News: King Tut

A CT scan of Tutankhamen’s mummy was carried out in the Valley of the Kings by an all- Egyptian team led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, using a portable CT-scanner provided by the National Geographic Society and Siemens AG. The fragile body of the Pharaoh has lain undisturbed since it was last examined by Howard Carter in 1926, except for X-rays in 1978 and 1988. The CT-scan definitively disproved the popular theory that King Tut had been murdered by a blow to the head.

Khaled El-Said of Biomedical Modeling Inc led one of the three teams asked to reconstruct King Tut’s face. While the other teams used traditional methods of clay sculpture and silicone casting, our team generated digital reconstructions directly from the 1,700 CT images. After separating bone and dry skin structures in the CT scan, computer-generated 3D reconstructions were made of Tutankhamen’s skull.

The Pharaoh was classified as Caucasoid using forensic anthropology techniques, including craniometry. Skeletal and dentition development suggested he was 17-18 years old. Tissue depth markers were placed on the 3D skull to provide guidance for virtual reconstruction of his face. These facial reconstructions were made possible with the help of the Graphic Arts Unit of the Boston Police Department.

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The guardian

Al-Ahram weekly

Press Release

International Herald Tribune

Seattle Times