DNA analysis of Tutankhamun’s mummy confirms image analysis by scholars

17.02.2010
Neues Museum

The recently released findings of the DNA tests on Tutankhamun’s mummy by Zahi Hawass, General Secretary of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, have a direct bearing on the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection in Berlin.

One of the best known objects in the exhibition is the relief known as 'Walk in the Garden’, which occupies a central position in the Neues Museum next to the bust of Nefertiti. The painted limestone relief depicts the royal couple Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun, one of Nefertiti and Akhenaten’s daughters. A scientific analysis of the picture, first published in 1980 by the Egyptian Museum’s Dietrich Wildung, identified possible symptoms of ailments from which Tutankhamun may have suffered, which have now been confirmed by the DNA analysis of the mummy released today. In the process, particular attention was paid to the king’s posture on the relief. He is seen supporting himself with a stick while one leg lags limply behind - a sign of a possible leg injury.

DNA analysis on the mummy now shows that Tutankhamun was infirm and, due to a deformed left foot, suffered from mobility impairment. The evidence points to him being in pain and having to rely on a walking stick. The Berlin relief, which has since been assigned the name 'Walk in the Garden’, is nothing less than the faithful contemporary depiction of what has now been confirmed by science. The Egyptian artist responsible for the relief depicted the symptoms in such an appropriately discreet and aesthetic manner that the picture’s shocking content is not immediately apparent.

The mystery over the identity of the mummies from tombs 55 and 35 in the Valley of the Kings remains unsolved. The DNA testing has established that they are Tutankhamun’s parents and siblings. There is however inconclusive evidence to identify Tutankhamun’s parents as Akhenaten and Nefertiti. DNA testing presents historians with an opportunity and a challenge to use current scientific findings to come up with new approaches to disentangling the web of questions surrounding Tutankhamun’s parents.