Write your abstract here.November 06, 2007
Tutankhamen''s Face
Revealed For 1st Time in History
He is described
as beautiful and handsome—a face fitting for a prince.
The true face of ancient Egypt''s boy king was
revealed to the public
for the first time in over 3000 years. Young Tutankhamun ruled Egypt
from 1333-1324 BC. The boy was made
pharaoh at the age of nine. He died
at the age of just 19, possibly of a leg wound that became infected.
After recent restoration efforts, Tutankhamen''s body is resting
peacefully again, his body wrapped in strips of white linen. Until now
only a few living archeologists and scientists had seen his actual
face, but this weekend his ancient body was open for a public viewing.
Tutankhamen became famous with the discovery of his tomb and his
many treasures. His world-famous solid gold burial mask weighs 11
kilograms, encrusted with lapis lazuli and other semi-precious stones.
The mummy had to be reconstructed after the body was cut into 18 pieces
by discoverer Howard Carter in 1922 to gain access to amulets and other
jewelery noted Mustafa Wazery, director of the Valley of the Kings.
"What you will see is a beautiful face," Wazery said, "He''s a good-looking boy, with a nice smile…"
A silicone representation of the face of the pharaoh was
reconstructed in 2005 using images collected through CAT scans of his
mummy, which revealed the boy to have a symmetric, handsome features.
Egyptian, Swiss and Italian experts have deduced that Tutankhamen''s
death was caused by an injury to his left leg, which led to rapid
gangrene. Their discovery rejects a previously popular theory that the
king had been killed by a blow to the neck.
When the tomb was discovered, the pharaoh''s embalmed body was
encased in three sarcophagi, one of which was made from solid gold.
Tutankhamen, the 12th pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, reigned for 10
years. Theories that he was assassinated stemmed from the fact that he
was the last ruler of his dynasty. The pharaoh Akhenaton the Heretic
was thought to have fathered the boy king, but his mother is unknown.
The high priest Ay succeeded Tutankhamen for four years - also
marrying his widow Ankhesenpamon - and he was followed by the military
leader Horemheb, who ruled for 26 years until he ceded power to Ramses,
founder of the 19th dynasty.
"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," Egypt''s
antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told reporters before the mummy was moved
from its stone sarcophagus and placed into a new climate-controlled
case inside his tomb in Luxor''s Valley of the Kings.