Source: D4K: “Archaeology"
Visit the D4K companion Web site to learn more about Archaeology: D4K: “Archaeology"
This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K shows how scientists used a CT scan of the actual mummy remains to find some evidence of how King Tut might have died when he was only 20. You can see a compound fracture in the young King's leg which might have led to a deadly infection.
Download and Share[JOAN CARTAN-HANSEN] Scientists recently re-examined King Tut's remains to try and solve a great mystery. How did such a young man die?
[CURATOR] Thanks to the National Geographic CT scans they actually were able to get a 3-dimensional picture of the mummy of Tutankhamen which is the only evidence that we have about the king himself. There is one break that definitely stands out and that is a break in the thigh bone in the leg. So this would have been - according to the forensic scientists would have been a very severe compound fracture that probably might have poked through the skin And ultimately resulted in a blood infection that would have killed Tutankhamen because of course he lived in ancient Egypt and they didn't have antibiotics.
[JOAN] But even that theory is still just a guess. There is a lot scientists don't know about King Tutankhamen and life in ancient Egypt. They study the artifacts left behind to learn as much as they can but much of it will always be unknown.
[CURATOR] We have this time period that we really actually don't know much about except for the clues given to us by Tutankhamen tomb. And so there's all this mystery surrounding him. We have his stuff but we don't really know much about the pharaoh himself.
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