November 2010

New examination of Tut's x-rays and CT scans suggests that he died from a hippo attack (heritage-key.com)

"A new study shows that Tutankhamun, Egypt’s famous “boy-king” who died around the age of 18, suffered a “massive crushing tearing injury to his chest” that likely would have killed him. X-rays and CT scans have previously shown that the pharaoh’s heart, chest wall, the front part of his sternum and adjacent ribs, are missing. In Ancient Egypt the heart was like the brain and removing it was something that was not done. “The heart, considered the seat of reason, emotion, memory and personality, was the only major organ intentionally left in the body,” writes Dr. Robert Ritner in the book Ancient Egypt.  The new research was done by Dr. Benson Harer, a medical doctor with an Egyptology background, who was given access to nearly 1700 CT scan images of Tut that were taken by a team of Egyptian scientists in 2005. Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, gave permission for the work.... Harer’s work was published in the journal Bulletin of the Egyptian Museum. It was also presented last spring at a conference organized by the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE). This Thursday Harer was in Canada, giving his findings at the University of Toronto...."

October 2007

Scientific analysis of King Tut's mummy suggests he died in hunting accident (nationalgeographic.com)

"Tutankhamun is widely thought to have died of an infection stemming from a broken leg, after CT scans in 2005 revealed a severe fracture in his left thighbone, challenging theories that he had been murdered. "He had an accident when he was hunting in the desert," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, who has overseen recent examinations of the pharaoh's mummy. Falling from the chariot made this fracture in his left leg, and this really is in my opinion how he died." The new theory stems largely from examinations of some of the 5,000 artifacts found in the king's tomb, which suggest he was an active, sporting young man and not the sheltered and fragile boy often portrayed by history. Among the evidence for the theory are at least two chariots entombed with the king that show signs of frequent use, presumably by Tut himself...." 

November 2006

Researcher discusses death of King Tut: A badly broken and infected leg killed him (guardian.co.uk)

"The world's most celebrated boy king, Tutankhamun, may have died after badly breaking a leg while playing sport. A detailed scan of the mummy, which was uncovered in the Valley of Kings in 1922, has revealed the high-impact fracture as the most likely cause of death. Speculation over the death of Tutankhamun has raged since the mummy was first inspected in 1925, three years after his tomb was excavated by Howard Carter and his patron Lord Carnarvon. The first x-ray scans conducted in 1968 found signs of damage to the skull, prompting suggestions that he had been killed by a blow to the head. Researchers led by Ashraf Selim, a radiologist at Kasr Eleini Teaching Hospital at Cairo University, used a mobile CT scanner to build up a 3D image of the 3,300-year-old body from 1,900 separate images. The reconstruction showed him to be 5ft 11in tall and probably 19 years old when he died. But precision scans of the king's left thigh revealed extensive details of a high-impact fracture above the left knee. The kneecap was badly twisted to the outside of the leg, and the wound was open to the outside world, where it was vulnerable to infection. What is believed to be the remnants of embalming fluid had deeply penetrated the fracture, suggesting the injury was sustained in the king's lifetime and not inflicted during the original excavation.... How the injury was sustained is still uncertain, but the...fracture matches a common breakage suffered by jockeys...."

March 2005

Tutankhamun CT-Scan (guardians.net)

"On January 5, 2005, the mummy of Tutankhamun (c. 1355-1346 B.C.) was removed from its tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV 62) for the first time in almost eighty years. An all-Egyptian team, led by Zahi Hawass, lifted the fragile remains, still resting in the tray of sand in which it had been placed by Carter’s team, from their resting place inside the outermost coffin and sarcophagus of the king, and carried them to a state-of-the-art CT scan machine (housed inside a trailer) donated to the Supreme Council of Antiquities by Siemens, Ltd., and the National Geographic Society. The scan took fifteen minutes and produced over 1,700 images. These images were studied by an Egyptian team, under the auspices of Madiha Khattab, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, and then by a foreign team composed of experts from Italy and Switzerland."

 

Zahi Hawass's King Tut CT-scan page (with photos)

Photo of Tut's full-body CT-scan

Close-up photo of King Tut's face

August 2008

DNA testing may reveal identity of Tut's mother (nationalgeographic.com)

"Two mummified fetuses found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun will undergo DNA testing to determine their relation to the famous pharaoh, Egyptian officials announced today. The fetuses may also solve a longtime puzzle: the identity of King Tut's mother. The young Tut, who reigned from 1336 to 1337 B.C., is controversially thought to be the son of Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Kiya. But some archaeologists believe he could be the son of Akhenaten's other wife, the powerful Queen Nefertiti. "The fetuses will help us determine whether [King Tut's wife and daughter of Nefertiti] Ankhesenamun was a half sister or a full sister," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. "If the fetus DNA matches King Tut's DNA and Ankhesenamun['s DNA], then they shared the same mother." The testing will also reveal whether the fetuses are offspring of Ankhesenamun and Tut. Scientists caution, however, that they will probably not establish a direct link between the fetuses and Tut because such genetic matches are extremely difficult to prove. Additionally, mummies of fetuses found in a tomb are not necessarily the children of the buried pharaoh...."

Mummies of stillborn infants found in King Tut's tomb to have DNA tested: Was Tut their father? (telegraph.co.uk)

"The two tiny female fetuses - found in Luxor as part of the 1922 discovery of the boy king's tomb - may be his stillborn children, the Council said. In a statement, Zahi Hawass, the head of the Egyptian antiquities, said the tests will also try to determine Tutankhamun's family linage, a source of ambiguity among many Egyptologists. "All of these results will be compared to each other, along with those of the mummy of King Tutankhamun," Mr Hawass said. There has been no archaeological indication that the young pharaoh, who died around the age of 19 under mysterious circumstances over 3,000 years ago, left any offspring. Scholars believe that at the age of 12, Tutankhamun married his half-sister, Ankhesenamun - the third daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten by his wife Nefertiti - but the couple had no surviving children. Tutankhamun was one of the last kings of Egypt's 18th Dynasty and ruled during a crucial, turmoil-filled period. Ashraf Selim, a radiologist and member of the Egyptian team, said the tests could take several months. So far, the team has carried out CT scans on the two fetuses and taken samples for DNA tests.... There is some secrecy surrounding Egypt's DNA testing of mummies.... "

November 2007

King Tut's unwrapped mummy now on public exhibit for first time (guardian.co.uk)

"Eighty-five years after the archaeologist Howard Carter first walked into Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, the rest of the world got its first glimpse of the most famous pharaoh in history. Yesterday the boy king's delicate remains were transferred from a stone sarcophagus in his tomb to a climate-controlled glass box to preserve it for the future. Tutankhamun has captured the world's imagination in the decades since his 3,000-year-old mummy was found. An exhibition of some of the ancient artifacts found in the tomb is coming to Britain later this month. It is currently touring the US, where it attracted 4 million people in its first few months. Thousands of tourists also visit the tomb in Luxor every month.... Scientists had begun the process of restoring Tutankhamun's badly damaged mummy more than two years ago, when he was briefly removed to undergo CT scans for the first time. The first 3D image of the mummy enabled researchers to build sculptures of the king's head. The work also helped archaeologists understand how the king had died, aged 19. The scans ruled out the violent assassination many had long suspected and suggested instead that he had badly broken his left thigh a few days before his death, which may have caused a fatal infection. The scans also showed that the king was well-fed, healthy, stood at 5ft 6in and had the overbite typical from other kings in his family."