"We don't know how the king died, but we are now sure that it was not
murder... .The case is closed. We should not disturb the king any more, "
Hawass said.
According to six of the eight team members, Tutankhamun may have died
after a badly broken leg.
"Although the break itself would not have been life-threatening, infection
might have set in," the team's five page report said.
Indeed, about 130 walking sticks found among King Tut's fabulous treasure
would support the theory he may have needed a cane to support himself or to
help with walking.
Some other members of the team believe it is also possible, although less
likely, that the fracture to the left thighbone was caused by the
embalmers, the report said.
"What we can say is that Tutankhamun was about 1.70 meters tall (5' 6"), give or
take a couple of centimeters. He was generally in good health, judging
from his bones. There is no evidence of malnutrition or infectious disease
during childhood. We can't rule out that he died of natural causes," Eduard
Egarter Vigl, the caretaker of Ötzi the Iceman and one of the experts who
examined the CT scan images, told Discovery News.
The Tut Puzzle
King Tut, the best-known pharaoh of ancient Egypt, has been puzzling
scientists ever since his mummy- and treasure-packed tomb were discovered
in 1922 the Valley of the Kings by British archaeologist Howard Carter.
Only a few facts about his life are know. Tut.ankh.Amun, "the living image
of Amun," ascended the throne in 1333 B.C., at the age of nine, and reigned
until his death in 1325 B.C., aged 19. He was a pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty,
probably the greatest of the Egyptian royal families.
Prior to the CT scan, archaeologists last opened Tutankhamun's tomb in
1968, when British scientist Ronald Harrison took a series of X-rays. The
radiographs revealed a bone fragment in his skull, prompting speculation
that the boy pharaoh was killed by a blow to the head.
But the CT scan revealed that the fragments were not broken because of an
an injury incurred before death, but during the embalming
process.
Carter's team could have also been responsible, when sharp tools
were used to remove the gleaming gold-and-blue death mask.
"Another interesting aspect of the skull, its elongated shape, was also
not due to pathological causes, but most likely an a hereditary tract. All
was normal in King Tut's skull, " Egarter said.
The CT scan also ruled out that the boy pharaoh crushed his chest when
falling from his chariot, as suggested by American Egyptologist Denis Forbes.
It rejected the diagnosis of an abnormal curvature of the spine and
fusion of the upper vertebrae, which would have indicated King
Tut suffered from a rare disorder called Klippel-Feil syndrome, a
condition often associated with scoliosis which makes sufferers look as if
they have a short neck.
"We found absolutely no evidence for this disease. We also did not find
any trace of poison in his bones, but can't totally rule out he was
poisoned. After all, the mystery over King Tut's death remains," Egarter said
According to Sergio Donadoni, the most eminent Italian Egyptologist, the
theories that have long surrounded Tutankhamun's death have always been
produced by "picturesque legends without any scientific basis."
"Zahi Hawass was totally right when he decided to proceed with the CT
scan. Finally, this will give some scientific rigor to the history of the
boy king," Donadoni said.
