Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues (Summary)

King Tut was a teenager when he died over 3,300 years ago. He was the last heir of a powerful royal dynasty that had ruled Egypt for centuries. His sudden and mysterious death led to endless speculation. Was he murdered? Did he die of a disease?

The tomb of King Tut was discovered in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter. While the discovery of the solid gold coffins was magnificent, Carter's methods were highly unscientific. Because the ritual resins had hardened, sticking Tut's mummy to the bottom of the solid gold coffin, Carter's men had to physically chisel the mummy away, severing the head and breaking major joints, causing massive damage to the body.

To finally solve the mystery of his death without causing further damage, in January 2005, King Tut's mummy became one of the first mummies in the world to undergo a CT (Computed Tomography) scan.

• The project was led by Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.
• The CT machine took 1,700 digital X-ray images, creating a high-resolution 3D virtual body of the young king.
• Despite a minor glitch (a cooling fan in the scanner broke due to sand), the scan was highly successful. It proved that despite Carter's damage, the mummy's basic structure was intact, easing Hawass's worries.