Tales of the Mummy Trivia Quiz

Answer: The resins used to seal the wrappings.

King Tut was buried in three nested coffins; the coffin which contained the mummy was made of solid gold! During the mummification process when the mummy was being wrapped in linen, resins were used to seal the fabric and keep out mites, or whatever else might infiltrate and damage the body. Over the centuries the resins had become very hard.

In fact, one of Carter's first ideas was to set the body out in the hot, Egyptian sun in an effort to soften the resins. The damage caused by this was irrecoverable (it is estimated that it could have been heated to approximately 149 degrees F at the time), and it didn't work! Eventually the body just had to be chiseled from the solid gold coffin. Carter's reasoning? If he hadn't done that, eventually robbers would have just ripped the body apart looking for the treasure among the wrappings.

Answer: Sternum and ribs

Perhaps because the bandages were so difficult to remove, Carter and his team did not note the fact that the sternum and some of the ribs were missing from the mummy. Carter wrote that that he had been stuffed like a turkey, filled with a "mass of linen and resin, now of rock-like hardness".

The packing done by embalmers apparently restored the shape of the chest so that other rituals could be performed. That was discovered in 1968, when the body was x-rayed for the first time. Since these bones were not removed during the mummification process, it was assumed that they may have been severely damaged at the end of Tut's life; this led to the hypothesis that perhaps there had been a chariot accident or some other mishap that had caused the damage and led to Tut's death - like being attacked by a hippo.

Some believed that somehow the bones had been stolen from the body in the time between Carter's study and the next one in 1968. Modern science has determined, however, that the ribs and sternum had been taken out during the ancient embalming; in fact, they were "neatly cut" by the embalmers.

Incidentally, the heart, always left inside the mummy for the final judgement by Osiris, was also missing from Tut's body.

Answer: Bone fragments were found in the skull cavity.

Since the discovery of King Tut's tomb, many archaeologists have hypothesized that his cause of death was a blow to the head. It must be remembered that the mummification process, while drying out the body, also caused it to become very fragile. The bone fragments could have been caused by a careless embalmer in ancient times, the careless handling the body received in 1925 after its modern discovery, or the brittleness caused by the drying out of the body.

Modern scientists, after studying CT scans, say that Tut definitely was not murdered by to a blow to the skull.

Answer: He put it in a wooden box and the mummy was reinterred in the original tomb.

When the 1925 study of Tut's mummy was complete, it wasn't in very good shape at all, and the care that should have been taken with the valuable artifact had obviously not been. Some sources describe the plain wooden box into which the mummy was placed an ordinary sand sifter, used by archaeologists during excavations.

When the mummy was taken out for study next in 1968, scientists were shocked at its condition. All the limbs had been removed from the torso, the hands had been cut off, and the head was no longer attached. Body parts that were photographed as part of the mummy in 1925 were missing, and, most importantly, the body had not been rewrapped.

This exposed it to even more heat and damage. According to Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, the body was found in eighteen pieces when studied in 1968.

Answer: Club foot

At first it was believed that King Tut might have suffered from curvature of the spine. However, today's opinion is that the visible curvature was caused by the mummification process. Not only does it appear that Tut had a club foot, scientists believe it was especially painful due to necrosis, dying bone tissue.

In a 2010 article in "National Geographic" one of the team members commented, "Necrosis is always bad, because it means you have dying organic matter inside your body." While one toe in the damaged foot was missing a bone, other bones were completely destroyed.

Many walking sticks and canes (approximately 130) were found in the tomb; while archaeologists initially believed they had some sort of religious significance, they now believe that Tut would have needed them to walk.

This discovery has virtually put to rest the theory that he died from a broken leg suffered in a chariot accident. Chances are that the club foot wouldn't have allowed Tut's participation in that sort of activity.

Answer: 19 Years

Scientists have determined that Tut was about 19 years old when he died after studying the maturity of his skeleton and wisdom teeth. Interestingly, in a culture where dental problems were common (caused mostly by sand in food), his teeth had no cavities.

While some articles make a big deal of Tut's "buck teeth", it must be remembered that the drying process during mummification shrank skin tissue, and might have caused the teeth to protrude in death more than they did during Tut's life. Using modern forensic techniques, scientists have produced what they believe is a very good likeness of Tut's overall physical appearance.

Answer: Elongated Skull

At first glance it looks like members of the 18th Dynasty in ancient Egypt were, well, coneheads! Using modern techniques, researchers have indeed found that this was a family trait, and believe that there would have been no physical ailment connected with the long skull.

In 2005, the results of a CT scan showed that although the head was elongated, the shape was still within normal range. As gods, pharaohs had to marry people who were also gods to keep the divinity in the family. That meant that the main wife was usually a sister or other family member.

This type of inbreeding, however, isn't a particularly good idea, and commonly causes poor health. Tut, the last member of his dynasty, was apparently unable to father healthy offspring with his wife/half-sister, Ankhesenpaaten, as two mummified babies with DNA showing Tut was their father, were found in his tomb.

Answer: Akhenaten

Since the discovery of Tut's tomb, archaeologists have tried to determine his parentage. Finally, according to Zahi Hawass, a DNA study made in 2007-2009 revealed that his father was the mummy that had previously been known as KV55 - Akhenaten, the "heretic king". Best known for attempting to change Egypt's religion from the polytheistic worship of Re and other deities to the worship of Aten, the only god, Akhenaten was the son of Amenhotep III and Tiye. Furthermore, the DNA testing revealed that Tut's mother, a mummy called the "Younger Lady", was the daughter of the royal pair, and, therefore, the sister of Akhenaten.

This evidence seems to prove that Tut's mother was not the beautiful Nefertiti, although there was never any evidence that she was a member of the royal family. Akhenaten would have been expected to produce an heir with divine blood, however, so it stands to reason that he would have had at least one wife who was a relative.

It is currently believed that Nefertiti was the mother of Tut's wife, Ankhesenpaaten, making the couple half-brother and half-sister.

Answer: Malaria

While scientific studies show that King Tut was about five feet six inches tall (1.7 meters) and slightly built, he appears to have been in excellent health at the time of his death. DNA testing and other analysis show, however, that he was infected with the malaria parasite at the time of his death.

This could have adversely affected his immune system, and paired with another trauma, could have caused his death. In a 2010 "National Geographic" article, Zahi Hawass wrote that Tut had been infected with malaria several times; scientists says that malaria was common in ancient Egypt, and hypothesize that Tut, through numerous infections, had at least a partial immunity to the disease. Together with an injury that didn't heal (like the fractured leg), malaria could have caused his death.

Answer: False

Even with the miracles of modern science, Tut's exact cause of death has not been determined. Many theories, such as death due to a chariot crash, have been discounted. While some believed that there is a sign that his leg was fractured and believe his death might have been caused by complications from that, but others believe that physical limitations would have kept Tut from participating in that kind of activity. Rather than prove the cause of death, modern technology seems to be able to rule out certain causes, such as a blow to the head.

While his cause of death continues to baffle and interest modern researchers, it just may be something we will never know!