A team of researchers conducting a "virtual autopsy" of King Tut says evidence suggests the Egyptian pharaoh had buck teeth, a club foot, and a girlish figure.
The research will be featured in a BBC One documentary “Tutankhamun: The Truth Uncovered,” set to air on Sunday. Scientists used more than 2,000 computer scans of King Tut’s mummified body to create a full-size, scientifically accurate image of the king.
The research casts doubt on the theory that the young king, who is thought to have died at age 19, died in a chariot crash.
"The evaluation of the CT scans clearly points out that it is highly unlikely that he was riding a chariot due to his foot disease and his general bad health,"
said Dr. Albert Zink of the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Bolzano, Italy, The Huffington Post reported.
The evidence also supports previous research that suggested King Tut's mother and father were siblings. The inbreeding and genetics could have been responsible for physical impairments, like the club foot, triggered by hormonal imbalances and
may have contributed to his death, the Daily Mail reported.
“A lot of his family predecessors lived to a ripe old age. Only his immediate line were dying early, and they were dying earlier each generation,” Hutan Ashrafian, a lecturer in surgery at Imperial College London, said, according to the Daily Mail.
Further genetic research is needed to more fully
understand King Tut’s conditions, Zink told The Independent.
Tutankhamun is believed to have ascended to the throne in 1332BC at the age of 9 or 10 and ruled until his death in 1323 BC.
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