Mummy mystery.How did King Tut die? A new high-tech scan of the ancient pharaoh's mummified mum·mi·fy v. mum·mi·fied, mum·mi·fy·ing, mum·mi·fies v.tr. 1. To make into a mummy by embalming and drying. 2. To cause to shrivel and dry up. v.intr. body could help a team of scientists unravel the 3,000-year-old secret. In 1968, images taken of the mummy using X-rays (high-energy waves) revealed a bone fragment inside Tutankhamen's skull. Did a blow to the head kill the teenage king? To find out, scientists needed a clearer picture. Last January, a team led by Zahi Hawass, an Egyptian archaeologist (scientist who studies ancient life), carefully brought the king into daylight for the first time in 82 years. Then, the team used a computed tomography Computed tomography (CT scan) X rays are aimed at slices of the body (by rotating equipment) and results are assembled with a computer to give a three-dimensional picture of a structure. (CT) scan to produce a detailed three-dimensional image of King Tut by rotating X-rays around the body. Hawass is now studying the CT scan CT scan: see CAT scan. See CAT scan. to try to crack the case. For instance: "The 3-D view will show the shape of the object that caused the wound," says Jerry Conlogue, director of Diagnostic Imaging at Connecticut's Quinnipiac University Quinnipiac University is a private four-year university in Hamden, Connecticut, located on about 500 acres (2 km²), just north of New Haven. The campus is situated at the foot of Sleeping Giant State Park. . |
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