Solid Gold Coffin of king Tutankhamun

"King Tutankhamun's" solid golden coffin was finally discovered in November 1922 by Howard Carter and his sponsor, Lord Carnavon. 

This is an ancient Egyptian tomb that remained hidden for over 3,000 years in the place called "Valley of the Kings" at Thebes.

But first, who is king Tutankhamun?

King Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh who reigned from about 1337 to 1328 BC. He actually became a pharaoh at such a very young age of only 9 years old. 

But according to the forensic analysis, he only reigned for around 9 years period. Thus, he died at the age of 18.

Even with the advance technology that we have today, experts could not find any positive evidence on how Tutankhamun died. 

Based on the X-Ray of the mummy in 1968, the scientists had discovered bone fragments in his skull. This gives them the theory that the boy was probably hit on the head with a hard object.

Another theory of king Tutankhamun's death was the CT scan. It was actually featured in the National Geographic that the mummy's leg has a thin coating of embalming resin around the leg. 

This suggests that Tut already had a leg injury before he died. So the other aspect of his death was that, his leg injury may have resulted into a serious infection that caused the boy's unfortunate death.

Series of Golden Coffins

Of all the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, the one who remained famous of them all up until today was king Tutakhamun. 

It was not because of his leadership as a king or leading his empire to progress but due to his highly decorated coffin that astounded the world.

What really makes king Tut's coffin so remarkable is that, it is not just made of one coffin but a series of three coffins. 

And that's not all, these coffins were also encased again into another big quartzite sarcophagus which has been placed into another series of four shrines.

The innermost three series of coffins bears the shape of a human figure (aka anthropoid coffins). All these three coffins were painted in the image of the king. 

When it comes to Egyptian beliefs, these paintings were very important because they do believe that it provides the dead a face in their afterlife.

The first two coffins of Tut were made of gilded wood but the third and final coffin that contains the mummy was made out of solid gold. Tut's mummified remains also wore a fabulous golden death mask.

Moreover, other than king Tutankhamun's coffins, there are many other richly decorated and covered in gold objects contained inside the tomb. 

The Egyptians believed that these objects were needed by the king on his afterlife. Today, you can now pay a visit into these objects at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.