Tutankhamun's Cause of Death and Lineage Revealed
By STAN PARCHIN
February 17, 2010
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| Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18 (ca. 1336-1327 B.C.). Coffinette for the Viscera of Tutankhamun (detail). Gold, carnelian, obsidian, rock crystal and glass. L. 39.5 cm (15.6 in.); W. 11 cm (4.3 in.); H. 10 cm (3.9 in.). Egyptian Museum, Cairo. © Andreas F. Voegelin, Antikenmuseum, Basel and Sammlung Ludwig. |
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Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18 (ca. 1353-1335 B.C.). Colossal Statue of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten. Karnak East, Temple of Gempaaten. Sandstone. H. 205 cm (80.7 in.). Egyptian Museum, Cairo. © Sandro Vannini. |
At an 11:00 A.M. press conference today in the Cairo Museum, Egypt's Ministry of Culture announced the results of two years of DNA testing and CT scans on 11 mummies to determine Pharaoh Tutankhamun's cause of death and lineage. The analyses were conducted through the Egyptian Mummy Project (EMP) headed by Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The findings were published in the February 17, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Tutankhamun's Health and Cause of Death
The most recent study, completed in October 2009, disclosed that Tutankhamun (r. 1332-1322 B.C.) suffered from a cleft palate (like his father Akhenaten). A left club foot (like his grandfather Amenhotep III had) and no use of his right one made his walking with a cane or staff likely. (He was interred with 130 of them.) The young frail Tutankhamun suffered from painful Köhler's disease, a degenerative condition in which decreased blood flow to the pharaoh's foot slowly caused avascular necrosis or the collapse of its bones and tissues.
In the 2005 CT scan of Tutankhamun's mummy, it was revealed that the boy-king died at age 19. He was not murdered by a blow to the back of the head. A hole in the pharaoh's skull was created sometime during the embalming process to insert mummification liquid. The CT scan also showed a fracture in the adolescent ruler's left leg that he sustained days before his death, possibly the result of a fall. The EMP's recent investigation isolated the DNA of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum (the oldest ever discovered) in the pharaoh's mummy. This finding indicates that Tutankhamun most likely died of complications from a broken leg compounded by brain malaria tropica. This most severe form of the illness, transmitted by mosquitoes, was probably common in the humid and marshy Nile River Valley.
Boy-king's Family Identified
Genetic fingerprinting of 11 royal mummies (three of their identities already known) allowed Egyptian, German and Italian researchers to construct a five-generation ancestry of Tutankhamun. The remains' shared unique physical features and common blood groups enabled the scientists to definitively identify the mummy of Queen Tiye, the mother of Akhenaten. His mummy is also thought to have been identified. A third anonymous corpse, Akhenaten's sister, is likely that of Tutankhamun's mother. Two stillborn female fetuses found in the boy-king's tomb in the Valley of the Kings are his children.
The artistic style of the Amarna period in which Akhenaten and Tutankhamun lived was characterized by representations of royal men with female attributes, namely pronounced breasts, elongated heads and wide hips. This gave rise to modern speculation that they suffered from a variety of rare disorders, among them Marfan's Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that results in attenuated limbs. The study disproved this theory.
Findings Presented
King Tut Unwrapped, a two-part television program on the Discovery Channel on Sunday, February 21 and Monday, February 22, 2010 at 8:00 P.M. (ET/PT), presents the Egyptian Mummy Project's latest findings.
The traveling special exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York (April 23, 2010-January 2, 2011) will feature a new gallery that describes how recent DNA testing provided information about the ruler's cause of death and family history.
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