Was Tutankhamun
murdered?
In an effort to solve that
mystery and others, scientists CT scanned the 3,000-year-old mummy of the
ancient Egyptian King.
In 1968 an x-ray of "King Tut" revealed a bone fragment in his skull. Ever
since, rumours have swirled that a blow to the head had killed the boy king. The
break, though, could also be explained by a fall or a mishap during
mummification.
The three-dimensional image that will be created from CT scan will be many times
more informative than any x-ray. As such, it may help uncover just how
Tutankhamun died.
"Through the scan, we hope to learn about any diseases Tut had, any kind of
injuries, his actual age, fand maybe more about how he died," project leader
Zahi Hawass said in a press statement. Head of Egypt's Supreme Council of
Antiquities, Hawass also serves as a National Geographic explorer-in-residence.
The answers will only come after Hawass and his team have undertaken the
time-consuming task of analyzing the scans.
How They Did It
Though not exactly Egypt's most illustrious pharaoh, Tutankhamun arguably
became the most famous when his treasure-filled tomb was discovered in 1922. He
was about 18 or 19 when his reign was cut short by his death in 1323 B.C.
Tutankhamun's low status in the pantheon of pharaohs is underscored by the
relatively cramped quarters of his tomb in the Valley of the Kings, which is
where Hawass and his team began their delicate operation this month.
The team first removed the stone lid from his sarcophagus. They then lifted up
the wooden box containing the rarely seen mummy and slowly carried it out into
daylight.
A van outfitted with a CT-scanning machine was waiting just outside the tomb.
(The original plan—to transport the fragile mummy to Cairo for scanning—was
cancelled due to public protest.)
Inside the van the scientists pulled aside layers of cloth swathing the king.
Still in its box, the mummy was fed into the CT (or CAT) scanner for about 15
minutes, during which some 1,700 cross-sectional images were taken.
Only the Beginning
The Tutankha-mun CT scan is only the first step in a five-year endeavour to
scan and preserve the ancient mummies of Egypt, many of which are crumbling.
Partly through the scans, the effort also aims to solve mysteries pertaining to
the diseases and lifestyles of ancient Egyptians.
Called the Egyptian Mummy Project, the effort is supported by the National
Geographic Society and Siemens Medical Solutions of Germany. As project leader,
Hawass is in charge of archaeologists, conservators, paleopathologists,
epidem-iologists, radiologists, and physicians from around the world.
"Protecting the mummies and all that we can learn from them is extremely
important to Egypt and the world," Hawass said. "The mummies represent 3,000
years of Egyptian history."
"King Tut" Treasure to Return to U S in 2005
After almost three decades the ancient Egyptian tomb treasures of King
Tutankhamun will be making a return visit to U S shores.
A new exhibition, "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," (see
artifacts from the exhibit, currently in Germany) will travel the U S for 27
months starting in June, 2005. Stops will include the Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, Florida's Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, and the Field Museum of
Chicago. (See ticket information.)
Over 130 funerary objects that have rarely or never travelled abroad before are
part of the exhibit. The 3,300-to-3,500-year-old artifacts come from the tombs
of 18th-dynasty pharaoh Tutankhamun and others buried in the Valley of the
Kings.
The last time artifacts from Tutankhamun's tomb visited the U S was from 1976 to
1979. This smaller exhibit featuring the Boy King, familiarly known as King Tut,
toured seven cities and attracted record numbers—approximately eight million
visitors in all.