Tutankhamun: the mystery of the boy pharaoh's pierced ears

Ever since British archaeologist Howard Carter first peered into the tomb of ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, 100 years ago, the mystery of the boy king's death has captivated historians and amateurs alike.

That mystery recently "took another turn", said the Daily Express. Researchers propose that his eye-catching gold funerary mask may have been intended for someone else but the pharaoh's untimely death, less than 10 years after he ascended the throne aged 9, forced it to be quickly repurposed.

The earring holes on the mask suggest it may have been prepared for a "high-status" woman or child, according to the team at the University of York.

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Two faces

Tutankhamun's death mask is "one of the most recognised images around the globe", said ArtNet. The artefact, "inlaid with a detailed mosaic of precious stones" and housed in Cairo's Grand Egyptian Museum, is "surely one of the world's most iconic objects" – and inextricably linked with the "Boy King".

But research suggests that the mask was intended for a "regal female burial" – perhaps Queen Nefertiti, his stepmother, who died before him. The theory "hinges" on the pierced ears.

The study puts forward the theory that the king "wouldn't have worn earrings beyond childhood", said Professor Joann Fletcher, in a documentary from 2022. When he died aged 20, he would "not have been portrayed with pierced ears". They were a "long-overlooked feature".

The gold used on his face is also "entirely different to the gold used on the rest of the mask". This suggests Tutankhamun's face was "effectively grafted on" to another mask of a previous, female ruler, said Fletcher, but the ears were left intact.

"I was sure the death mask was not specifically designed for King Tut," she said.

There are clues in the death mask about a "rushed" burial, said the Daily Mail. But archaeologists have also documented "blotches of paint" on the tomb wall, which point to it not having dried by the time the tomb was quickly sealed. The "lavish burial" was also much smaller than what would have been expected for such a pharaoh.

'No real basis'

The original burial place of Nefertiti has not yet been discovered but, in 2015, Egyptologist Aidan Dodson proposed that it lies behind a wall of Tutankhamun's tomb.

That would mean that the artefacts buried with her were "repurposed for Tutankhamun very early in his reign", Claire Isabella Gilmour, PhD candidate of archaeology at the University of Bristol, wrote in an article on The Conversation.

But remote-sensing investigations have since "debunked these claims". Analysis in the same year by a metal conservator showed the mask was made in two parts, but that was typical of how such masks were constructed. The analysis found "no trace of the face having been replaced". Other mummified kings also show pierced ears, so the ones on the gold mask "should come as no surprise".

I believe there is "no real basis for the York team's proposals", added Gilmour.

The fact there is such detailed debate proves that even a century after Tutankhamun's discovery, "the afterlife of the young king continues to inspire the public imagination and scholarship".