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What Killed King Tut?

By: Aubrey Moulton

King Tutankhamun widely known as the "boy king" has been a mystery since the discovery of his mummy in 1922. He is the most legendary Egyptian pharaoh although he was a young man when he perished. The 3300-year-old mummy was the recent focus of DNA testing and CT scans and it was {proved that he died of infections from a broken leg that were made worse by malaria. And it appears the pharaoh’s parents were probably brother and sister.

The tomb was initially found in 1922 and since this time myriad legends have enchanted the nations. In the tomb were cherished jewels, relics, and a gold funeral mask. The tomb was phenomenal because it was packed with sumptuous museum pieces that are extremely rare and gave Egyptologists a glimpse into the past because grave robbers had not located it first.

Tutankhamun became the pharaoh when he was merely nine years of age. And it has long been estimated that he died at the age of 19. Specialists were able to work out that Tut had a cleft palate and a club foot. And previously, experts had believed that he was murdered because of a hole in his skull but tests have exposed that to be erroneous. The hole was possibly a result of the process to mumify this boy king.
The findings on King Tut will be available in the Journal of the American Medical Association. These conclusions establish a family grouping that is very close. The collection of data indicates that Pharaoh Akhenaten, who tried to change Egypt from believing in many gods (polytheism) to one god (monotheism) was none other than King Tut's father. The tests also determine that his mother was Akhenaten's sister.

Scans also demonstrated that he had a leg fracture and malaria was found within the mummy. Therefore when Tut fractured his leg specialists judge that it became a fatal condition because of the malaria disease. The article says that "Tutankhamun had multiple disorders...He may be viewed as a youthful and infirm ruler who needed canes to get around." And this appears plausible as a great variety of walking sticks were found in his tomb.

It is suggested the boy king died at such a young age as a result of of the genetic disorders he dealt with in life. Since his parents were so closely related, he was prone to various genetic problems. However Tut wasn't the sole child throughout that point whose parents were brother and sister. Members of the 18th dynasty were closely related therefore these genetic problems were passed on and many became even worse as more generations married members of their immediate gene pool. Tut, just like his father, had a cleft palate and, akin to his grandfather Amenhotep III, a club foot and Kohler's disease. In Egypt brother-sister nuptials were rampant amongst the pharaohs.

Even though DNA testing has been performed on a range of mummies, the tests didn’t follow scientific research standards and weren't revealed in peer reviewed journals. And a second independent lab didn’t substantiate the data. But currently the Supreme Council of Antiquities DNA lab has been founded at Cairo University. Previously, DNA tests were performed but they weren’t ratified because it would have been necessary to take the mummies and relics out of the country for them to be properly tested, and Egyptian leaders wouldn't agree to it.

Article Source: http://www.gambling-articles.org

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