King Tut Unwrapped - Tutankhamun Mummy Forensics to Air on Discovery Channel
When I wrote that it was most likely we'd see more conlusive information on King Tut's pedigree on TV first, I obviously was wrong, partly. Spoiler alert: yes, King Tut died at age 19 of (in order) a failing immune system, a leg fracture and malaria, but for the the fine details, and juicy imagery, you'll need to tune in to Discovery Channel's 'King Tut Unwrapped'. The network - which sponsored Egypt's 'mummy lab' - promises us an unprecedented forensic investigation into the life and times of King Tut that reveals the identity of Tut's parents and grandparents, details on his cause of death and new details of his reign. Here are some more reasons to definitely watch the show.
"The life and death of King Tut continues to hold a special power and mystery for people all over the world," said Clark Bunting, president and general manager, Discovery Channel. I would never dare disagree, and like to add that his afterlife seems to be working out pretty well! ;)
King Tut's family tree
The road to understanding the Tut tree (18th Dynasty) begins with filling out his parents' branches. Based on historical records and previous digs, Dr. Hawass determined King Tut's father could be one of three great Egyptian pharaohs: the successful and popular second ninth king of the 18th Dynasty Amenhotep III; the radical and controversial Akhenaton aka 'The Heretic King', who moved Egypt into the age of monotheism, or the little-known Smenkhare who reigned just prior to Tutankhamun's rule.
When Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered King Tut's tomb, who could have forseen that almost a century later KV62 would be the site for the cutting edge of forensic Egyptology? To effectively solve the mystery of Tut's parentage, the team needs to test Tut's DNA and compare this to his possible family members. Carefully, to avoid contamination, some bone marrow is extracted from the mummified leg. This first-ever DNA extraction from Tut's mummy sets into motion a series of cross-reference studies to identify the Boy King's family.
Specimens now abound for testing, but the expert team assembled at Discovery Channel's DNA lab at the Cairo Museum faces challenge upon challenge in connecting the forensic dots. In order to test the ancient DNA, Dr. Carsten M. Pusch and Professor Albert Zink work with Dr. Yehia Zakaria Gad of the Department of Medical Molecular Genetics at Cairo's National Research Center to perform, for the first time, microsatellite-based DNA-fingerprinting on familial Egyptian mummies.
There is triumph in the lab but that is only the start of the Tut family odyssey. With successful DNA sequencing of Tut's father (Akhenaten, for those not following the news), Hawass is able to pursue leads that will eventually point to confirming the mummy of King Tut's mother as well as identifying his great-grandparents Yuya and Thuya.
Tutankhamun died of...
Part two of 'King Tut Unwrapped' uses never-before-examined evidence from Tut's mummy to conclude what caused his death and how that information sheds new light on his reign as a military, religious and political leader. Results from the DNA research and CT-scans reveal that the young pharoah suffered from various maladies and diseases, a combination of which eventually caused his demise.
Of course, no Ancient Egypt documentary would be complete without Egyptology superstar Dr. Zahi Hawass playing a leading role. From the pristine interiors and precision work of the DNA lab to dusty, unpredictable dig sites in the field, Dr. Hawass takes the viewer on an intense, deeply personal journey for the truth.
"Discovery is honoured once again to work with Dr. Zahi Hawass. Dr. Hawass' trailblazing leadership has successfully fused traditional, methodical archeology with cutting-edge, advanced forensics. This is a new chapter in Egyptology firmly establishing Cairo as a center for innovation and scholarship," said Clark Bunting. I wonder, did the Curse of the Mummy affect the high-tech equipment again? ;)
'King Tut Unwrapped' premières Sunday, February 21 at 8pm ET in the US. Part two is on Monday, February 22 at 8pm ET. For your 'local air dates', check out our publication entry, or Discovery.com. For the UK, that's March 3th & 4th 2010.
Read 14 comments, or leave your own
Latest
Myrtis the 2,500 Year Old Athenian Girl Finds a New Home- Ask Questions to a Museum Curator Today on Twitter
- Oldest house in Ontario discovered at 4,500 year old settlement near Lake Huron, Canada
- Aerial Photography of Drought-hit Britain Uncovers Hidden Archaeological Sites
Roman Lantern Discovery by Metal Detectorist Sheds Light on Suffolk's Ancient History- 'No ceremonial burial for the Iceman', respond Otzi researchers
- Fiery Pool: The Maya, the Mythic Sea and the Turtle
- Stonehenge Acoustics: England's First Ministry of Sound?
- Read latest articles, blogs & reviews
latest hkvideos
videosFocus on
King Tut –
Stonehenge
Terracotta Warriors
Pyramids –
Archaeology
Britain –
China –
Egypt
Greece –
Rome
Most Popular
- 'Huge' structure discovered near Snefru's Bent Pyramid in Egypt may be an ancient harbour
- Chinese president Hu Jintao may kick-off Terracotta Warriors show in Toronto
- Aerial Photography of Drought-hit Britain Uncovers Hidden Archaeological Sites
- 'No ceremonial burial for the Iceman', respond Otzi researchers
Heritage Key Words
ancient london, british museum, roman, art, zahi hawass, london, ancient egypt, religion, valley of the kings, video
Latest Comments
thankzz for this post. .
http://www.townsrealty.com
Yes, And God help us....How will we feed them... and who will love them?
To me,this is the most incredible story since man began to write,to quote the 1976 shick sun classic movie "In Search Of Noahs Ark".There two sites said to be the…
Is the letter that contains "You can imagine that we all had very little hope that this wonderful piece... etc." dated?
I think it's a bit unfortunate if people dismiss Hawass because he displays a character. I think passion, competance and qualification is a good merriage and take comfort in that.
Next major 'ancient' exhibition in London:
Journey Through the Afterlife: The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead
at the British Museum
November 2010 - March 2011
(lean more)
Comments
Good article, but two minor quibbles:
Amunhotep III was the ninth, not the second, pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. Their dynasty was at least 150 years old by Tut's day--which could also account for some of the genetic disorders built up over generations of consanguinous (brother-sister) marriages.
Yuya and Thuya would be Tut's great-grandparents, because they were Akhenaton's grandparents. Some of their treasures are on display in the TUTANKHAMUN AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE PHARAOHS exhibit, currently touring in Toronto, Canada.
What will be really interesting to see is if any of the current research will solve the hotly debated mystery of the skeletal remains found in KV 55 almost two decades before Tut's tomb was discovered. Egyptologists get pretty riled up sometimes over the gender and identity of the remains found there, which have been alternately identified as Akhenaton, Queen Tiya or Smenkhkare. Blood group tests done in the 20th century suggested a family relationship with Tut, but maybe modern forensics can solve that debacle once and for all. But remember, fresh mysteries and fresh debates are never more than a shovel's reach away in Egypt!
Corrected, dear King Tut fan. I'm sorry, I was so overwhelmed by the mass of information that I might have worked a bit to quickly. Thanks for the info on Yuya and Thuya artefacts in the Toronto exhibition. One of our Heritage Key writers has been there, I'll ask him if he can highlight some of the objects for us.
As KV35EL is identified as Queen Tiya, and the report says this is without any doubt. (So no 'likely' needs to be added there.) That leaves only Smenkhare and Akhenaton. At the moment, the odds are in favour of Akhenaton? ;)
Hi, thank you for your comment. I just got off the phone with the AGO, they said that they don't have any artefacts from Tut's great-grandparents - Yuya and Thuya. They do have artefacts from his probable father (Akhenaten) and his grandparents (I recall seeing at least one piece from Amenhotep III's reign while I was there).
Stay tune as I'm writing a piece on Yuya and Thuya, which I hope to have up before the weekend.
Unfortunately, the identification of the younger female mummy as King Tut's mother is flawed. Once they find that the two female mummies and Tut share the same mitochondrial DNA, the establish that the older mummy is the daughter of Yuya and Tuya. Hence she is probably correctly identified as Tiye. From that point on, they forget about any further testing on Tiye's mummy: after all...she is his grandmother on her father's side. All further testing is done on the younger mummy, which they discover is closely related to Tut, and therefore must be his mother.
Why didn't they do the same test on Tiye's mummy as they did on the younger mummy? It could have ruled out the possibility of her being Tut's mother as well as his grandmother! So no proof exists that Tiye isn't Tut's mother, because the testers fell into the trap of their own bias that a son would never have sex with his own mother! This just fuels the fire of the people out there who believe for instance that the legend of Oedipus is actually the tale of Akhenaten.
It also shows Zahi Hawass's penchant for making unsubstantiated claims about Tut. Most memorable was that because his knee and a nasty wound, he must have been killed as the result of falling out of a chariot. How long was that quoted as Tut's cause of death!?
Hi Dan, with STR analysis, rather than the mitochondrial DNA, they've excluded the possibility of King Tut being the son of Tiye, and shown that KV55 and KV35YL are the parents of Tutankhamun, and KV35EL and Amenhotep III are the parents of KV55 and KV35YL. What can be debated though, is if KV55 is Akhenaton - not any mention of the 'Smenkhare' possibility, as far as I know (except the age testing on the mummy seems to disprove that, if Smenkhare existed at all?).
The paper suggests Nebetiah and Beketaten as most likely candidates for KV35YL (both daughters of Amenhotep III). Nefertiti and Kiya aren't known to be Amenhotep III's daughters, so are less likely to be KV35YL, unless they were 'The King's Daughters' but never referenced that way.
"with STR analysis, rather than the mitochondrial DNA, they've excluded the possibility of King Tut being the son of Tiye, and shown that KV55 and KV35YL are the parents of Tutankhamun, and KV35EL and Amenhotep III are the parents of KV55 and KV35YL."
The study has shown that brothers have married full-blood sisters in successive generations. The earlier DNA study by Scott Woodward (which seems to have been largely overlooked) had similar findings. In this royal family which is massively inbred, the distribution of alleles is likely much smaller than in the general population.so matching a number of alleles which may be sufficient normally to "prove" such statements may be insufficient in this case to prove a particular relationship. Quite what statistical level of confidence it is possible to place in the relationships given the extreme levels of consanguinuity stated remains, for me at least, an open question and until that maths is done I am reluctant to regard anything as "proven".
EP1790222 This is No of my patent on mummification published by European Patent Office on 2007 and used by HAWAS to unlock DNA without my permit , I have 2 Human mummies and more than 100 animal mummies – Yahya BEDIR
Hi Yahya, if you say this once, it's enough (deleting your other comments). It would also be nice NOT TO SHOUT. We can't really help you here. If you truly feel your rights were infringenged, your only option is taking this up with the associated organisations. (But if you feel better after a bit of venting, we're glad we could help.)
I've notice that Zahi Hawass has issues which makes me wonder how he got the job. One of his many issues is the "inbreeding of the Egyptian Pharaohs" so until he leaves the present position he's in, the world will only get his watered down version of reality.
Sophie, do you mean he denies it or mentions it to often? It is a fact that can hardly be disputed, and as far as I know, he does not either?
Dear ANN it not matter of shouting .. yes I will go to legal organizations and the same time I will go to media .. people must know fact of MR Hawas ..easy for every body to open web of European Patent Office and check from no of patent the real story and show world how Hawas has punched all ethical rules
that shit is awsome
"Dr. Hawass takes the viewer on an intense, deeply personal journey for the truth". I think this over sells it somewhat.
Chris
Hawass seems to have corned the whole Egyptology market somehow. There does not seem to be a single documentary about any epoch of Egyptian history that runs for more than 5 or 10 minutes before his gurning face puts in its obligatory appearance. Maybe he's somebody's son or husband or something. I know the idea of nepotism in Egyptian society is a scandalous suggestion, but, well,...
Post new comment