A DNA analysis of King Tutankhamun shows the boy pharaoh may have died of malaria and a genetic bone disease, according to a study published in the Wednesday issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, dpa reported. Egyptian and international researchers spent more than two years conducting anthropological, radiological and genetic tests on 16 royal mummies, including several members of King Tut's family. The analysis also clarified family relationships among the mummies, only three of whose identities were clear before the study. The boy king who died after a nine-year reign in 1324 BC has fascinated Egyptologists and the general public since the discovery of his intact tomb in 1922. The new study by Egyptologist Zahi Hawass and his team shows Tutankhamun and several of the other mummies suffered from malaria and a bone disorder known as Kohler disease II. His bones were likely weakened or destroyed by poor blood supply and the condition in conjunction with the malaria caused his death, the researchers said. Speculation about the cause of his death had abounded for decades, with some suspecting he had been assassinated. That theory had been put to rest by Hawass in 2005. He concluded that a hole in the back of the pharaoh's head had been created during the mummification process and was not the cause of his death. The new study also identifies the mummies of Tutankhamun's grandmother Tiye and father Akhenaten.
