Since archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, mysteries have surrounded the final resting place of the boy-king – and exactly how he got there at an early age. What put Tut in that tomb? Did his friends and family get away with murder? Scholars have cast about any number of theories, but his ultimate cause of death remains uncertain. We investigate the pharaoh’s death and dig deep to uncover the mysteries of his final days.
Forensic science experts worked their magic on Tut’s mummy and, lo and behold, they came to the conclusion that he was murdered. There was a bone sliver in his brain cavity, and a possible blood clot on his skull that may have resulted from a bad blow to the head. Problems with the bones above his eye sockets were similar to those that occur when someone’s shoved from behind and his head hits the ground. He even suffered from Klippel-Feil syndrome, a disorder which would have left his body very fragile and susceptible to interference.
Who would have had motive to kill the young king? Perhaps his elderly adviser, Ay, who became king after Tut. Or Horemheb, the vigorous general who was champing at the bit to restore Egypt’s declining military presence abroad and wound up being pharaoh after Ay.
Unfortunately for conspiracy theorists, later re-evaluations of evidence suggest that Tut wasn’t killed.
The injuries some thought were inflicted by enemies may have been the product of poorly conducted early autopsies, scientists argued in an article called “The Skull and Cervical Spine Radiographs of Tutankhamen: A Critical Appraisal” in the American Journal of Neuroradiology. What about the suspicious bone sliver?
Its displacement “could fit in well with known theories of the practice of mummification, the articles authors state.
What about natural illness? Tut was a product of significant inbreeding amongst members of the Egyptian royal family, the son of Akhenaten (né Amenhotep IV) and his full sister. Egyptologists have theorized that members of his family had
