Tut's life and death unmasked

British and NZ experts have reconstructed the face

This is the face behind the famous golden death mask of King Tutankhamun.

He lived in very turbulent times and it does seem likely from what the detectives have found out that he was assassinated

Kate Botting

Scientists and special effects artists in the UK and in New Zealand employed digital techniques normally reserved for crime investigations to reconstruct what the young pharaoh might have looked like.

The fibreglass bust has gone on display at London's Science Museum. It was produced to illustrate a television documentary to be shown on Britain's Channel 5 network.

The programme details evidence that indicates the king might have suffered from a rare congenital disorder that affected his spine.

Fatal injury

The documentary asked Dr Richard Boyer, from the Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, US, to examine X-rays of the Egyptian mummy taken in 1968.

Tutankhamun is famous for the death mask of solid gold

The scientist concluded there was an abnormal curvature in the spine and fusion of the upper vertebrae - symptoms associated with Klippel Feil Syndrome. This could have made movement very difficult for King Tut, Dr Boyer said.

"His head is like it's on a broomstick or a poker," the researcher explained. "So that if he fell backward or there was a blow to the back of his head - a serious spinal cord injury at that level could be fatal.

"This is a young man who should have a nice, healthy looking cervical spine and this is not a nice healthy looking cervical spine."

Murder hunt

The TV programme is called Who Killed Tutankhamun?

Its producer, Kate Botting, said the spinal problem emerged as FBI investigators sought some answers to the theory that Tutankhamun was murdered.

"He lived in very turbulent times and it does seem likely from what the detectives have found out that he was assassinated," she told the BBC. "The big question is whether it was a political assassination or someone from within his own tight circle who killed him."

She said that when viewers saw the programme, this question would be answered.

Golden artefact

The 1968 x-rays were also the starting point for the facial reconstruction.

Dr Robin Richards, of University College London, calculated how much soft tissue once lay over the skull. Using information on people of the same age, sex, build and ethnic group as Tutankhamun, he was able to build up an approximate likeness on computer.

Special effects artists and a facial sculptor then translated the computer data into a 3D object made from fibreglass.

Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922. The king ruled Egypt in the 14th Century BC and died mysteriously at just 18.

His famous golden death mask was just one of the many artefacts removed from the tomb.