For the first time, three teams of scientists have created facial reconstructions of King Tutankhamun using 1,700 high-resolution images from CT scans of his mummy. The image on the left is a computer generated rendering of Tut made by an Egyptian team. The image on the right is a model of King Tut made by a French team based on facial reconstructions.

The scans were carried out on January 5 in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, where Tut's  mummy was briefly removed from its tomb and placed into a portable CT scanner.

"The results of the three teams were identical or very similar in the basic shape of the face, the size, shape and setting of the eyes, and the proportion of the skull," said Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. "The primary differences were in the shape of the end of the nose and ears," he said. The French and American versions had similar noses and chins, though the Egyptian reconstruction had a somewhat different nose and a stronger jaw and chin, the council said. Hawass is leading a five-year project to scan all of Egypt's known mummies, including royal mummies now exhibited at the Cairo Museum. Eventually, each mummy will be displayed alongside CT images and a facial reconstruction. "For the first time, we will make these dead mummies come alive," Hawass said.