‘Cooking’ Tutankhamun?

The results of a virtual autopsy on the mummy of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun have created a brouhaha among Egyptologists, reports Nevine El-Aref

When British explorer Howard Carter stumbled upon the magnificent treasures of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings at Luxor, the world agreed that this was one of the most splendid archaeological discoveries ever found.

Over time, however, the find produced more than just lustrous treasures, since it also provided evidence of Tutankhamun’s life, death and royal lineage. In 2005, some of the mysteries that this evidence raised were solved when the Pharaoh’s mummy was subjected to an intense check-up, comprehensive forensic analysis, and CT-scan.

Using 1,700 high-resolution CT-scan images, an Egyptian scientific team concluded that Tutankhamun had died of natural causes at the age of 19 and had not been killed by a blow to the back of his head as had been traditionally believed. They discovered no indication of violence, discounting theories that he had received such a blow.

Instead, the team theorised that the open fracture at the back of the mummy’s head was most likely used as a second route through which embalming liquid was introduced to the lower cranial cavity and neck via the back of the upper neck. At the same time, they noted a fracture above the left knee that may have occurred a day or two before the Pharaoh’s death, suggesting that this could have become fatally infected.

Researchers vow to prove human remains found in Turkey ARE those of Egyptian queen Cleopatra's murdered sister

By DAMIEN GAYLE


An archaeologist who claimed to have found the bones of Cleopatra's murdered half-sister says they are pinning their hopes on new forensic techniques to conclusively identify the remains.

It was claimed that the remains of Princess Arsinöe IV, who was murdered more than 2,000 years ago on the orders of Egypt's queen Cleopatra, were the first relics of the Ptolemaic dynasty to be identified.

But rival experts have since said the evidence linking the bones to the princess is largely circumstantial, and even the researcher who found them admits they have been handled too many times to get a reliable DNA test result.

Nevertheless, Dr Hilke Thuer, from the Austrian Academy of Science, who made the discovery, remains convinced that they belonged to the Classical-era Egyptian royal.

Princess Arsinoe's purported remains were found in a tomb in Ephesus, a large and important ancient Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor, in what is now modern-day western Turkey.

She was Cleopatra's younger sister or half-sister. It is believed both were fathered by Ptolemy XII Auletes, but whether they shared a mother is unclear.

Still, however closely they were related by blood, there was no love lost between Arsinoe and her powerful sister.