First study of mummy DNA leads to all sorts of discoveries

King Tut—plus 10 other royal mummies—recently became the first ancient Egyptians to get their DNA analyzed. The results, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, turned up a treasure trove of new information about the famous boy king, his family and Egyptian royalty in general. Among the discoveries:

• Tut had a bone disorder that would have forced him to walk with a cane, and which may have been a result of royal inbreeding.
• A mummy known as KV55 has turned out to be Tut's father, Akhenaten, a controversial pharaoh best known for his failed attempt at converting Egypt to monotheism. Based on sculptures and art that depict a feminized Akhenaten, researchers had long suspected that he suffered from a genetic hormone disorder called gynecomastia. But the DNA evidence says otherwise. Instead, Akhenaten's feminine features are likely to have been an artistic conceit, added for symbolic, religious reasons.
• Other previously unidentified mummies are now known to be Tut's grandfather, grandmother and mother.
• Contrary to speculation, Tut's mother probably wasn't his father's chief wife, Nefertiti. She and Akhenaten are never described as being related, and Tut is definitely the product of brother/sister incest.
• King Tut had malaria. He likely died from a combination of that disease and complications of his bone disorder. The malarial DNA found in Tut's body is the oldest genetic evidence of the disease ever found.

National Geographic News: King Tut was disabled, malarial and inbred

Image courtesy Flickr user jparise, via CC

• [Anonymous]

  Yes, but to what Haplogroup Y and MTDNA does he and his family belong? That would be the real interesting part, and the most obvious question they should be answering. Wonder why they’re not.

• [Anonymous]

  but does it prove he was born in Arizona?

• [MadRat]

  I thought the reason Tut looked feminine was that he died suddenly, the Egyptians were unprepared so they used what they had on hand: burial stuff for a woman.

• [defacebook]

  Tut is the spawn of brother/sister incest and his dad tried to convert Egyptians to one god? Hmm… Sounds like the makings of an HBO series — Rome meets BSG.

• [tuckels]

  Akhenaten had man boobs?

• [Anonymous]

  EP1790222 This is No of my patent on mummification published by European Patent Office on 2007 and used by HAWAS to unlock DNA without my permit , I have 2 Human mummies and more than 100 animal mummies – Yahya BEDIR

• [Anonymous]

  That is the coolest freaking thing I have heard in a while.

• [Phikus]

  Tut was also the weirdest villain Batman ever faced.

• [Ugly Canuck]

  “King Tut was disabled, malarial and inbred”…
  but he had funerary ornamentation to die for.

• [Ugly Canuck]

  He had bling, to die for, that is.

  Obligatory funky Tut link:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgTPH5y1-ZI&feature=related

• [bozozozo]

  gynecomastia is not a genetic disease, it is a descriptive term that says, female-like breasts on a guy. lots of reasons to have it, including things like marihuana use or alcohol abuse, liver disease or just being fat (probably doesn’t apply here).

• [Moriarty]

  With noble traditions like using as many resources as possible to keep the dead company and inbreeding the hell out of the leadership, it’s not wonder this great civilization lasted for so many millennia.

• [wqoq]

  Someone alert Steve Martin!

• [Ugly Canuck]

  Hey phikus:

  Tut tut, Tutling!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPIJA20ZUIU&feature=related

• [Jerril]

  Mental note. When I am an evil overlord and setting myself up to be God King of my evil empire, I will institute holy reverence for hybrid vigor, not “purity of blood”.

• [Brainspore]

  Cool, my wife and I just saw the Tut exhibition in San Francisco last week and heard the results from these tests were coming this week. Time to update all the placards on the artifacts!

• [Anonymous]

  Very interesting. It’s amazing what they can learn bodies that have been dead a thousand years. Thank you boing boing for another interesting post.

  A x

• [Anonymous]

  well there goes the alternative history theorists stance that Akhenaten was really Moses (moses being an egyptian name…why would a daughter of a pharaoh give her kid a jew name? Pharaoh ThutMOSIS). Anyway, i love it when science clarifies disputes.

  • [rebdav]

    Moses is an english name, it actually sounds like the Latinization (think Naugtious Maximus) of the Hebrew name Moshe, which is his Egyptian name by Jewish tradition. Not much of a confirmation since it is another semetic language but Arabic calls Moses Mousa Nabi, Moses the prophet.

• [ciacontra]

  “National Geographic News: King Tut was disabled, malarial and inbred”

  Best. Article. Title. Evar.

• [Anonymous]

  “hormone disorder called gynecomastia ” Gynecomastia is an effect of a hormone disorder, it can be caused by many things. It is of itself not the hormone disorder.

• [Anonymous]

  This is freaking cool…. wait… no its awesome

• [Bionicrat2]

  It’s impressive this happened. Egypt has long had a firm stance against DNA testing of mummies.

• [Anonymous]

  Technically, KV55 is a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The mummy found in that tomb wouldn’t typically be called KV55. Sorry for nitpicking…I’m an egyptophile from hell.

• [spocko]

  But what about the DNA of the goa’uld? I guess it must have jumped to a new host.

• [Umbriel]

  I’d always heard that Ankhenaten’s tomb and remains had been destroyed after Tut’s death when the priesthood of Amon-ra and the dynasty they supported reascended. Does anyone know the provenance of mummy KV55? Was it perhaps moved to some common tomb rather than being destroyed?

• [mdh]

  Any more evidence, aside from the inbreeding and the giant triangular headstones, that the royal family were maybe a little batty?

• [Anonymous]

  Tut? Tut!
  What would G-Wash, or A-Linc say? Spell the guy’s name out in full – I think, historically, he’s earned it.

• [Anonymous]

  More importantly, were the ancient Egyptian mummies in any way related to the modern Egyptian population? I’ve always doubted that.