A Burnt Tutankhamun

There is a show coming out about the mummy of Tutankhamun and scientists who present their findings on the kings mummy and have asserted that Tutankhamun combusted shortly after burial because of the ointments used on the mummy.

The show perports that the mummy looks burned because of the actions of the chemicals used to preserve the boy king. I must admit that I consider this finding as improbable if not impossible considering that combustion requires oxygen of which there would have been very little inside his sealed gold coffin which was sealed inside two more coffins and a stone sarcophagus.

It must also be considered that Tut's mask appears to be unaffected by this fire which also left the various objects on his mummy unaffected. Most likely the charring which has occurred to the wrappings was caused by corrosion of the chemicals in question and certainly not by a fire inside the kings gold coffin.

If the mummy burnt it would more than likely to have happened after Howard Carter opened the kings gold coffin though I know of no reports of fire or heat coming from the mummy at that time. Sounds like a ridiculous premise to base credible research on, but hey as long as it gets you on TV.

Photo Credit: AFP/Ben Curtis