Sealed in Sarcophagus with Resin

Given the prior paragraph, it could seem especially outrageous that Howard Carter's team was careless enough to shatter King Tut's head while excavating his remains. But when you understand the actual condition of his body when it was discovered, it makes a lot more sense. We're accustomed to seeing pictures of merely sarcophagi-wrapped mummies. That is not how Tutankhamun's body was preserved; rather, the body was resin-sealed inside the sarcophagus, effectively having the famous golden death mask bonded to it.

In fact, this was a very typical part of mummification, and it was so effective that there are even hair samples from certain mummies. Thus, in 1922, his body was wrenched out in bits rather than delicately taken out. With such careless handling of the body, it is less remarkable that a skull fracture happened that might have been mistaken for a severe blow than it is that investigators were able to identify the one injury on his body that had partially healed and was the true cause of death.