Tutankhamun

What did Tutankhamun look like? We know more about his physical appearance than almost any other ancient Egyptian ruler, because we have his actual body. His mummy, discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, has been CT-scanned multiple times (2005, 2009), giving precise measurements of his skull, skeleton, and pathology. Three independent forensic teams have reconstructed his face from the scan data, and they converge on the same result.

Tutankhamun was a slender young man, about 5’6” (167 cm), who died around age 19. The CT scans show a narrow face with a slight overbite (a familial Thutmosid trait), an elongated skull, a narrow nose, and large eye sockets. He had a cleft palate and a slightly receding chin. His left foot had a bone disorder (Köhler disease or club foot), and he likely needed a cane to walk — over 130 walking sticks were found in his tomb.

The gold death mask is the world’s most famous portrait of Tutankhamun, but it presents an idealised, divine image, not a literal likeness. The mask shows larger, more symmetrical features and none of the overbite or facial asymmetry visible in the skull. The forensic reconstructions, built directly from bone, are more accurate than the mask. His skin colour is unknown; the mask’s gold surface is symbolic, not descriptive. DNA analysis places him firmly in the 18th Dynasty royal family, the son of Akhenaten.