King Tut died of natural causes

CAIRO, March 8 (UPI) -- The Egyptian Cultural Ministry said Tuesday X-rays of the mummy of the legendary King Tutankhamen showed he was not the vicitm of homicide.

The ministry's head of antiquities' department, Zahi Hawas, said an Egyptian team assisted by three foreign experts performed 1700 X-rays on the mummy in the past two months and found no evidence the young King Tut was killed.

An earlier theory said Tut was killed after a hole was found in his skull, but the latest tests ruled out that hypothesis, Hawas said.

"The team found no traces of a possible blow on the back of the head of the Pharaoh," he said.

He said Tutankhamen died in 1355 BC at the age of 19, apparently from natural causes.