Tutankhamun’s family bond at his death revealed after the search for “unexpected” DNA – Science – News

Despite the decision for less than a decade, Tutankhamun, often called the boy’s king, is undoubtedly the most renowned pharaoh in ancient Egypt.

His lasting heritage is widely attributed to the remarkable discovery of his grave in 1922 by the British archaeologist Howard Carter. The tomb contained more than 5,000 artefacts, including its famous gold mask, and had been almost entirely not disturbed by tomb thieves.

This discovery offered an unrivaled overview of royal burial customs and the riches of the 18th Egyptian dynasty.

Tutankhamun rose to the throne around 1332 BCE, probably when he was only eight or nine years old, for a period of important social and religious disorders.

He is supposed to be the son of Akhenaten, the pharaoh who radically modified the religious landscape of Egypt by trying to replace his traditional pantheon with the worship of a single God: the disc of the sun Aten.

This controversial change towards monotheism has disrupted centuries of spiritual tradition and was welcomed by the opposition.

In his ephemeral time as Pharaoh, Tutankhamun, under the direction of influential figures such as Ay and Horemheb, behind many changes initiated by his father. He restored the status favored to the ancient deities, in particular Amun, the chief god, moved the capital of Akhetaten, Amarna of today, back to Thebes, and even modified his name of Tutankhaten, “Living Image of Aten” in Tutankhamun “,” Living Image of Amun “,” symbolizing a return to established confessions.

It is believed that these movements are less concerned with the desires of the young king and more on the attempts of the ruling class to find a sense of order.

However, the life of Tutankhamun, in particular its line, remains masked in Enigma despite these efforts. A central revelation was made in the functionality of the BBC “Tutankhamun: The Truth Uncovered”, which underlined the conclusions of in -depth genetic studies on the royal mummies carried out by the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities, the results initially published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Jama in 2010.

The talent of the voiceover of the show, Dallas Campbell, revealed that by DNA, the researchers could identify several of the parents of Tutankhamun. However, the study gave surprising results: “The results of DNA identified the members of the Tut family, but they also discovered something completely unexpected when they compared the DNA of Tut’s father, Akhenaten, with the DNA of Tut’s mother.”

The researchers made a surprising discovery that Tutankhamun’s parents were complete brothers and sisters. Dr. Yehia Gad, geneticist and key member of the research team, revealed: “They proved that they are brother and sister, which was a big surprise for us. Many incest occurred … They did not like to leave a mixture of royal and not royal blood, so they tried to keep it in the royal family.”

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Consanguinity was not uncommon in the Egyptian royal dynasties. The pharaohs were considered to be living deities and to maintain the divine purity of their line, they often married within the family, generally brothers and sisters or relatives.

Although this could have been considered spiritually or politically beneficial at the time, modern genetics reveals that consanguinity considerably increases the risk of hereditary diseases and physical anomalies due to a reduction in genetic diversity.

Tutankhamun himself could have endured the weight of this dynastic practice. The CT scans and a more in-depth examination of his remains showed that he had a club foot, a palace slit, a necrosis on the left foot, and perhaps a walking stick, several of which were discovered in his grave.

In addition, DNA tests suggested that he had suffered from malaria several times, which, coupled with his other health problems, may have resulted in his premature death at around 18 or 19.

The identity of Tutankhamun’s mother remains a puzzle that has guess Egyptologists. Competitors include Queen Kiya, Queen Néfertiti, or an obscure figure known in mummy discs under the name of “young woman”.

Kiya and Nefertiti were married in Akhenaton, but DNA tests suggest that the young woman was her biological mother.

This conclusion, however, met skepticism. Marc Gabolde, a renowned French Egyptologist, offered a different perspective at a conference in 2022 at Harvard University.

“The DNA of third generation offspring between cousins ​​can resemble the DNA of the brothers and sisters,” he proposed. “I think Tutankhamun is the son of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, but that Khenenaten and Nefertiti were cousins.”

If this theory contains water, it could explain the genetic data without involving that Khenenate and his wife were complete brothers and sisters. Instead, this suggests that narrow genetic correspondence could be due to several generations of cousins ​​marriages.

A century after his tomb was found, Tutankhamun continues to captivate academics and the public, not only for his dazzling funeral riches, but also for the light he launches on royal politics, religious upheavals and complex biology of the Miraclé Royal. Its heritage, now largely housed in the new Museum of the Grand Egyptian in Giza, continues to redefine our understanding of the greatness – and the fragile – of the most famous royal family of ancient Egypt.