Ay
Egyptologist Bob Brier suggested that Ay murdered Tutankhamun in order to usurp the throne, a claim which was based on X-ray examinations of the body done in 1968. He also alleged that Ankhesenamun and the Hittite prince she was about to marry were also murdered at his orders. This murder theory was not accepted by all scholars, and more detailed CT scans of the mummy undertaken by National Geographic (published in late 2005) suggested that Tutankhamun did not die from a blow to his head as Brier had theorized. The "National Geographic" forensic researchers instead presented a new theory that Tutankhamun died from an infection caused by a badly broken leg since he is often portrayed as walking with a cane due to spina bifida, a hereditary trait in his family on his father's side. The bone fragments found in Tutankhamun's skull were most likely the result of post-mortem damage caused by Howard Carter's initial examination of the boy king "because they show no evidence of being inundated with the embalming fluid used to preserve the pharaoh for the afterlife". However, Brier has stated that the bone fragment in the skull is not relevant to the issue of whether Tutankhamun was murdered, acknowledging that it was likely caused by the embalmers. The evidence Brier presents for the murder is a dark spot on the base of the skull, indicating a blow to the head. Dr. Gerald Irwin agrees with Brier on this point.
Tutankhamun's mummy
Tutankhamun was the 11th pharaoh during the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom; however, the exact dates of his reign are not clear. An educated estimate is that he ruled over Ancient Egypt from about 1355-1346 BCE. After an initial examination of the 3,300-year-old mummy, it was estimated that Tutankhamun was a teenager of approximately 19 years of age when he died. Since it was believed that Tutankhamun became king as child no more than ten years old, many refer to him as the "Boy-King" or "Child-King." A majority of his reign was devoted to restoring Egyptian culture, including religious and political policies; his predecessor Akhenaten (recently proven to be his father) had altered many Egyptian cultural aspects during his reign, and one of Tutankhamun's many restoration policies included changing the political capital from Akhenaten's Amarna back to Thebes. Following the discovery of Tutankhamun's mummy, much debate has arisen as to his exact cause of death. This has led to numerous medical studies and procedures performed on his remains, right up to the 2010s. As medical technology has advanced throughout the years, new techniques have been utilized on the mummy to discover the true age, genealogy, and cause of death of the young pharaoh, speculated by some to be from a battle wound or a chariot accident, so that some of the mysteries surrounding the "Boy-King" might finally be put to rest. Tutankhamen was believably poisoned but he was possibly in a chariot accident or suffered a blow to the head.