There has long been speculation about how the boy king died. Egyptologist Zahi Hawass posted to his blog today the long awaited findings from his CT scan of King Tutankhamun’s mummy.
One claim was that Tutankhamun had been murdered, and many believed the hole found in the back of his head was evidence of this. Hawass disagrees:
Recently we CT scanned the mummy of King Tut to examine his life and death in depth and determine how he died. We found that he died at the age of 19, and that he was not murdered, as people have long speculated… Studies of the CT scans show that this hole was made in the back of his head in order to pour the liquid used in mummification into his body after he died.
During the CT scan, Hawass found something else – a fracture in Tutankhamun’s left leg. Previous scholars onhealthy order arimidex believed this fracture was caused by the handling of the mummy when it was first discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. But Hawass’ CT scan showed the fracture was actually “the result of an accident that happened shortly before he died”.
From artistic and historical sources, we know that King Tut used to go hunting and riding in the desert around Memphis. Now the most likely scenarios are that he fell off while riding and broke his leg, or that he was fighting in a war and was injured. The broken leg most likely led to complications that resulted in his death.
Mystery solved! Check out the video below for more on Hawass’ research. And if you haven’t yet, be sure to see the exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.
Sarah B.
Now all they need to do still is figure out who his father is. It’s kinda funny though, in high school (+- 13 years old) 10 years back they thought us that it was a given fact that Akhenaton is Tut’s daddy, and now… . Ah well… . =)
Ann