Skip to content
Surprising Science

Tutankhamun Autopsy

We now know how Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun died 3,000 years ago as well as who his parents and grandmother were after scientists conducted a post mortem on his remains.

We now know how Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun died 3,000 years ago as well as who his parents and grandmother were after scientists conducted a post mortem on his remains. “After conducting an extensive analysis of the ancient pharaoh’s DNA, which they gathered from his mummified remains, the researchers concluded that a combination of malaria and bone abnormalities contributed to his premature death at the age of 19 in 1324 BC. Further tests appear to identify other members of the 18th dynasty of the New Kingdom, which ruled between 1550 and 1295 BC and was one of the most powerful royal houses of ancient Egypt. Ten other mummies found near the boy king’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings were tested but only three of them can be safely identified. The researchers believe that Tutankhamun’s father was the pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled Egypt for 17 years alongside his queen, Nefertiti. Tutankhamun’s mother can only be named as KV35YL, the name of the tomb in which her mummified remains were found. The final identified mummy is believed to be Tiye, Akhenaten’s mother and Tutankhamun’s grandmother.”


Related

Up Next
While it’s not quite Norman Mailer on Liston v. Patterson, Gawker’s analysis of New Republic editor Leon Wieseltier’s recent exchange with Andrew Sullivan makes for brilliant reading, a smart companion to the […]