Tut’s face revealed to public for first time

By Anna Johnson

updated 2:54 p.m. ET Nov. 4, 2007

LUXOR, Egypt - The face of King Tut was unshrouded in public for the first time on Sunday — 85 years after the 3,000-year-old boy pharaoh's golden enshrined tomb and mummy were discovered in Luxor's famed Valley of the Kings.

Archaeologists removed the mummy from his stone sarcophagus in his underground tomb, momentarily pulling aside a white linen covering to reveal a shriveled leathery black face and body. The mummy of the 19-year-old pharaoh, whose life and death has captivated people for nearly a century, was placed in a climate-controlled glass box in the tomb, with only the face and feet showing under the linen covering.

"The golden boy has magic and mystery, and therefore every person all over the world will see what Egypt is doing to preserve the golden boy, and all of them I am sure will come to see the golden boy," said Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass.

Hawass said scientists began restoring King Tut's badly damaged mummy more than two years ago. Much of the mummy's body is broken into 18 pieces — damage sustained when British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the mummy, took it from his tomb and tried to pull off his famous golden mask, Hawass said.

But Hawass said he fears a more recent phenomenon — mass tourism — is further deteriorating Tut's mummy. Thousands of tourists visit the underground chamber every month.

"The humidity and heat caused by ... people entering the tomb and their breathing will change the mummy to a powder. The only good thing (left) in this mummy is the face. We need to preserve the face," said Hawass, who wore his signature Indiana Jones-style tan hat.

Ben Curtis / AP Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass, center, supervises the removal of the linen-wrapped mummy of King Tut from his stone sarcophagus in his underground tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings in Luxor on Sunday.

The mystery surrounding King Tutankhamun and his glittering gold tomb has entranced ancient Egypt fans since Carter first discovered the hidden tomb on Nov. 4, 1922, revealing a trove of fabulous gold and precious stone treasures.

Archaeologists in recent years have tried to resolve lingering questions over how he died and his precise royal lineage. Several books and documentaries dedicated to the young pharaoh, who is believed to have been the 12th ruler of ancient Egypt's 18th dynasty and ascended to the throne around the age of 8, are popular around the world.

In an effort to try to solve the mysteries, scientists removed Tut's mummy from his tomb and placed it into a portable CT scanner for 15 minutes in 2005 to obtain a three-dimensional image. The scans were the first done on an Egyptian mummy.

The results did rule out that Tut was violently murdered — but stopped short of definitively concluding how he died around 1323 B.C. Experts for the time though suggested that days before dying, Tut badly broke his left thigh, apparently in an accident, that may have caused a fatal infection.

The CT scan also provided the most revealing insight yet into the life of ancient Egypt's most famous king. He was well-fed, healthy, yet slightly built, standing at 5-foot-6 (168 centimeters) at the time of his death. The scan also showed he had the typical overbite characteristic of other kings from his family, large incisor teeth and slightly misaligned lower teeth.

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