ct-scan

We are just learning fresh news about research on King Tut's mummy, in advance of tomorrow's publication in the American Medical Journal of the results of the most recent DNA and other tests. Over the years, there have been many different theories, but now we can scientifically prove what killed the Boy King, his parentage, and other health conditions affecting him at the time of his death.

Early Research

KV62 - Tut's tomb - was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Multiple attempts at proving kinship between various royal mummies have been made since then, including tests by  Connolly (1976), Flaherty (1984) and Harrison (1969).  In the case of Tutankhamun and Smenkhare, these tests have included estimates of both mummies' blood groups in order to compare them.

Both mummies share the same rare blood type (group A2, and both with the serum antigen MN), suggesting close consanguinity.

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.

Ahead of tomorrow's press conference on King Tut's DNA and relatives, some of the news already escaped. Pharoah Tutankhamun died of complications from a broken leg aggravated by malaria. And his family? 'Most likely' (still) Akhenaten is the daddy, with one of Akhenaten's sisters being Tutankhamun's mum (and thus also his aunt!).

The article - to be published tomorrow in the Journal of the American Medical Association alongside the press conference - contains results of over two years of research in two different dedicated 'mummy labs'.

Tutankhamun, or King Tut as he's affectionately known, was the boy king who ruled Egypt during the New Kingdom's 18th dynasty, from 1333 to 1324 BC. In life he wasn't the most important or memorable of Egypt's pharoahs, but in death he's become the one pharoah everyone's heard of.

When recently the mummy formerly known as 'Lady Hor' underwent a scan, researchers were surprised to find that it should have been 'Sir Hor' from the start. Yet, this case of 'gender confusion' is not a unique one. The same happened to 'The Daughter of Amunkhau' - actually a son - from the Birmingham Museum Collection and according to curator Edward Bleiberg on the Brooklyn Museum's blog, no less than three of the five male mummies from that museum - including Lady Hor - that were CT-scanned in the last eighteen months were at one time thought to be women. How could such mistakes in identification of the mummies be made? Curator Edward Bleiberg blames 'bad grammar, bad x-rays, and bad judgment':

Not even a month after 4 brave mummies left the Brooklyn Museum to have themselves scanned, and 'Lady Hor' proved to be a male mummy - "scrotum and penis pretty well preserved", another round of mummy CSI uncovered yet another case of 'transgender' behaviour amongst mummies. The Birmingham Museum took three mummies to the Stafford Hospital in a bid to understand how these ancient Egyptians, whose bodied were later mummified, died.

Last week the Brooklyn Museum took four of their ancient Egyptian mummies to the North Shore University Hospital in Long Island, as they were in dying need of a CT-scan. Pure Archaeology 2.0, not only because of the use of modern technology, but because the museum staff used 'the web 2.0' to document their trip and the scanning of the mummies as it was happening on Twitter - #mummyCT - and Flickr. Over at pyramidofman.com there's an elaborate report on the mummies' journey, but here are some of the highlights of this episode of CSI: Mummy:

Mummy 'Lady Hor' is in fact a man

Tweet by the Brooklyn Museum: