agricultural
districts in the Nile Delta and all the way to the
Mediterranean coast, 150 miles away.
In one sense, El Sisi’s decision to move the cap-
ital from Cairo—the seat of government for more
than a thousand years—was born of the sober
recognition that the city is a ticking time bomb,
unable to accommodate its 20 million inhabi-
tants, much less the four million who commute
in and out daily. “Our number one goal was to
relieve the overcrowding and the traffic,” Ahmed
Zaki Abdeen, who was overseeing the develop-
ment at the time of my visit, told me as we sat in
his office, situated among the government min-
istries in the new capital. “Egypt’s population is
growing by two million every year. Construction
and expansion all over the country is essential.”
But with a smile, Abdeen also reminded me:
“We are the builders, from ancient times, 5,000
years.” Basic to the identity of Egypt’s 106 million
people, as its new capital reminds us, is civiliza-
tion building—not just once but many times over.
THE APPARITION I BEHELD when I arrived
in the new capital was more supersize con-
struction zone than functioning city, requiring
some exertion of the imagination. The St. Regis
Almasa, where I stayed, is still the only hotel.
Connected to it by a long pedestrian skyway is
the City of Arts and Culture, a stupefying and
mostly completed 127-acre array of manicured
gardens, grand performance halls, art galleries,
and artist studios. Otherwise, the eerie silence
in the desert city, broken intermittently by the
growling of construction machinery, under-
scored the project’s degree of difficulty.
Just a few freshly planted trees stood in the
arid vastness that eventually will be the Central
Park. Its boutiques had yet to open. The ele-
vated guideways for the monorail lurched over
the dusty streets like concrete skeletons. The
102 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
shells of handsome residential communities
with international-sounding names such as El
Patio Oro, La Verde, and Celia stood vacant in
rows. The 77-story ebony Iconic Tower was with-
out tenants or, for that matter, appliances and
finished walls. Taking the construction crew’s
creaky elevator to the 52nd floor, I had a clear
vantage of the new capital’s planned districts—
for businesses, for diplomats, for parliament, for
the government’s ministries, and for the presi-
dent. Somehow, by the end of the decade, this
view would also encompass millions of residents.
For now, the capital dwellers consist prin-
cipally of construction workers, thousands of
whom are Chinese, since China’s state-owned
construction firm is the contractor for the Iconic
Tower. The Egyptians have unsurpassed expe-
rience when it comes to building monumental
capitals, but this time around they have chosen
to solicit assistance. A French company will
manage the electrical network, while a German
one will operate the water and sewage systems.
“We’re using all kinds of foreign expertise, with-
out any shame,” Abdeen said.
The project, though, has suffered some set-
backs. Not long after we spoke, Abdeen resigned,
ostensibly for health reasons but amid reports of
costly flaws in some of the buildings.
The government has revealed few details about
the construction, including where all the money
is coming from for this building boom, except to
insist that it won’t cost Egyptian taxpayers any-
thing. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emir-
ates have invested significantly—and indeed, the
city’s main thoroughfare is named Mohammed
bin Zayed Road, after the U.A.E.’s president.
For that matter, the gleaming postmodern
cityscape of the New Administrative Capi-
tal will seem aesthetically familiar to anyone
who has visited Dubai. Still, the city’s design-
ers have taken some pains to reflect Egyptian
history. At the entrance of the City of Arts and
Culture, an obelisk from the reign of Ramses II
has been moved from the earlier capital city of
Tanis to this one, in newly restored condition.
It’s impressive but pint-size in comparison with
the soon-to-be-constructed Oblisco Capitale.
At one kilometer in height, it will be the tallest
tower in the world. In the lobby of the Drama
Hall, large images of pharaohs playing senet, a
precursor to chess, and enjoying musical per-
formances remind visitors that familiar aspects
of contemporary culture took root here. And
when I peeked into the 1,200-seat concert hall
to view its organ—the largest in the Middle East,
of course—I was informed by my tour guide that
the pipe organ was invented in Alexandria.
My guide for the City of Arts and Culture hap-
pened to be its senior engineer, Ahmed el Daly.
Having overseen its construction since shortly
after excavation began in January 2018, El Daly
considered it a point of pride that the outside
world knew next to nothing about the building
crew’s prodigious labors. “Thirteen thousand
workers, all of them with phones—yet no pho-
tos!” he said with relish. “We have a saying: Work
in silence, and let the success do the talking.”
Of course, the other reason to work in silence
in the new capital is that its entire construction
is taking place under the supervision of the Min-
istry of Defense. There are security implications
to any development project that involves the seat
of government, but it can be fairly said that the
administration of El Sisi—Egypt’s former minis-
ter of defense, who took power in 2013 by means
of a coup—seeks to maintain a firm grip on how
the country is portrayed. The president’s press
officials energetically sought to control how this
story would depict Egypt. I was not permitted to
wander the new city unescorted.
That same heavy hand also has sought to pro-
ject an image of enlightenment and tolerance—
decreeing, for example, that the new capital’s Al
Fattah Al Aleem “mega-mosque” open on Janu-
ary 6, 2019, the same day the city’s 9,200-capacity
Cathedral of the Nativity was inaugurated.
Egypt’s new smart city will emphasize green
energy and cashless payment systems. And it
will be a resolutely crime-free one—with a gov-
ernment protected from protests like those in
2011 that toppled Hosni Mubarak’s regime—
courtesy of a citywide surveillance system
designed by the U.S. firm Honeywell.
Most of all, the New Administrative Capital will
be full of life, if not necessarily by choice. A huge
number of Cairenes will have their lives upended.
“My cousin is a nurse who was forced to go work
in its new hospital,” a 56-year-old woman who
identified herself by her Arabic nickname, Umm
Abdu, told me. “It’s a very hard commute for her.”
WE WERE SITTING in her fast-food shop
in the Bulaq district of old Cairo, a bustling hub
of secondhand-clothing stands and makeshift
auto-repair shops. Within the next few years,
Bulaq will be demolished and most of its inhab-
itants relocated to new, fully furnished, free
housing units in the Al Asmarat projects several
miles away. Already, Umm Abdu’s shop had been
chased out of one swiftly razed neighborhood,
although the government had compensated her.
“The new places look quite nice,” she said. “But
take a look around—we’re in the heart of the city.
Everything I could want is here.”
To Umm Abdu and other natives of Cairo, the
thousand-year-old city was anything but disor-
dered. Its pedestrian maelstrom and cluttered
streets were thoroughly comprehensible, the
result of an organic agglomeration that had out-
lived a succession of autocrats and was therefore
a thriving governing force of its own. It was not
Riyadh. Cairo’s character was both welcoming
and confounding, a spirited tempest of human-
ity, an irreplaceable feat of architecture. A visitor
like me could not help but be awed by it.
Umm Abdu considered the new look of her
country. “I can’t believe this is Egypt,” she said.
“It seems more like Europe.”
Deeper into the neighborhood, I encountered
two middle-age sisters, Magda and Fattem, who
tended a tiny grocery store where residents
dropped by throughout the day to grab whatever
they needed and returned at midnight to pay
their bills in cash. Suspicious of the media in a
country that does not exactly embrace the virtues
of a free press, they declined to tell me their last
name, but Fattem poured me some tea, and they
described with chagrin how Bulaq had changed.
“Slums are all behind this building,” Magda
said. “They’re built out into the alleys so that
you can reach out your window and shake your
neighbor’s hand. There are drug dealers and
pickpockets with knives. Dirty, dirty.”
Despite having lived in the neighborhood
all their lives, the sisters viewed its imminent
destruction as a blessing.
“It has to be done,” Fattem said. “Just like the
new capital. It will clear out the traffic. Life will
be so much easier.”
But, I asked, would all this newness rob Egypt
of its allure?
“Never,” said Fattem, as her sister nodded.
“Here is the origin. Here is the history. It will
always be here.” j
Contributing writer Robert Draper previously
traveled to Egypt for National Geographic in 2007
to report on the empire of the Nubian pharaohs.
T H E D E S E RT C A P I TA L 103
DEVASTATED
BY WARMING IN
2016, PROTECTED
CORAL REEFS
AROUND THE
SOUTHERN LINE
ISLANDS HAVE
MADE AN AMAZING
RECOVERY.
STO RY A N D P H OTO G RA P H S
BY ENRIC SALA

A PAC I FIC

104
RE
 This coral reef around
Vostok Island in the
central Pacific went
from pristine to mauled
by heat to thriving
again in five years.
The 2015-16 El Niño
killed most of the
cauliflower corals, but
these leafy Montipora
survived—and revived
the reef.
MANU SAN FÉLIX

BIRTH
Around Vostok and
other southern Line
Islands, small reef fish
are so abundant and
reproduce so quickly
that they support
a thriving population
of top predators.
Here a gray reef shark
swims over Montipora
corals in a sea of
fusilier damselfish
and Bartlett’s anthias.
 The National
Geographic Society,
committed to illuminat-
ing and protecting the
wonder of our world,
has funded Explorer
in Residence Enric Sala
and the Pristine Seas
project since 2008.
ILLUSTRATION BY JOE MCKENDRY

108 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
 THE MOST
ASTONISHING AND
HEARTENING CORAL
REBIRTH THE
WORLD HAS EVER
SEEN CAME TO
LIGHT RECENTLY.
To understand how it happened, you have to go
back to April 2009.
That’s when I assembled and led a team of
young, passionate marine biologists on our
first expedition to the remote and uninhabited
southern Line Islands, which belong to Kiribati,
in the central Pacific. The five islands are the
tips of ancient volcanoes that rose to the sur-
face between 85 million and 70 million years
ago, forming an underwater mountain ridge that
crosses the Equator—the “line” in their name.
Our goal was to conduct the first scientific
surveys of marine life around the islands. We
knew almost nothing about this archipelago. It
took us longer to get there by plane and ship than
it took the Apollo astronauts to reach the moon.
On ocean maps, the water around the islands was
a featureless blue. We didn’t know what we were
going to find under the surface.
Waves converge on
Vostok, a 60-acre What we found was paradise: reefs untouched
refuge for Pisonia trees by humans, with a thriving coral jungle full of
(also known as bird large fish. Sharks and other top predators were
catchers for their sticky
seeds) and seabirds, so abundant that their total biomass outweighed
but not humans: It lacks that of their prey. On every dive we saw endan-
a freshwater source. gered species—such as the enormous Napoleon
The sea around all the
southern Line Islands wrasse, up to six feet long. The southern Line
has been protected Islands changed our understanding of coral
from fishing by the reefs. Scientists like me had no idea what pris-
government of Kiribati
(Kee-ree-bahss). tine reefs looked like.
STEVE SPENCE The abundance of fish around the islands was

A PAC I F I C R E B I RT H 109
With measuring tape
and notepad, marine
ecologist Enric Ball-
esteros surveys the
organisms living on
a healthy reef in the
islands. When author
Enric Sala and his team
first visited here in
2009, they found these
reefs in a pristine
state, with a profusion
of species, many
of them rare.
JON BETZ
easily explained: Because of their remoteness,
about 2,000 miles south of Hawaii, there was no
fishing. But would the reefs also be able to with-
stand global warming? In 1997-98 an intense
El Niño, a cyclical warming event, had caused
coral die-offs across the Pacific. The corals in the
southern Line Islands, though, were in such good
shape in 2009 that we believed they might be able
to stand up to further ocean warming—provided
they were shielded from other human assaults.
Informed by our findings, the Kiribati gov-
ernment announced plans to protect its waters
around the islands out to 12 nautical miles from
fishing and other extractive activities. At Pristine
Seas, the project I direct, we rejoiced. We thought
these reefs had been saved forever.
Then came a calamity.
A parrotfish scrapes growth of pink, rock-
off and eats turf algae hard crustose coralline
from coral skeletons algae—the best surface
at Millennium (Caroline) for coral larvae to settle
Atoll. This promotes the on and rebuild the reef.
112 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
IN 2015 AND 2016, the strongest El Niño ever
recorded moved across the Pacific. Corals die
when the ocean temperature exceeds a certain
threshold for too long; scientists measure a
reef’s exposure to such danger in degree heating
weeks (DHWs).
During the 1997-98 El Niño, the southern Line
Islands had suffered four DHWs. The 2015-16
event, coming on top of another two decades
of global warming, pushed the DHW count to
15. The jump surprised even those of us who are
well aware of the risk of ocean warming.
Along the northern Great Barrier Reef in
Australia, reefs were monitored in real time by
scientists, who found that two-thirds of the cor-
als had died. But what happened to the pristine
reefs in the southern Line Islands? I was impa-
tient to know, but all I could do was worry: Very
few people ever go there.
Then in August 2017 an incredible opportunity
arose. Our Pristine Seas partner and board mem-
ber Ted Waitt finished an expedition in French
Polynesia and offered us his research vessel for
 1 Vostok 3 Millennium

BACK TO LIFE 2 Flint 1 mi

Coral reefs

If hard corals are the bricks of a reef, then crustose coralline 1 km

algae (CCA) are the mortar that cements it together—and also
the preferred surface for coral larvae to grow on. Pristine Seas
experts tracked both CCA and live corals in the southern Line
Islands, before and after an intense El Niño ravaged the reefs,
to determine what portions of the reefs were alive and thriving.

Percentage of seabed coverage:

100% Crustose coralline algae (CCA)
Flint
Vostok Live coral 2017: Half of all
corals are found
75 Millennium dead from the
intense heat.

2009: Live corals

50
and CCA cover up 2021: Corals
to 90 percent of recover faster
the seabed; the than ever
team establishes 2015-16: The islands suffer observed here,
25 this period as 15 weeks of extreme heating with millions
the baseline for during the strongest El Niño of new colonies
a healthy reef. in recorded history. per square mile.

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

ROSEMARY WARDLEY, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: PRISTINE SEAS, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY; ALLEN CORAL ATLAS AND ARIZONA STATE
UNIVERSITY; PLANET LABS; FLANDERS MARINE INSTITUTE (2019); MARITIME BOUNDARIES GEODATABASE
At Millennium, a twin-
spot snapper chases
a school of convict
tangs—another one
of the herbivores
that keep reefs in the
southern Line Islands
from becoming over-
grown with algae.
Protecting such fish,
Sala says, helps make
reefs resilient to
global warming.
two weeks. I was committed elsewhere, but my At Flint Island in
L E F T: The same reef
R I G H T:

colleague Stuart Sandin at Scripps Institution of 2017, mounds of dead is seen in a photo-
cauliflower corals that graph made in October
Oceanography was available. He and his team had been bleached by 2021. Other species of
had been part of our 2009 expedition and had warming during the coral that survived the
returned to the Line Islands in 2013. They were 2015-16 El Niño were warming have taken
covered by crustose over and restored
ideally placed to repeat the coral surveys, one coralline algae. the reef.
year after the warming event.
What they saw was what we had feared. As
soon as he was back online, Stuart told me: Half
the corals had died. My heart sank. But as he from the southern Line Islands, the coral skel-
gave me more details, the horrible news turned etons were covered by crustose coralline algae,
into questions—and eventually, possibilities. which form a pink limestone crust. When cor-
Most of the dead belonged to one genus, the als reproduce, their larvae drift in the water for
cauliflower coral Pocillopora; just one living col- days, weeks, or longer before they settle to the
ony was found. Though Acropora were also hit bottom and grow into a new coral colony. Their
hard, no other types had suffered as much: They preferred substrate to settle on? Crustose coral-
had all survived 15 DHWs. That meant that in line algae. They don’t grow on seaweed.
the southern Line Islands, at least, all those cor- So the conditions were there for corals to come
als were resistant to strong warming. The next back in the southern Line Islands. But would
question was, would Pocillopora recover, and they? There was only one way to find out. We had
Acropora too? Would they prove resilient? to give the reefs time and return to survey them.
In many parts of the Caribbean, when corals
die, their skeletons are rapidly overgrown by after waiting
L A S T Y E A R W E F I N A L LY D I D ,
brown seaweed. But in Stuart’s photographs through two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

116 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C MIKE GREENFELDER (LEFT)

Two days north of Tahiti, our ship, Offshore
Solution, reached Flint, the first of three islands
we would visit. The old gang was back, 12 years
older but with the same enthusiasm. On deck,
we watched the breakers along the green island,
our eyes glimmering with curiosity. I wanted to
savor the moment, like an extraordinary meal
you eat slowly, bite by bite. But I also wanted it
all immediately. We put on wet suits, jumped
in our inflatable launch, and raced to the reef.
In 2009 I’d been filled with excitement and
adrenaline. Now I was terrified. Would the reef
be a ghost? I grabbed my mask and plunged in.
When the bubbles cleared, I could not believe
what I saw. Had anything ever happened to
this reef? The bottom was covered with live,
gorgeous corals, all the way down to 100 feet. I
shouted at the top of my lungs, climbed back on
the inflatable, and hugged my buddy, Pristine
Seas cinematographer Manu San Félix. Both of
us put on diving rebreathers and jumped in. We
were back in paradise.
In three weeks of diving around the three
southernmost Line Islands—Flint, Vostok, and
Millennium (Caroline) Atoll—we measured spec-
tacular coral recovery everywhere. The reefs were
back with exuberance, but they were changed.
Here and there, Pocillopora that had died in 2015-
16 were recovering slowly, sometimes on top of
their dead, like trees sprouting from stumps in
a coppiced forest. But most of the space left by
the dead corals had been filled by other species.
The above-water part of Vostok Island is so
tiny that it would fit 14 times into New York
City’s Central Park. The coral reef extends out-
ward around the island, creating a relatively
shallow platform on its leeward side that can be
seen in satellite photographs. In 2009 that plat-
form was populated by Pocillopora. We expected
most of it to be covered now by coral skeletons,
covered in turn by pink crustose coralline algae.
When I dived at Vostok, I thought my brain
had short-circuited and I’d landed in wonderland.
The reef was covered by light-blue corals that
looked like giant roses—a garden of Montipora
aequituberculata stretching as far as I could see.
A closer look revealed dead Pocillopora, encrusted
with coralline algae, under the Montipora.
A PAC I F I C R E B I RT H 117
Creatures of the southern Line Islands (clockwise from top left): A jellyfish; a crown-of-thorns starfish,
a coral predator that can plague reefs, but here its abundance is in check and the food web is in balance;

118 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C ALAN FRIEDLANDER (TOP LEFT); MANU SAN FÉLIX (BOTTOM LEFT AND RIGHT)
heat-tolerant Montipora corals, with their purple polyps; and a school of small reef fish, one of many
fish species that inhabit these waters.

A PAC I F I C R E B I RT H 119
The Millennium lagoon
is crisscrossed by reefs
of Acropora corals,
thriving again after the
2015-16 warming killed
most of them. The
giant clams that once
tiled some areas of
the lagoon floor have
yet to recover. Coral
reefs can survive, Sala
says, if we protect
them—and then stop
global warming.

How could Montipora have covered the

entire reef? How could it have gone from dead
cauliflowers to thriving roses in only five years?
Nobody was there watching—but we had a clue:
The Montipora colonies were all about the same
size. That suggests to me that corals elsewhere
around Vostok had been reproducing sexually
and releasing millions of eggs, which soon
hatched and formed a massive cloud of larvae
above the reef platform. A rain of Montipora
larvae may have fallen and settled on the pink
crust within a day—a single event that changed
the seascape for years to come.
At Millennium Atoll—“atoll” meaning that
it has a central lagoon—the biomass of fish
and the abundance of sharks were even larger.
The dead corals had been overgrown by several
species, notably branching Acropora. The only
bad news was that the giant clams that formed
multicolor pavements in some areas of the
Millennium lagoon were dead. In 2009 we had
counted more than 42 giant clams per square
yard in those areas; in 2021 three hours of swim-
ming over the lagoon reefs revealed only five
living clams. The seawater temperature in
2015-16 probably had been much higher in the
lagoon than in the fore reef around the atoll.
That created a lethal clam bake, from which the
giant clams may never recover.
But the coral recovery amazed us all. No one
on our science team had seen anything like it.
Our coral specialist, Eric Brown, a U.S. National reefs’ resilience. The southern Line Islands lie
Park Service marine ecologist, estimated the in one of the hottest hot spots of warming in the
Millennium lagoon had, on average, around Pacific Ocean, so the corals here apparently have
seven million or eight million coral colonies per adapted to heat.
square mile —a shocking number. We had to go For new corals to grow over dead ones, though,
through the calculation several times to believe the skeletons need to be covered by pink encrust-
it. It was a reminder that coral reefs do a much ing corallines instead of fleshy seaweed. What
better job restoring themselves than any human provided these ideal conditions in the southern
interventions can—so long as there are enough Line Islands? We believe one reason is the off-
living corals around to replenish the reefs. the-charts abundance of herbivorous fish—the
enormous parrotfish and schools of hundreds of
from the recovery of these
W H AT D I D W E L E A R N surgeonfish. They’re grazers, the zebras and ante-
“super reefs”? The corals that were resistant to lope of the reef, and they gobble every tiny fleshy
the phenomenal 2015-16 El Niño provided the alga that dares to grow on the dead coral. When

120 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
you’re diving in the shallows, you hear those fish
scraping at the reef nonstop. Crustose coralline
algae, which have calcareous skeletons, survive
the grazing. The fish prefer to eat the equivalent
of yummy lettuce rather than limestone.
That observation reinforces the conclusion
we reached in 2009: Full protection from fish-
ing, and the enormous fish biomass it yields, is
necessary for a reef to be able to bounce back.
Full protection promotes resilience. But will it
be sufficient if extraordinary warming events
like the 2015-16 El Niño become more frequent?
Will these reefs have enough time to recover in
between crises? We don’t know.
Coral reefs harbor more biodiversity than any
other ocean ecosystem, provide food security for
millions of people, and protect our shores from
devastating tropical storms. If we are to preserve
them and all the benefits they provide, we need
to give them space. As the world tries to agree on
how to reduce carbon pollution, we can buy time
by protecting reefs and fostering their strength.
The difference between a dead reef and a super
reef lies in how much we care. j
Marine ecologist Enric Sala has written several
previous articles about the work of the Pristine
Seas project. His book The Nature of Nature: Why
We Need the Wild was published in 2020.
A PAC I F I C R E B I RT H 121
 T H E L AVA S T R E A M S

T H AT B U L L D OZ E D PA RT

O F L A PA L M A

SHOCKED RESIDENTS

O F T H E S PA N I S H

CANARIES—

AND BECAME A LESSON

IN LIVING WITH

A V O L C A N O ’ S F U R Y.

FIRE ISLAND
B Y M AYA W E I - H A A S

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CARSTEN PETER

When cracks opened in

the Cumbre Vieja ridge
on La Palma in September
2021, they kicked off
one of the most destruc-
tive volcanic eruptions
on the Canary Islands in
500 years. Lava fountains
blasted almost 2,000 feet
high, and masses of
molten rock landed thou-
sands of feet from the
newly formed crater.

123
For months the lava
flowed downslope in
rivers, overwhelming
everything in its path.
Homes, restaurants,
shops, churches,
agricultural fields,
and schools once
sat in the three and
a half miles between
the new volcano and
the sea. Now they’re
all entombed in stone.
 T
THE AIR AHEAD SHIMMERS with heat as I approach an entrance
to the underworld. Wind roaring in my ears, I carefully follow
the footprints of my guide, Octavio Fernández Lorenzo, across a
blackened landscape on La Palma in the Spanish Canary Islands.
“This is almost as far as we can go,” he says suddenly, stopping
a few yards from our target, the maw of a volcanic cave known as
a lava tube. We continue a few more steps toward the entrance,
where a private drone operator had recently registered tempera-
tures of 338°F—hot enough to bake bread. Fernández Lorenzo,
vice president of the Canary Federation of Speleology, has been
keeping close watch on the slowly cooling cave; he hopes to even-
tually enter to gather clues about one of the archipelago’s most
destructive volcanic eruptions in 500 years.
For nearly 86 days, starting September 19, 2021, molten rock
coursed from cracks high on the island’s Cumbre Vieja ridge,
inching downslope in incandescent rivulets that branched and
rejoined like the strands of a braided stream. The volcano did not
directly claim any lives. But the eruption gushed more than 261
million cubic yards of lava and built a cone of ash and rock over
650 feet tall, where we now stand. Just a year ago, this area of
the island was a verdant pine forest with a scattering of homes.
Now only the tallest parts—the upper branches of trees, the tip The National
Geographic Society,
of a lamppost, the ridge of a roof—are visible above mounds of committed to illuminat-
coarse black sand. Entranced by this dystopian scene, I barely ing and protecting
register Fernández Lorenzo’s suggestion that we head uphill, the wonder of our world,
has funded Explorer
his voice muffled behind a gas mask. But then his tone changes. Carsten Peter’s work on
“Up, up, up, up,” he says, each word increasing in volume and volcanoes since 1998.
urgency. “We’re going to burn.” The wind had shifted in a gust ILLUSTRATION BY JOE MCKENDRY

from the valley below, potentially blasting us with scorching air.

The ground crumbles and shifts beneath my feet as I struggle up

126 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
the steep flank of the volcanic cone to find a safer Incandescent streams ecosystems nearby,
perch for surveying the scene. of lava flow into the but new life has
ocean, extending already begun to
La Palma has a long history of eruptions, but La Palma’s coastline. flourish atop the
its fiery fits usually aren’t considered dangerous. The eruption dev- nutrient-rich
The chemistry of its lava makes it flow as sluggish astated marine underwater rocks.
rivers rather than explode in the dramatic blasts
that devastate other parts of the world. The last
eruption on the island was in 1971, when molten and over 43 miles of road. Many difficult years of
rock burst from a fissure in a sparsely populated reconstruction lie ahead, hampered by lingering
region near the southern coast, providing a show magmatic heat and an unclear economic future.
of geologic pyrotechnics that caused compara- Around the world, about 60 million people
tively little damage. Since then, though, the live in the shadow of active volcanoes, so as the
island’s population has grown; over 86,000 peo- global population continues to grow, disasters
ple now live on 273 square miles of land. When like that seen in La Palma will become more
the volcano erupted last year, lava swallowed common. Perhaps by better understanding what
more than 2,800 buildings, 864 acres of farmland, happened on this tiny island, its residents and

FIRE ISLAND 127

 A MIGHTY BLAST

PE
After 50 years of relative quiet, La Palma—one of the youngest RO
SPAIN EU
and most volcanically active islands in the Canaries—saw a ATLANTIC
dramatic eruption in 2021. The event was one of the most dev- OCEAN

astating in the archipelago’s roughly 500 years of recorded Canary Is. AFRIC A
(Spain)
volcanic history. It lasted nearly 86 days, damaging more than
2,800 buildings and forcing over 7,000 people to evacuate.

VOLATILE ISLES
As the African tectonic plate migrates northeast, scientists suspect a
stationary plume of superheated rock drives eruptions at the surface,
creating islands. But not all of the eruptions in the Canaries follow this
trend, suggesting that other subterranean forces may also be at work.

ft

t
0f

0
-3,00
ATLANTIC OCEAN

-30
2,201 ft
7,959 ft LA PALMA 671 m
2,426 m
A N D S Lanzarote
2021
C A N A R Y I S L t n
eruption
Tenerife e me
Santa ov
Direction of 12,188 ft Cruz e m Fuerteventura
view at right
4,879 ft 3,715 m l at
1,487 m
c p
o ni Las Palmas
La Gomera ct 2,648 ft
te 807 m
an
ft
6,417 ft
ric
-300

1,956 m
El Hierro Af Gran Canaria
4,925 ft
1,501 m
AFRICA
40 mi -3
,0 0
40 km 0 ft

BENEATH THE SURFACE

Hundreds of earthquakes shook La Palma in the eight days before the
eruption on September 19, 2021. More than 40,000 earthquakes also were
detected during the prolonged eruption—but scientists believe twice as
many simultaneous quakes may have gone undetected.

Taburiente caldera Cumbre Vieja Eruption Eruption

Earthquakes Earthquakes
Depth September 11 during eruption
5 miles CRUST 5 Sept. 20-Dec. 14
MANTLE

5
15 15
Semisolid magma
diffused in rock Rising
magma
25 25

Reservoir of fluid, low-density magma Earthquakes

Sept. 12-14 15-17 18-19

First tremblings Surfacing Steadily rising

Low-magnitude earthquakes begin Magma that has accumulated Shallow, dense magma released during
on September 11 and rapidly increase under the island starts to ascend, the first eight days of the eruption
to several hundred daily. Pressure rising to the surface through a decreases underground pressure.
exerted on the rock opens fractures, network of interconnected sills Deeper, more fluid magma then ascends,
allowing magma to rise. and dikes. fueling activity through mid-December.

128 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
 Roque de los
Muchachos
7,959 ft Barlovento
2,426 m

Los
Sauces

Ta b u rie n te
ca ld e ra
Puntagorda Puntallana

Pico
Bejenado

Cu
mb
re
Tijarafe

Nu
L A

eva
Santa Cruz
A L M de la Palma
P A San Pedro
Los
Los Llanos Cancajos
El Paso
de Aridane Tacande Breña
(erupted ca 1480) Baja

2021
eruption
Tazacorte
Tajuya
Populated La Laguna
area Llano del Banco El Pueblo
(1949)
C

Hoyo Negro (1949)

Todoque Tajuya
U M

(1585) El Duraznero (1949)

Lava first reached the
ocean on September 28
Jedey
(orange). By the end of
B R E

the eruption, on December El Charco (1712)

14, more than 3,000 acres
were covered in hardened Puerto Tigalate
lava (dark gray), in some Naos
places up to 213 feet high. Historical Martín
lava flow (1646)
V I E J

El Remo
Magma can ascend and form
a cone, or a series of cones,
anywhere along the Cumbre
Vieja ridge. Each new vol-
A

cano erupts only once—and Agricultural

it’s nearly impossible to area Las
Indias
predict where and when the
next volcano will appear. Fuencaliente
de la Palma
Los
Quemados San
Antonio
Coastal terraces created (1677)
ATLANTIC by past lava flows are Teneguía
topped with transported (1971)
soils to support thriving
OCEAN banana plantations.

Punta de
Fuencaliente

SCALE VARIES IN THIS PERSPECTIVE. DISTANCE FROM THE ERUPTION TO THE OCEAN IS 3.5 MILES.
CHRISTINE FELLENZ AND DIANA MARQUES, NGM STAFF. ERIC KNIGHT; KELSEY NOWAKOWSKI
SOURCES: STAVROS MELETLIDIS, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE; BEN IRELAND, GEOTENERIFE; GOVERNMENT OF THE CANARY ISLANDS; SPANISH GEOLOGICAL
SURVEY; EUROPEAN MARINE OBSERVATION AND DATA NETWORK; EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY; GLOBAL MULTI-RESOLUTION TOPOGRAPHY; © MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES;
NASA/USGS; © OPENSTREETMAP; W. SIRKO AND OTHERS, CONTINENTAL-SCALE BUILDING DETECTION FROM HIGH RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGERY, 2021
Lava blanketed the
surface in thick sheets
in some areas, but it
spared a few clusters
of homes built on what
are known as kipukas,
a Hawaiian term for
mounds of older lava
rocks that survive with-
in a sea of fresh flows.
those in similar communities can better prepare
for future volcanic catastrophe.
“Volcanoes have built La Palma,” says Fernán-
dez Lorenzo. “We have to learn to live with them.”

DESTRUCTIVE AS THEY may be, volcanoes are

the lifeblood of the Canary Islands, a subtrop-
ical archipelago some 50 miles off the coast of
Africa. Past eruptions sculpted the land into a
spectacle of nature, from sweeping coastal cliffs
and black-sand beaches to mountains packed
with plants not found anywhere else.
Over the centuries, nutrient-rich lava flows
have broken down into fertile soil. When Castil-
ians conquered the islands in the 15th century,
they ravaged the Indigenous population and
converted the land into sugar plantations, which
then gave way to other crops. Before the 2021
eruption, half of La Palma’s gross domestic prod-
uct came from bananas grown for export.
Exactly what drives the Canaries’ volcanism
is still debated, but much of the firepower likely
comes from a plume of superheated rock rising
from deep underground, known as a hot spot. As
the African tectonic plate inches over this plume,
new volcanoes—and baby islands—are born. La
Palma is one of the youngest and most volcani-
cally active islands in the Canaries. The northern
volcanoes have fallen silent, though, and for the
past 150,000 years, La Palma’s eruptions have
struck exclusively in the hot, dry south, which
is bisected by the Cumbre Vieja ridge. that kicked up on
T H E E A RT H Q U A K E S WA R M
Magma rises like a curtain under Cumbre September 11, 2021, was one clue to the potential
Vieja, exploiting cracks or weaknesses to rush for disaster. The ground also began to swell and
to the surface. No two eruptions follow the shift—a sign of magma moving below. Authorities
same path, a process known as monogenetic quickly activated the islands’ volcanic emergency
volcanism, which means scientists never know plan, which brought together a scientific commit-
exactly where the next one will pop up. tee of eight organizations and universities to pore
As the recent eruption showed, this is a huge over data and figure out what might happen next.
challenge for protecting the thousands of people The plan communicates increasing volcanic
who live on the slopes of the ridge. And after hazards using a four-color “traffic light”—green,
five decades of volcanic slumber, many locals yellow, orange, and red. On September 13, author-
had never witnessed their island’s full geologic ities set the level to yellow, which means that the
power. There also seems to have been a discon- public should pay attention to official commu-
nect between the activity scientists observed at nications because of an increased eruption risk.
the volcano in the days leading up to the erup- The earthquakes, which numbered in the
tion and what the public understood would thousands, migrated northwest as they grew
happen. The result was devastating. ever more shallow and intense. “On Thursday
“We didn’t know what was coming,” says Ana [September 16], we all were almost sure that there
Jesica Acosta Cruz, a local shop owner and pre- would be an eruption,” says Stavros Meletlidis, a
vious resident of Todoque, a town now entirely volcanologist at the Spanish National Geographic
paved over in jet-black rock. “We didn’t know it Institute (IGN), the official body responsible for
was going to be this demon.” volcanic monitoring throughout the country.

132 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
LEFT
Molten rock bypassed
the home of Annabell
Gerhards, but when
she returned after an
evacuation, she found
her swimming pool
filled with ash. Sharp,
sandy grains of volca-
nic ash rained down
across the region,
burying many houses
and roads.

BELOW
The eruption dealt
a heavy blow to
the banana industry,
which is vital to the
island’s economy. Here
farmer Santiago Alexis
Hernández Rodríguez
sprays fruit to remove
ash. He says that many
trees were buried in
the eruption; others
haven't been watered
because of broken
pipes. While he plans
to start replanting,
some residents wonder
about the way forward
for the banana farms.

FIRE ISLAND 133

Part of an emergency
response group with
the Spanish military,
Armando Salazar wears
a protective suit as he
walks across the still
scorching hot rocks to
help scientists collect
lava samples. Teams
also monitored gases,
recorded earthquakes,
and more, to better
understand the erup-
tion and the potential
for more blasts along
the Cumbre Vieja ridge.
ARTURO RODRIGUEZ

The big question was when. A 2011 eruption
on the neighboring island of El Hierro was pre-
ceded by months of earthquakes. Yet the situa-
tion in La Palma seemed to be progressing more
rapidly. Still, the scientific committee couldn’t
reach a consensus that a blast was imminent,
IGN’s director, María José Blanco, said in later
testimony to the regional parliament. Such a
declaration would have required politicians to
change the volcanic alert level to orange, kicking
off evacuations. But those are complex and costly,
and timing is everything: Ask people to leave too
soon, they may return to their homes before the
threat has lapsed. If they leave and nothing hap-
pens, they may not trust future warnings.
On the morning of September 19, authorities
began evacuating several dozen people with
reduced mobility, saying they were worried
about damage from the earthquakes. Then the
volcano erupted. The alert level still sat at yellow.
O N A WA R M June day nine months later, I meet
up with Sharon Backhouse, director of GeoTener-
ife, a U.K. company that has organized educa-
tional trips around the Canaries for nearly a
decade. When she saw the disaster in progress
on La Palma, she stayed to document the erup-
tion and recovery efforts through local residents’
eyes in a project now known as #VolcanoStories.
Sounds of generators and jackhammers greet
us as we approach the remains of a school, La
Laguna’s Early Childhood and Primary Education

134 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

Center. Its director, Mónica Viña, peers through
a chain-link fence surrounding the property,
now dwarfed by a wall of lava rock nearby. As
Backhouse translates, Viña shows pictures on
her phone and describes what the school used to
look like. About 150 students ages three to 12 once
gathered in this trio of flat-topped concrete build-
ings painted brilliant blue trimmed in white.
At first the lava flow bypassed the school, and
Viña hoped the complex would be spared. But
luck ran out on October 20. Viña pauses, fighting
back tears. “We always thought it wouldn’t hap-
pen,” she says, her voice barely audible above the
construction din. “It’s very sad to see it like this.”
Just one building still stands. The fan of an
air conditioner droops on its spindle as if it were
made of putty. A lamppost is split down one side.
We pass a hefty tree toppled on its side, its roots
in a death grip around chunks of concrete ripped
from the ground. For Viña, the chaos is a potent
reminder of the value of education, especially
when it comes to understanding local hazards.
“We knew what a lava flow was, but we didn’t
know the impact it could have on the popu-
lation,” Viña says. She plans to start bringing
scientists into the school to talk with students
about volcanic blasts. They should learn about
the dangers, she says, “even if nothing happens.”
ALMOST A YEAR later, many of La Palma’s fam-
ilies remain in temporary housing, waiting for
promised funds from the Spanish government
and decisions about how to rebuild. Some are
struggling to prove ownership of their land after
leaving behind legal documents in the rush
to evacuate. Then there’s the debate over how to
rebuild on such a dramatically altered landscape.
Some parts of the new lava flow will likely be
preserved as a national park, to be a poignant
reminder of the island’s volcanic underpinnings.
Other parts will be reclaimed by agriculture and
buildings as soon as the deep rock fully cools.
But the challenges are steep. Much of the flow
is what residents call malpais, or “bad land,”
because it’s full of jagged rubble that shifts
underfoot and can cut clothes and skin. And
crops won’t grow on fresh lava flows, so soil must
be moved in from elsewhere on the island.
Despite Cumbre Vieja’s unpredictability, some
are hopeful the tragedy will offer lessons for future
volcanic events. For example, changes to the cur-
rent alert system could disentangle actions taken
by the authorities—such as ordering wide-scale
evacuations—from proper communication to the
public about the urgency of a pending disaster.
Such lessons may reach beyond La Palma’s
shores. Sitting at the Volcano Cafe in Santa Cruz,
the bustling capital of nearby Tenerife island,
volcanologist Meletlidis and I talk of the many
challenges of living with slumbering volcanoes.
As a constant stream of people and cars passes by,
I wonder aloud about concerns for a future erup-
tion here, the Canaries’ most populous island.
Meletlidis’s response is immediate, his voice
low: “We think about it every day.” j
Maya Wei-Haas, a staff writer for National Geo-
graphic’s science desk, reports on the geology of
Earth and beyond. Photographer Carsten Peter
specializes in documenting extreme environments.
FIRE ISLAND 135
 INSTAGRAM
JAVIER AZNAR
FROM OUR PHOTOGRAPHERS

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