Course Description

Instructor: Michael McDavid

In 1939 on the eve of World War II French archaeologists working in the ruins of the ancient city of Tanis made a remarkable discovery. They found an undisturbed tomb containing the mummies of five Egyptian rulers. Several of these burials included wonderful objects, including the spectacular solid gold funerary mask of Pharaoh Psusennes I. This discovery rivalled that of the better known "King Tut" in 1923; but because of the timing with the war, it went largely unnoticed around the world. In the session we will look at the details of the archaeological dig, some background on who this group of pharaohs was, and view images of many of the objects found in the tomb.

Bio: Michael McDavid has been interested in history since the second grade. Over the years his primary focus settled on European history, although if it happened in the past, it was of potential interest. Michael majored in history as an undergrad at Furman University, then received master’s degrees in European history and library science from Emory University. To earn money, he was a library manager at Equifax Inc and Georgia State University. During this same time to satisfy his historical itch Michael taught history at Georgia Perimeter College as an adjunct faculty member. Now after retiring from the Boston Consulting Group, he is privileged to offer courses at OLLI on favorite topics such 19th century Europe and his favorite “subspecialty”, the role of monarchy past and present.