first found out this news on one of my favourite techknowledge sites.  if you haven’t already i suggest you check out

it’s amazing to me how all of this information can be discovered from a body that is so old and the science of the egyptians still continues to baffle while it enormously impresses.  these discoveries reveal a certain discipline and loyalty to tradition the egyptians had obviously lived by and maintained.  initially, the thought that king tut was so young sparked people’s imaginations and interest but now, knowing that he was very sick and feeble raises so many more questions.  and what is amazing is that this was all discovered during just the first of the studies of egyptian mummy dna.  i’m curious to find out what other secrets and long lost facts scientists will soon discover about the masterminds behind the pyramids and so much more!

First study of mummy DNA leads to all sorts of discoveries

By Maggie Koerth-Baker

King Tut—plus 10 other royal mummies—recently became the first ancient Egyptians to get their DNA analyzed. The results, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, turned up a treasure trove of new information about the famous boy king, his family and Egyptian royalty in general. Among the discoveries:

• Tut had a bone disorder that would have forced him to walk with a cane, and which may have been a result of royal inbreeding.
• A mummy known as KV55 has turned out to be Tut’s father, Akhenaten, a controversial pharaoh best known for his failed attempt at converting Egypt to monotheism. Based on sculptures and art that depict a feminized Akhenaten, researchers had long suspected that he suffered from a genetic hormone disorder called gynecomastia. But the DNA evidence says otherwise. Instead, Akhenaten’s feminine features are likely to have been an artistic conceit, added for symbolic, religious reasons.
• Other previously unidentified mummies are now known to be Tut’s grandfather, grandmother and mother.
• Contrary to speculation, Tut’s mother probably wasn’t his father’s chief wife, Nefertiti. She and Akhenaten are never described as being related, and Tut is definitely the product of brother/sister incest.
• King Tut had malaria. He likely died from a combination of that disease and complications of his bone disorder. The malarial DNA found in Tut’s body is the oldest genetic evidence of the disease ever found.

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King Tut Was Disabled, Malarial, and Inbred, DNA Shows

“Frail boy” needed cane, says study, which also found oldest genetic proof of malaria.

One of several, this golden “coffinette” (detail pictured) held part of King Tut’s organs.

Photograph by Kenneth Garrett, National Geographic Stock

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Ker Than

for National Geographic News

Published February 16, 2010

King Tut may be seen as the golden boy of ancient Egypt today, but during his reign, Tutankhamun wasn’t exactly a strapping sun god.

Instead, a new DNA study says, King Tut was a frail pharaoh, beset by malaria and a bone disorder—and possibly compromised by his newly discovered incestuous origins. (King Tut Pictures: DNA Study Reveals Health Secrets.)

The report is the first DNA study ever conducted with ancient Egyptian royal mummies. It apparently solves several mysteries surrounding King Tut, including how he died and who his parents were.

“He was not a very strong pharaoh. He was not riding the chariots,” said study team member Carsten Pusch, a geneticist at Germany’s University of Tübingen. “Picture instead a frail, weak boy who had a bit of a club foot and who needed a cane to walk.”

Regarding the revelation that King Tut’s mother and father were brother and sister, Pusch said, “Inbreeding is not an advantage for biological or genetic fitness. Normally the health and immune system are reduced and malformations increase,” he said.

Short Reign, Lasting Impact of King Tut

Tutankhamun was a pharaoh during ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom era, about 3,300 years ago. He ascended to the throne at the age of 9 but ruled for only ten years before dying at 19 around 1324 B.C. (Pictures: “King Tut’s Face Displayed for First Time.”)

Despite his brief reign, King Tut is perhaps Egypt’s best known pharaoh because of the wealth of treasures—including a solid gold death mask—found during the surprise discovery of his intact tomb in 1922. (See pictures of King Tut tomb treasures or see them in person in  Toronto through April 30.)

The new study, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, marks the first time the Egyptian government has allowed genetic studies to be performed using royal mummies.

“This will open to us a new era,” said project leader Zahi Hawass, the Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)

“I’m very happy this is an Egyptian project, and I’m very proud of the work that we did.”

(See “King Tut: Unraveling the Mysteries of Tutankhamun”—a 2005 National Geographic magazine report on forensic studies that recreated Tut’s face, among other developments.)

King Tut’s Close-Knit Family

In the new study, the mummies of King Tut and ten other royals that researchers have long suspected were his close relatives were examined. Of these ten, the identities of only three had been known for certain.

Using DNA samples taken from the mummies’ bones, the scientists were able to create a five-generation family tree for the boy pharaoh.

The team looked for shared genetic sequences in the Y chromosome—a bundle of DNA passed only from father to son—to identify King Tut’s male ancestors. The researchers then determined parentage for the mummies by looking for signs that a mummy’s genes are a blend of a specific couple’s DNA.

In this way, the team was able to determine that a mummy known until now as KV55 is the “heretic king” Akhenaten—and that he was King Tut’s father. Akhenaten was best known for abolishing ancient Egypt’s pantheon in favor of worshipping only one god.

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