Researchers scan King Tut's mummy in a study of 3,000-year-old mystery
By Antonio Castaneda
Associated Press


LUXOR, Egypt - A team of researchers briefly removed King Tut's mummy from its tomb Wednesday and laid bare his bones for a CT scan that could solve an enduring mystery: Was it murder or natural causes that killed Egypt's boy pharaoh 3,000 years ago?

Tut's toes and fingers and an eerie outline of his face could be seen as the mummy, resting in a box to protect it, was placed inside the machine in a specially equipped van parked near his underground tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings.

The 1,700 images taken during the 15-minute computerized tomography scan could answer many of the mysteries that shroud King Tutankhamun's life and death -- including his royal lineage, his exact age at the time of his death -- now estimated at 17 -- and the reason he died.

A simpler X-ray done 36 years ago showed bone fragments inside the skull of Tut, said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's chief archaeologist. But that previous test wasn't sophisticated enough to determine if the bone fragments signified a blow to the head.

The CT scan, in contrast, will provide a far more detailed, three-dimensional view of the scattered bones and coverings that make up Tut's mummy.

CT imaging has been used for numerous Egyptian mummies in the past, including one of famed Pharaoh Ramses I.

Hawass, part of the 10-member team that conducted Wednesday's tests, said the results of the Tut scan will be announced later this month in Cairo.

``There are so many stories about his death and his age,'' Hawass said. ``Today we will determine what really happened.''

Archaeologists have long wondered if Tut was murdered. Hawass said one factor was that the conditions of his burial in the tomb seemed ``hurried.''

The short life of Tutankhamun has fascinated people since his tomb was discovered in 1922 by a British archaeologist, revealing a trove of fabulous treasures in gold and precious stones.

I have asked myself the same question Neith. How can Hawass be so confident they will finally have an answer on lineage and cause of death? He has made claims like "we will finally know the truth if Tut was murdered or not (paraphrase)". Even if CAT scan results show blunt force trauma to the head, how can they say for certain that he was struck in his sleep by a murderer or fell off his chariot and smacked his head on a rock. The CAT scan is far superior to x-rays and can certainly supply investigators on more to go than simply 40+ year old x-rays but I'm not so sure they will be the final "tell all."

Here is how a cat scan works:

CAT scans take the idea of conventional X-ray imaging to a new level. Instead of finding the outline of bones and organs, a CAT scan machine forms a full three-dimensional computer model of a patient's insides. Doctors can even examine the body one narrow slice at a time to pinpoint specific areas.

Computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT - Computed tomography) scan machines produce X-rays, a powerful form of electromagnetic energy. X-ray photons are basically the same thing as visible light photons, but they have much more energy. This higher energy level allows X-ray beams to pass straight through most of the soft material in the human body.

A conventional X-ray image is basically a shadow: You shine a "light" on one side of the body, and a piece of film on the other side registers the silhouette of the bones.

Shadows give you an incomplete picture of an object's shape. Imagine you are standing in front of a wall, holding a pineapple against your chest with your right hand and a banana out to your side with your left hand. Your friend is looking only at the wall, not at you. If there's a lamp in front of you, your friend will see the outline of you holding the banana, but not the pineapple -- the shadow of your torso blocks the pineapple. If the lamp is to your left, your friend will see the outline of the pineapple, but not the banana.



The same thing happens in a conventional X-ray image. If a larger bone is directly between the X-ray machine and a smaller bone, the larger bone may cover the smaller bone on the film. In order to see the smaller bone, you would have to turn your body or move the X-ray machine.

In order to know that you are holding a pineapple and a banana, your friend would have to see your shadow in both positions and form a complete mental image. This is the basic idea of computer aided tomography. In a CAT scan machine, the X-ray beam moves all around the patient, scanning from hundreds of different angles. The computer takes all this information and puts together a 3-D image of the body.

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I'm always amazed at the Tut murder queries which constantly omit the extraordinary detail that his is the only mummy missing his sternum and completely at that. It seems to me that a blow to the head would be a very minor thing indeed, or even a simple secondary incident to say ... HAVING YOUR HEART RIPPED FROM YOUR CHEST !!!

Can anyone shed some light on either why this is ignored or what it could mean?

Oh, I've heard that about his heart somewhere. That's curious. Really, where is his heart? Didn't the Egyptians used to put the heart back into the body after it was embalmed?

Strangely, the heart was one organ which did not accompany the body in death. The only thing with the heart is that is is supposedly where your sins are stored and the Ibis scribe god (whose name escpes me now) wieghs your sins and feeds it to the crocodiles if you were evil. But nothing of the real heart.

xman, the heart was considered to be the seat of intelligence and emotions. It was not removed from the body, but left in place, usually with a heart-scarab resting over it, that was supposed to contain a spell to prevent the heart from speaking against the deceased. The lungs, stomach, intestines and liver were removed, mummified, and then put in canopic jars or back in the body in later times.

I heard one of the Rameses' had his heart in the wrong place when they found him. If it was removed and then replaced during mummification, this would easily explain its displacement. If it was traditional to wrap the organs in cloth, then theis would explain the cloth inside Tutankhamun himself.

If the CAT scan is that good, can they produce actual images of the heart ... if they can find it?

X

Do you know if it was actually removed or not, becuase there are people with their hearts in the wrong place. My brother's heart is completely flipped over onto the right side of his chest.

I don't know, which is why I ask. I'd like clarrification if we can find it.

X

I've searched through several sites on the 'net, and have not come up with any answer to the question of what happened to Tut's heart.
I'll keep trying to find an answer, though. I have a personal relationship with Zahi Hawass--I will write to him and ask him. As soon as I get an answer, I will post it here...

T4P

I'm not sure if i'm in the correct thread to ask this but i have a question about ramses' son (i believe it was ramses who's son supposedly died from a "holy spirit" in the bible during the plagues of egypt?). I heard that there was also a scan done on the son's remains and it showed blunt force trauma to the head as well. If anyone has any information on this or knows a site with info about it that isn't tainted by religious ferver it would be greatly appreciated