WIRED Staff
Science

Slideshow: King Tut Mummy Scanned for Clues

Researchers employ modern technology in hopes of solving a dusty mystery: Was the famous Pharaoh murdered? The examination begins a process aimed at restoring and preserving the boy king's blackened remains.
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Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities, center, checks the 3,300-year-old mummy of King Tutankhamun before exposing it to X-ray. A team of Egyptian archaeologists performed the X-ray using a German CT scan machine donated by Siemens and National Geographic.AP Photo/Saedi Press

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Zahi Hawass, the head of the Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities, left, exposes the 3,300-year-old mummy of King Tutankhamun to X-ray to assess the need for restoration and to attempt to discover the cause of the boy Pharaoh's early death. King Tut ruled for nine years before dying at age 17.

AP Photo/Saedi Press
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Workers carry the 3,300-year-old mummy of King Tutankhamun from his tomb in Luxor, Egypt.

AP Photo/Saedi Press