Tutankhamun was a young king of ancient Egypt. He died at about 18 or 19 years old. Some people thought someone hit him on the head and killed him.

But CT scans showed that the damage probably happened after he died. DNA and CT tests found signs of malaria and a problem in his foot. Over 100 walking sticks were found in his tomb. No one knows for sure how he died.

Tutankhamun became famous in 1922, when Howard Carter found his tomb almost untouched. Because the king died young, at about 18 or 19, many people believed he was murdered. This idea began in 1968, when an X-ray showed bone pieces inside his skull.

However, a CT scan in 2005 suggested that the damage likely happened after death, during mummification or when his body was examined in 1925. In 2010, a DNA and CT study reported signs of severe malaria and a bone disease in his left foot. About 130 walking sticks were found in his tomb. The researchers suggested that several problems together may have caused his death.

Tutankhamun, who died at about 18 or 19 in the 14th century BC, has long been rumored to have been murdered. The theory arose from a 1968 X-ray revealing bone fragments inside his skull, but a 2005 CT study concluded that this damage most likely occurred after death, during embalming or Howard Carter's 1925 examination; notably, the fragments were not embedded in the hardened embalming resin. The scans also revealed a fracture in the left thigh bone, which some researchers think occurred shortly before death and may have become infected, though others attribute it to mummification.

In 2010, a team led by Zahi Hawass published DNA and CT analyses of royal mummies, reporting genetic traces of the parasite that causes severe malaria and a bone disease that had damaged part of the king's left foot. Combined with the roughly 130 walking sticks found in his tomb, this suggests a frail king whose death resulted from several factors. However, critics proposed sickle cell disease as an alternative, and ancient-DNA specialists warned that DNA kept for over 3,000 years in Egypt's heat is likely degraded or contaminated, making the methods used unreliable.