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Tuesday, 28th November 2006 (4379 views)

The mystery of King Tutankhamun’s death may have been solved following examination of his ancient tomb.

Egyptian radiologists have conducted advanced computed tomography (CT) of the mummy and believe he may died as a result of an infection from an open wound. The research has also concluded that the removal of a gold mask may have lead to some damage to the mummy's face.

Initial x-rays had suggested that King Tut was killed by a blow to the head because of a number of loose bone fragments in the skill. However, this may have been the result of a previous expedition lead by Howard Carter and its attempts to remove the unique gold mask from the mummy.

Dr Ashraf Selim, a radiologist at Cairo University in Egypt, explained: "We believe that this broken piece from the first vertebra of the king's spine may have been fractured and dislodged when Carter, Derry, Hamdy and their team tried to remove and free the gold mask."

He added that the gold mask had been glued to the body and that attempts to remove it had lead broke a fragile piece of bone in the skull base through which the spinal cord emerges.

 

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