Scientistsfrom Egypt, Germany and elsewhere, including Zahi Hawass of Egypt’sSupreme Council of Antiquities, compiled results from genetic andradiological testing performed on the mummi
es between 2007 and 2009.The results clarify details about the 155-year-long 18th Dynasty thatincluded Tutankhamen, who inherited the throne at age 11 Tutwas afflicted with a cleft palate, mild clubfoot in his left foot andother bone ailments. He and some family members had a form of Kohlerdisease, which can cause foot bones to collapse from lack of blood butwould not have been fatal. KingTutankhamen, the teen-aged pharaoh whose Egyptian tomb yielded dazzlingtreasures, limped around on tender bones and a club foot and probablydied from malaria, researchers said on Tuesday. Therehas been speculation about the fate of the boy king, who died sometimearound 1324 BC probably at age 19, since the 1922 discovery of hisintact tomb in Egypt’s Valley of Kings.Testsperformed on 16 royal mummies found four, including Tut, had contracteda severe form of malaria that likely cut short Tut’s reign — rulingout murder or some other sickness.
Thescientists speculated Tut was weakened by a broken leg possibly from afall. That and a malaria infection led to his death, they believe. “Tutankhamenhad multiple disorders, and some of them might have reached thecumulative character of an inflammatory, immune-suppressive — and thusweakening — syndrome. He might be envisioned as a young but frail kingwho needed canes to walk,” Hawass wrote in the Journal of the AmericanMedical Association.
Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61F50020100217