X-Rays of Tutankhamun

Egytpian Gazette

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A look at the results of X-Rays of the mummified body of Tutankhamun.

How can you look into a mummy without unwrapping the linen (a risky operation that could lead to ruining the contents forever)? Use X-rays. X-ray technology allows specialists to estimate the age of the mummy, whether it suffered from any diseases or had an accident, and establish cause of death.

However, before the discovery of X-rays in 1895, most early examinations of Egyptian mummies resulted in damaging the bodies. Only one year later, the new technology was developed as a non-destructive means of studying mummies and tested on a group of mummies in Frankfurt, Germany. The technique was to become a common and useful tool for Egyptologists.The first analysis of a royal mummy was in 1903, when the body of Thutmose IV was examined in a private nursing facility, which housed the only X-ray machine in Cairo. By the 1920s, X-rays had become the standard means of locating amulets contained within the mummy wrappings, in addition to identifying diseases from which the deceased had suffered. The mummy of Tutankhamun, discovered in 1922 by British explorer Howard Carter, is no stranger to X-rays.