King Tut unmasked by reconstruction

King Tut has a new look. The teenage king of ancient Egypt is best-known by his golden death mask. But a fibreglass reconstruction of Tutankhamen has produced quite a different face.

The cast of Tut's head was crafted based on computer models generated from 1969 X-rays of his mummified corpse. The likeness bears little resemblance to the golden funeral mask found in the pharoah's tomb.

Tut died around 1350 BC. After his tomb was found in 1922, his death mask and golden coffin became among the most famous Egyptian artifacts in the world.

But Tut's mummified head was too dried and sunken to give life-like dimensions for the reconstruction team, said a spokeswoman for London's Science Museum, where the likeness is on display.

Unlike the famous bust of a slight, heavy-lipped 18-year-old framed in a pharaoh's headdress, the new model shows a wide-faced young man with high cheekbones, smaller eyes and a heavy brow.

Investigators and special effects artists in Britain and New Zealand used digital technology and forensic techniques to come up with the new likeness.

Forensic scientists also concluded the X-rays showed Tut probably suffered from a spinal disorder that fused together vertebrae in his neck, causing him to walk with a cane. More than 100 walking sticks were discovered in his tomb.

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A British documentary to be screened in October examines the case against four suspects in the king's death. Theories on the cause of Tut's death range from a hunting accident to murder. X-rays revealed signs of a blow to the back of his head.