Egypt plans to run tests on the mummy of Tutankhamun to find out what killed the king who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago and died while only a teenager. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni agreed Tutankhamun's mummified body could be moved from its tomb to the Cairo Museum for the tests, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.
The mummy was packed with treasures when it was discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922 and has been kept in the tomb in Luxor, southern Egypt, ever since.
Most of Tutankhamun's treasures, including a gold mask that covered his head, are on display in the Cairo Museum.
The examinations, which would include a scan and a DNA test, aimed to establish what killed Tutankhamun, MENA quoted Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass as saying. Tutankhamun's mummy comprised his skull, chest and two other bones, he said.
Carter and his sponsor Lord Carnarvon were among the first to enter Tutankhamun's tomb in Luxor's Valley of the Kings. Lord Carnarvon died shortly afterwards from an infected mosquito bite. Newspapers at the time said a pharaonic curse had killed him and other people linked to the discovery.
Scientists have in the past suggested that a disease lying dormant in the tomb may have killed the British aristocrat.
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