Surprises Inside The Tomb Of King Tut

This is known as King Tut Day -- the day in 1922 that the tomb of Egypt’s King Tutankamen was discovered in Egypt’s Valley of Kings.

He ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago and was known as the Child King because he became king at the age of 9. He died when he was only 19.

Historians can’t agree on the cause of death. Some think he was murdered. Others think he died of an infection after breaking his leg. And still others think he died of the effects of malaria. There’s even one story that he died following a lethal bite from an angry hippopotamus.

There was more than just his body in the tomb. It was filled with gold, jewelry, small statues, even small boats to represent his journey after death. They also found a shrine to his embalmed organs and two small coffins with the fetuses of his two unborn children. Tutankamen married his half sister and the two children they had were stillborn.

The objects from the tomb toured the United States in the mid 1970’s leading to what became known as “Tutmania.”