Tutankhamun's clothes reveal he had huge hips

Since Howard Carter stepped into the splendours of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor in 1922, the cause of the boy-pharaoh's death has been a mystery.

Since Howard Carter stepped into the splendours of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor in 1922, the cause of the boy-pharaoh's death has been a mystery.

But scientific research into the royal clothes, led by Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, director of the Tutankhamun Wardrobe Project at Leiden University in Holland, has started a fresh controversy.

She says more than 450 items in the burial chamber are more than just a "treasure trove of ancient fashion"- they also show he was ill.

The clothes, including embroidered tunics, loin-cloths and leopard skins, indicate he suffered from an unidentified disease that left large deposits of fat on his hips.

"Based on the measurements of his clothes, he had a chest size of 80cm (31in), a waist of 75cm (39in) and hipsof 110 (43in)," Ms Vogelsang-Eastwood said. "We know there was something wrong.

"The disease, or whatever he had, certainly affected his weight, putting those fatty deposits on his hips. Mummification would have removed the deposits. There was no evidence of disease in his bones.

"We do not think he had a common shape but not enough medical research has been done in this area," she said.

Being pear-shaped, Ms Vogelsang-Eastwood added, was a family trait because his royal father, Akhenaten, who was married to the better-known Nefertiti, had a similar figure, meaning Tutankhamun could have suffered from an inherited disease or one common to the area.

The study, backed by the Dutch government, is intended to find out more information about Egypt in the Amarna Age from 1353 to 1336BC.

This is the first time since 1922, when Carter and the Earl of Carnarvon shared the discovery, that an investigation has been made into the young pharoah's clothing. Experts believe Tutankhamun died before he was 20.

But in Egypt the suggestion that one of their most famous pharaohs may have had a weight problem has not been well-received.

A senior Egyptian antiquities official, Zahi Hawass, has disputed the claims of abnormality, saying tomb paintings show a healthy-looking, normally shaped Tutankhamun. Other experts say depictions of the pharaohs were often idealised. Most speculation about Tutankhamun's death has involved political conspiracy. Analysis of early X-rays of the mummy led some experts to conclude he was murdered by a blow to the back of his head. Poisoning has also been raised as a possibility.

Nasry Iskander, an Egyptian scientist who has done extensive work on mummies, saidTutankhamun's remains were in too poor a condition for X-rays to help much further. "The only hope is to submit the surviving tissue to DNA analysis," said Mr Hawass, who believes Tutankhamun was probably killed in a power struggle over succession. "We should use the latest scientific techniques to analyse the mummy," he added. "I think the year 2000 is a good time to try to close a case that's been open for 3,000 years."