King Tutankhamun's army just lost a major battle. His subjects could be facing a terrible plague. Egypt's king probably has a lot on his mind as he goes to bed for the night. Suddenly someone leaps out of the shadows and strikes the king with a fatal blow to the back of the head. Tut's nine-year reign comes to a quick and mysterious end.

That's one of many theories about how Egypt's most famous king died at age 19. The puzzle has fascinated researchers since 1922, when British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered Tut's 3,300-year-old tomb. Determined to find the answer, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Zahi Hawass used modern technology to put this old theory to the test.

The Investigation >>

Photographs by Kenneth Garret (Tut statue, Zahi Hawass with mummy, CT scanning machine, tomb painting, book cover, pendant, ankh); CT scanning equipment provided by Siemens AG/Data courtesy of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Arab Republic of Egypt/Digital Composite and Coloration by NGM Art (mummy and broken leg bone); digitized copy of R.G. Harrison 1968 Xrau/R.C. Connolly/University of Liverpool (skull x-ray); Elizabeth Daynes (reconstruction of Tut's head); Andreas F. Voegelin/Antikenmuseum Basel (headband and lion jar)