Joe Nickell reviews the evidence surrounding the case for the murder of Tutankhamun.

King Tut is in the news again—not regarding his supposed “curse, ” but as the subject of high-tech analyses that debunked his supposed “murder” and provided a more realistic representation of the youthful king’s features.

In his book, The Murder of Tutankhamun, Egyptologist Bob Brier had claimed to solve the 3,000-year-old mystery of the teenage pharaoh’s death.   Citing forensic evidence he concluded that Tut was the victim of murder, probably by his chief advisor Aye, a commoner, who then married Tut’s widow, Queen Ankhesenamun.   According to Brier, “ The X-ray of Tutankhamen’s skull suggests a blow to the back of the head. “

Given my background as a former private investigator and investigative writer who has been involved in several death investigations, as well as co-author of the forensic textbook Crime Science, I have followed the “ murder” case with interest.   I was skeptical of Brier’ s conclusions, although very sympathetic to his attempt to apply forensic and historical evidence to an ancient mystery...

CSI: Egypt, Live Science, USA, June 17, 2005.

The Curse of the Pharaohs has a long heritage, at least as far as King Tut is concerned.   A series of unusual deaths followed quickly on the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.   In later years the curse supposedly brought blackouts, floods and major inconveniences, all attributed to the disruption of Tut's 3,300-year-old mummy and the display of any of the 5,398 objects that filled his tomb.

But in the museum world, the curse may have another meaning, one traceable to the exhibition of 50 objects from the tomb that toured the United States in the late 1970s.   That exhibition attracted eight million visitors, championed supplementary admission prices, boosted the importance of souvenir shops, inspired a renaissance of Egyptian kitsch and set curators and museum boards to salivating for something else that could draw eight million people, skewing museums' expectations for decades.

With the opening here Thursday of "Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, many have feared that this more recent curse, of abject commercialism, would rise again.   The stated goals of this two-year, four-city American tour are mass appeal and mass profits...

Getting beyond the curse of Tut, International Herald Tribune, France, June 18, 2005.

U-Daily Bulletin have a collection of King Tut exhibition stories on the page linked below.

King Tut Exhibit, U-Daily Bulletin, California, USA.

There is also a good photo slideshow here King Tut & the Golden Age of the Pharaohs Photo Gallery.