I’ve seen Tutankhamun’s ‘cursed’ body – what I noticed could blow apart everything we think we know about the Boy King
EGYPTOLOGISTS have been left baffled by a number of very unusual discoveries inside Tutankhamun’s tomb 101 years after it was first opened.
The former King of Egypt’s life has been surrounded by unanswered questions for the past century.
From whether he had any disabilities to whether he was really even a man, people are still arguing over Tutankhamun more than 3,300 years after he died.
Sofia Aziz is a biomedical Egyptologist who has been face-to-face with Tutankhamun’s mummy before.
She’s spent years researching the famous king’s body and trying to answer some of the biggest unanswered questions in the world.
In the years prior to his death, the famous Pharaoh is believed to have limped with a crippling foot condition known as club foot that left him severely disabled.
But Sofia isn’t so sure.
She told The Sun: “What I found through my research is that his disabilities have been exaggerated a lot and I’m not 100 per cent convinced that he did have foot disabilities.”
The expert on all things mummification thinks that simply looking at CT scans of his body can make people think he had bad leg issues but this doesn’t tell the whole story.
She voiced some concerns, saying: “The way that he was bandaged up was a little worrying as we found that his apparent club foot was actually more of a result of tight bandaging.
“Back 1925, his first autopsy was a very aggressive autopsy. I mean they did all kinds of things to his body.
“They put him out in the heat to try and melt the resin and then they put these hot knives on him and they literally marked him.”
After this first look at Tutankhamun, he wasn’t studied again until 1968.
By this point, others had secretly found him and according to Sofia, his body had been messed with and led to even more damage.
Then to make matters even worse, by 2005 his bandages had fallen off and became exposed to the elements.
The super fan of ancient Egypt said she felt “sceptical” over the claims and blamed the treatment of his handlers instead.
She continued: “There’s no evidence that he was limping on one side and there’s no evidence of arthritis on his foot, which we’d expect from somebody with club foot.
“I personally think that if he did have a club foot, it would have been extremely mild. But that’s not what they’re saying.
“If you look at the actual papers written about him published in 2009, they’re saying he had an extreme club foot that I can’t agree with.”
Although Sofia does admit that he definitely had some sort of disability.
After checking his scans and seeing Tutankhamun’s body she declared: “I think if he did have a disability, it was more centred around his speech.
“He had quite an extreme overbite and a cleft palate on the roof of his mouth so he would’ve definitely spoken with a lisp, if nothing else
“It’s a shame there’s not been more of a focus on it as we do have actual proper proof of it, rather than the club foot.”
Experts are also arguing over whether the mummy we found was really Tutankhamun.
Chris Naunton, an Egyptologist, presented his evidence that King Tut was actually buried in a woman’s tomb due to how it was laid out.
Almost all of the legendary pharaoh’s tombs had entrances that first took you left inside as this was a symbol of masculinity.
Only the tomb of Hatshepsut, a female Pharaoh, has a right-hand turn at the entrance.
But Tutankhamun’s burial ground in the Valley of Kings also has a sharp right turn going in.
During the Smithsonian Channel’s documentary, Secrets: Tut’s Tomb, Naunton noted the ruler’s tomb was unique.
He asked: “Should we be expecting not the burial of a male king, Tutankhamun, here but a female pharaoh instead?”
The rest of the tomb, filled with precious gifts and famous artefacts, also had some more feminine clues.
The iconic death mask that almost everyone knows as being Tuts also has a rather suspicious design.
Experts have argued that the golden mask was originally made for an Egyptian woman and that’s why it looks fit for a queen.
British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves has also previously argued that the boy king was buried in someone else’s grave.
He uses the feminine-looking statues, including some with breasts, as evidence of this.
The renowned archaeologists think a lot of the goods in the burial chamber were originally made for Egyptian Queen Nefertiti meaning the scary “Tutankhamun curse” might actually be Nefertiti’s instead.
Some believe the Egyptian Queen is buried in a separate chamber behind one of the walls surrounding Tut.
While many of the finds are still utter mysteries, there are clear signs of Tut being a man.
The biggest comes from the fact that among the 5,000 artefacts found alongside his mummy were the remains of two mummified baby girl fetuses.
The king reportedly had the pair both stillborn with his wife Ankhesenamun before his death and was given them to be buried with.
He was also rumoured to have been buried with a model erect penis so gods in the afterlife thought he was still able to use his mind despite his body being dead.
Other theories around why Tut might’ve been in the wrong tomb centre around how he died.
He’s thought to have died suddenly at 19 so his funeral might’ve been rushed.
A king would normally have a huge traditional funeral as he gets laid to rest but the rare quick death might’ve scuppered plans.
His death remains one of the greatest mysteries of ancient Egypt and has had scientists scrambling trying to solve the leader’s tragic demise.
People have claimed he died of malaria while others felt he could’ve been killed by an infection or even assassinated.
Sofia Aziz doesn’t know for certain what killed him but does think a few rumours need rubbishing as they’re simply untrue.
The idea of him having malaria seems to be most people’s go-to guess.
Sofia gave her opinion on this theory and said: “If he had an infection it could have killed him but he didn’t need malaria and there’s no way he would have died from malaria alone as a teenage boy.
“He would have built up an immunity so I don’t agree with that explanation.”
The expert Egyptologist does have high hopes going forward and believes we might soon find out more about his death.
This is because King Tut’s previously untouched organs could make a surprise journey from Egyptian authorities to the hands of a forensic team and groups to study.
Sofia said: “I feel there isn’t much left we can learn by studying his mummy itself because I’ve looked at every aspect and I don’t personally think we can find out anything else.
“But what I will say is where are his internal organs? What happened to them?
“We know they’re there because of the canopic jars and possibly they could be studied as if he did have some sort of disease, maybe studying his internal organs would help.”
The organs are rumoured to have never been seen by anyone alive today as they’re apparently kept locked away in Egypt.
Sofia continued: “They’ve never been studied and by studying them we could, if nothing else, eliminate if he did have any diseases and maybe we could get closer to seeing if he had an internal injury that impacted him.
“I think it is going to be done soon. I get a feeling that this is something that might happen.”
The only major concern Sofia has is if the organs were just chucked away by accident.
She explained: “Sometimes the contents is taken and thrown away because museums were only interested in the jars but I just don’t think that they would have thrown away Tutankhamun’s.
“I’d be shocked if they did so they must be somewhere but I don’t know where they are, but they have to be somewhere.”
Today marks 101 years since British archaeologist Howard Carter led a team into Tutankhamun’s iconic resting place.
The whole excavation took ten years to complete and is regarded as one of the most important in history.