What Did King Tut Really Look Like?

The Mummy of the boy Pharaoh, Tutankhamun, commonly referred to as King Tut has been exhumed and scanned using medical imaging equipment that gives a detailed virtual 3d image. The data can be used to make solid resin casts in real-world dimensions. Artists were commissioned by a well-known geographic magazine to re-create a sculptured likeness of King Tut, adding clay to the cast skull for the model, which was then cast in silicon. Although tissue-thickness data was used in the reconstruction, the results are inaccurate and disappointing: the likenesses varied significantly from one to another, and, more importantly, they lack resemblance to the sculptured portraits of King Tut by the most talented artists of his day. The image presented here is an alternative to those commisioned sculptures and is considered to be more accurate

In addition to the well-known gold funerary masks and coffins of King Tut, several painted sculpture portraits are in existence that much more closely resemble his true likeness. Although the sculptured portraits could have slight differences in artistic stylization, the most realistic were likely modeled from sessions with Tut himself posing, and incorporate individual characteristics that can be recognized from sculpture to sculpture. There are several of Tutankhamun that are included this category. (For a more comprehensive article by the author click this link)

The facial features and bone structure of the mummy of Tutankhamun show a close correlation to the sculptures of the boy Pharaoh. Congruent characteristics include pronounced cheekbones, and large eye orbits with elevated, arching brow lines. The bridge of the nose is shallow and slender, and it widens to a broad base with a rounded tip. The jawline tapers to a relatively small, recessive chin. These genetic features are shared by Tut, his father, Akhenaten, his mother, Kiya, and his sisters.

The purpose of this article is a renewed attempt to post the computer-generated and digitally composited image of King Tut on this website. This image, by the author, portrays Tutankhamen at age fifteen, just prior to his early death. Tut's fabric headdress is called a nemes, most likely comprised of dyed linen with gold brocaded stripes. The diadem on his forehead is mounted on band of gold. The images on the diadem are the royal vulture and cobra icons comprised of gold inlaid with the semi-precious stones of blue lapis lazuli, red carnelian, and the blue-green turquoise . The same materials were employed in the magnificent beaded yoke which Tutankhamun wears about his chest and shoulders. (If the image is not included with the article, please visit this link)

Rescources:

Treasures of King Tutankhamun
Ballantine Books, New York 1976
ISBN 0-345-27349-4

Brace et al. (1993). 24 sets of craniofacial measurement comparisons made on mummified skeletal remains from Egypt, Nubia, India, Somali, North Africa, Europe,Asia,and North America. Selected measurements were those known to be genetically controlled . Conclusions were that ancient Egyptians are most closely genetically related to the populations of South Asia, neolithic and modern Europe and Northern Africa. (refer to Brace et al. [1993] for complete list).