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“The Story of Tutankhamun” is taken from the writings of Dr. David P. Silverman, exhibition curator, and the text of Dr. Zahi Hawass, as printed in Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, the companion book to the exhibition.

 

 

The Story of King Tut

The 2005 Examination

 discovery of tut's tombcurse of the pharaohsexamining tut's mummy

 

In January 2005, King Tutankhamun’s mummy left the tomb for the first time in almost 80 years. The boy king was carried to a waiting CT machine for scanning from head to toe. The procedure was part of a landmark, five-year Egyptian research and conservation project that will CT-scan the ancient mummies of Egypt.

The study of Tutankhamun’s mummy was designed to test the conclusions of previous examinations and to look for additional details that less sophisticated equipment might have missed. In just 15 minutes, the non-invasive scan produced 1,700 three-dimensional images, with no harm to the mummy.

The CT Process and Conclusions
The CT scans were examined by an all-Egyptian team of radiologists, pathologists, and anatomists and later reviewed by three international experts. Their analysis indicated the following:

  • Age: The king was about 19 when he died.Height/Build: He was about 5 feet 6 inches tall and of slight build.
  • Health: The king’s overall health was good; he was well fed and cared for, with no signs of malnutrition—even his teeth were cavity free.
  • Features: The king had the unusually elongated skull and overbite common to his ancestors. He also had a slight cleft in his palette, but no harelip.
  • Scoliosis: The curvature of his spine was not due to scoliosis, but to the way his body was arranged by the embalmers.
  • Head Trauma: The entire team agreed that there was no area on the back of the head that showed injury. The two bone fragments seen on earlier x-rays were either the result of damage inflicted by the embalmers or by Carter’s team. King Tutankhamun was conclusively not murdered by a blow to the head.
  • Chest Trauma: The missing sternum and ribs were removed by a sharp instrument, perhaps either during the embalming process or by Carter’s team. There is no evidence of mass trauma to the chest while King Tutankhamun was alive.
  • Leg Trauma: One possible cause of death may have been a break in the king’s left thighbone, which could have introduced infection. Experts are still undecided about this possibility.

Continue to The Facial Reconstruction. >>