Was King Tut Murdered?

King Tutankhamen was still a teenager when he died around 1322 b.c. He ruled Egypt for ten years, the last king of a powerful family that had ruled the country for centuries. After his death, the body of King Tut (as Tutankhamen is usually known today) was placed in a gold-filled tomb. There, he lay forgotten until the tomb’s discovery in 1922. Although we know a lot about his life, the reason for King Tut’s death at such a young age has remained a mystery, with murder the most extreme possibility. Now, improved X-ray technology1 and DNA2 testing are offering new clues into the life and death of the boy-king.

Discovered and Damaged When British archeologist Howard Carter opened King Tut’s tomb, it was full of gold and other amazing items. Carter spent months carefully recording the treasures. When he and his team attempted to remove King Tut’s mummy, they found that it had become attached to its solid gold coffin. Unfortunately, they caused a great deal of damage to the mummy while removing it.

Theories about Tut’s Death In 1968, archeologists conducted an examination of King Tut’s mummy using simple X-ray technology. Three important discoveries led to various theories about his death. • The X-rays showed that bones in Tut’s chest3 were missing. Some guessed the damage was caused by a war injury or an accident. • There was a small hole in the back of the skull, and pieces of bone inside it, causing many to believe that Tut was killed by a blow to the back of the head. Was he murdered by people wanting to take control of Egypt? • A serious fracture was discovered on Tut’s left leg. Tut had been hurt a few hours before his death. Could an infection from the injury have killed Tut?

A Closer Look In 2005, scientists under the direction of Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass used new and more effective X-ray technology to study the mummy. They discovered that the damage to Tut’s chest was caused by Howard Carter, and the hole in Tut’s skull was made when embalmers4 were preparing the body for burial. While this ruled out one theory—that of murder—it still doesn’t tell us exactly how he died.

Then, in 2008, Hawass and his team analyzed Tut’s DNA. They found that he suffered from flat feet as well as a bone disease: This would have made it difficult for him to walk. When they analyzed the DNA of the mummies in other tombs nearby, they made some shocking discoveries. They found Tut’s father and mother, who had similar DNA, were actually brother and sister.

The DNA they passed on to Tut may have left him highly vulnerable to disease, such as malaria.5 Did an infection that started in his fractured leg—added to the bone disease—cause his death? No one knows for sure. But Hawass and his team hope they will someday have an answer to this age-old mystery. Embalmers are people who prepare a body for burial.

Through CT scans of King Tut’s mummy, scientists are learning more and more about how the boy-king lived, and how he might have died.