Egyptian authorities using modern medical technology to further investigate King Tut’s family and health have announced the results that the world has been so eager to hear. Their objectives were to use innovative approaches to the new fields of molecular and medical Egyptology, in the attempt to determine the relationships between the royal mummies housed at the Egyptian Museum at Cairo. The research team were interested in looking for evidence of King Tut’s suspected murder, consanguinity, inherited disorders that could account for his supposedly feminised appearance, and any signs of infectious diseases.
The sad truths that were discovered are that he was a very sickly young man who died of ‘malaria tropica’, the most virulent type of malaria. Plus he suffered from a serious bone disorder, avascular bone necrosis, which had led to fractured bones in his feet. He walked with difficulty, using canes, and was buried with a number of canes for provision in the afterlife. It appears that his thighbone had been broken the day before he died, perhaps in a fall, which lays to rest the theory that the bones were broken by the archaeologist who discovered them in the 1920s. It also rules out the regicide suspected for over 3000 years, exonerating the High Priest thought responsible.
The findings surprise scientists for a number of reasons, one of which is that it is the first time any evidence of malaria has been found in ancient Egypt. It could be the earliest scientifically recorded genetic evidence of the disease in the world. The physical attributes of the Valley of the Kings would have been attractive to the mosquitoes that carry the disease, with the heat, water and marshy areas. Egyptologists pointed out that there had been no reference to malaria in any of the ancient pharmacopeia containing the accumulated treatments for the diseases and conditions known in the area.
DNA testing on Egyptian mummies by foreign experts was long forbidden, and only recently have the authorities allowed such projects to go ahead. The genetic “fingerprinting” they carried out allowed the researchers to construct a five-generation family tree of Tut’s immediate lineage, with the mummy known until now only as ‘KV55’ identified as Akhnaton, Tut’s father, and ‘KV35’ as King Tut’s grandfather, the pharaoh Amenhotep III. The two foetuses buried with Tut were shown to be his daughters with his chief queen, whose mummy was also identified with the DNA technique. This confirmation of the family identity of all these personages is a very exciting achievement for Egyptologists and other historians who study the era.
Another finding from the DNA analysis was that Tut’s parents were full brother and sister. Inbreeding has long been known to weaken the immune system but it was not considered an unusual practice at the time. An accumulation of malformations in his family was evident, but none of the diseases scientists have over the years speculated that he may have been suffering from. They were able to definitely rule out gynecomastia, craniosynostoses (Antley-Bixler syndrome), and Marfan syndrome. Several pathologies, including Kohler Disease, were discovered. Studies of the detailed evidence will now continue. The Supreme Council of Antiquities Cairo Secretary-General, Dr Zahi Hawass, announced the findings on 17 February 2010 and they were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 303 Issue Number 7.
Rev the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC