Using computerized tomography (CT) scans of his mummified body,
scientists have conducted a “virtual autopsy” of Tutankhamen, the boy
king who ruled Egypt some 3,300 years ago. It shows that he suffered
from numerous deformities and ailments, caused in part by rampant
inbreeding within his family. The results of the research will be fully
revealed in an upcoming television documentary.
 |
| Tutankhamen's gold mask and the recently created "virtual autopsy" (Credit: Alamy/BBC) |
Very little is known about Tutankhamen’s life, other than that he
took power around 1332 B.C. between the ages of 8 and 10, and that he
ruled until his death a decade later around age 19. His likely father,
the so-called heretic king Akhenaten, had purportedly instituted a
number of chaotic religious reforms based on the belief that the sun god
Aten should be worshipped above other deities, including moving the
capital from Thebes to the new city of Amarna. But Tut, the 12th or so
pharaoh of the 18th Egyptian dynasty, reversed these changes early in
his reign. In order to promote stability, he even changed his name from
Tutankhaten, meaning the “living image of Aten,” to Tutankhamen, meaning
the “living image of [the creator god] Amun.” Producing no living
offspring, he was succeeded on the throne by his close advisor Ay.
From that point on, King Tut wallowed in obscurity until 1922, when
British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered his tomb in Egypt’s
Valley of the Kings. Thieves had long ago looted other tombs in the
area. But his remained virtually intact, complete with a now-famous gold
burial mask, statues, jewelry, chariots, toys, perfumes, walking
sticks, shrines and weapons, among other invaluable treasures. A stone
sarcophagus with Tut’s solid-gold coffin also lay inside, as did two
little coffins with his presumed stillborn daughters. “He comes from an
age when they had the very finest artists working with the very finest
materials,” said Gayle Gibson, an Egyptologist who teaches at the Royal
Ontario Museum in Canada.
 |
| Computer generated image of King Tut (Credit: BBC) |
Over the years, a number of hypotheses have been put forth regarding
Tut’s cause of death. Originally, many experts believed he had been
brutally murdered or had fallen from his chariot while hunting. That
line of thinking fell somewhat out of fashion, however, after tests
determined that the damage to his skull occurred during either the
mummification process or Carter’s excavation. More recent conjecture
centers on everything from epilepsy to sickle-cell anemia to a hormone
imbalance disorder called gynecomastia. One professor has even
speculated that a hippopotamus did him in.
The latest entry to the field comes courtesy of the BBC, which on
Sunday will air “Tutankhamen: The Truth Uncovered,” a documentary
promising a “revolutionary new theory to explain Tut’s sudden and
unexpected death.” It relies on a study completed in 2006, for which
scientists obtained about 2,000 CT scan images of the pharaoh’s
mummified body, which still resides in the Valley of the Kings. As part
of the study, the scientists concluded that he had developed a
potentially deadly infection in his left leg after fracturing it.
Scientists then performed a DNA analysis of Tutankhamen, finding traces
of malaria and Kohler disease (a rare and painful bone disorder), along
with evidence that his parents were siblings, a common practice among
ancient Egyptian royalty. In fact, Tut himself apparently married his
half-sister.
For the documentary, scientists used the CT scan data, the DNA
analysis and some newer material to conduct what they described as a
“virtual autopsy.” A related life-like image of Tutankhamen —some
artistic license is required—shows off his club foot, overbite and
womanly hips. He couldn’t even walk unaided due to his foot and Kohler
disease, the scientists claim, and therefore could not have died from a
chariot fall. “We have to give up the idea that he was a healthy young
prince riding across the desert in his chariot, or that he was at war
and killed by an enemy,” said Gibson, who served as a consultant on the
documentary. “What we’re looking at is a young man who was not in good
health and had a pretty sad life in a lot of respects.”
Not everyone, however, is convinced by the results. Bob Brier, an
Egyptologist at Long Island University in Brookville, New York, widely
known as Mr. Mummy, explained that he would first like to see them
replicated by an independent lab. “It’s a very difficult thing to get
DNA out of ancient bodies,” he said, adding that it had never before
been done with an Egyptian mummy. “Most of us in the field are a little
hesitant to say this is right.”
Source : history.com
