Posted on 03/10/2005 10:53:30 PM PST by nickcarraway
Scan suggests pharaoh was not murdered - but may have been roughly handled by embalmers
Tutankhamun, the world's most charismatic boy king, probably died of natural causes. A sophisticated scan of the mummy, discovered by British archaeologists in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, reveals a badly broken leg but no sign of foul play. In a statement calculated to end decades of feverish speculation about royal intrigue, religious repression, palace revolution and cold-blooded assassination in the ancient Nile kingdom, Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's supreme council of antiquities, told Reuters yesterday: "We don't know how the king died, but we are now sure it was not murder. The case is closed. We should not disturb the king any more."
A statement said: "In answer to theories that Tutankhamun was murdered, the team found no evidence for a blow to the back of the head and no other indication of foul play. They also found it extremely unlikely that he [had] an accident in which he crushed his chest."
Since Tutankhamun's discovery, Egyptologists have argued about his parentage, his birth, his short reign and his early death. His mummified remains, examined by x-rays in 1968, showed a tantalising hint of head injury.
The Egyptian authorities have refused to allow DNA tests and only this year permitted non-invasive scanning by computer axial tomography.
The scan, done by an Egyptian-led international team, interpreted a fracture to the 19-year-old dead king's left thighbone as evidence of a bad break not long before death.
"Although the break itself would not have been life-threatening, infection might have set in," the statement said. But it also added that the damage might have been done by the embalmers who prepared the king for the afterworld, 3,000 years of obscurity and 80 years of global celebrity.
No first-hand account of this pharaoh's reign exists and only a few ruined buildings and damaged inscriptions survived his brief career. He gained the throne aged eight or nine after the death of Akhenaten, the pharaoh who abandoned Egypt's ancient gods and imposed monotheistic worship. Tutankhamun was either his son or half-brother.
Around 1,352BC, Tutankhamun, then king, died. The embalmers drained the brain from his skull, scooped out his inner organs and filled his body with resins. He was consigned to his grave, to be unearthed, along with fabulous treasures of gold and precious stones, after more than three millennia. He became one of the world's most celebrated monarchs, known the world over as King Tut.
Aidan Dodson, an Egyptologist from Bristol, said: "There is a hint there may have been some foreign expeditions by his army. There has been a suggestion that not long before his death he may have participated in one of these. This all comes from fragmentary reliefs from temples which may be figuratively talking about the sorts of thing a pharaoh was supposed to do, or they may actually reflect him doing something."
The scan shows that the young king was slightly built but healthy with no sign of childhood malnutrition or infectious diseases. He had a slight cleft palate, large incisor teeth and the "overbite" characteristic of other kings in his family. His lower teeth were misaligned. His head was elongated and his spine bent, perhaps by the embalmers. There were two bone pieces loose in his skull, but these may have arisen from the mummification or when his corpse was found by the English archaeologist Howard Carter.
Joann Fletcher, an expert on the mummification process, said the claims that King Tut died from a blow were based on a chip of bone. "It's quite clear embalmers weren't always the most careful of people and that the bodies were often put in rather unusual positions to distribute the embalming fluids."
The researchers found no evidence of skulduggery - but the debate could continue.
"I'm sure some will say 'ah, but he could have been poisoned'," conceded Dr Dodson.
Mummy forgotten for 3,300 years
· Tutankhamun ascended the throne as Pharaoh Tutankhaten - "Living Image of Aten". The change to "Living Image of Amun" reflected a return to religious orthodoxy
· The boy pharaoh may have been son of Akhenaten, who began his reign as Amenhotep IV. Tut's mother may have been Nefertiti, or Kiya, another of Akhenaten's wives
· Tut began his reign at Armana - Akhenaten's rule is known as the Armana period - but ended it at Memphis
· As last male in the family, his death ended a royal line. The 18th dynasty gave way to military rulers
· His body was interred in the Valley of the Kings and forgotten for 3,300 years. On Sunday, November 5 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter telegraphed his patron Lord Carnavon: 'At last have made wonderful discovery in valley; a magnificent tomb with seals intact; re-covered same for your arrival; congratulations. Carter'
ping
He bought a condo made of stone-a but he moved to Arizona...
Not to be pedantic or anything, but do you really "drain" a brain, or "scoop out" inner organs? How about "took out" or "remove"?
Was he buried in his Jammies?
There is a limit to what they can show from the burial. The truth is, they don't know. They tried to prove something one way or the other and can't. Go figure. But we still get the definatives anyway. They'll never learn.
Can an MRI detect poisoning? I don't think so.
added to the GGG catalog, but not pinged, because:
King Tut Not Murdered, but Leg Fracture May Have Caused Infection, Tests Show
AP | Mar 8, 2005 | Paul Garwood
Posted on 03/08/2005 5:29:13 AM PST by Pharmboy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1358339/posts
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