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In 2005, three teams of scientists, in partnership with National Geographic, were able to develop history's most accurate likenesses of the ancient Egyptian king. The Egyptian team worked from 1,700 three-dimensional CT scans of the pharaoh's skull. The French and American teams were given plastic molds created from these.
Both the French and Egyptian teams knew the identity of the subject whose face they were vividly reconstructing -- the Americans did not. All three teams created a silicon mold bearing what exhaustive archaeological and forensic research reveal to be the most accurate and life-like depictions of Tutankhamun since 1,500 B.C.E. The mold was produced by placing a silicone "skin" on a plastic replica of Tutankhamun's skull whose shape was informed by the new CT scans. The details of the placement of his nose and ears were obtained by expertly superimposing forensic clays over the plastic skull replica, layering them delicately after the natural patterns of intramuscular and subcutaneous facial tissue.
Recently one African American roots-empowerment group, largely inspired by Afrocentric comments in The Autobiography of Malcolm X as Told to Alex Haley, protested the National Geographic Society's resultant depiction of the boy king, alleging that his complexion would have been much darker. However, conclusive determination of such a characteristic is presently beyond the scope of science, though the frequent use of bright golds and alabasters in his busts do seem to give us some hint. Regardless, all assertions in this regard can be nothing but wholesale speculation, akin to similar speculation on the color and texture of dinosaur skin. Terry Garcia, National Geographic's executive vice president for mission programs and a presenter at the new traveling exhibit, commented on June 15, 2005:
"The big variable is skin tone. North Africans, we know today, had a range of skin tones, from light to dark. In this case, we selected a medium skin tone, and we say, quite up front, 'This is midrange.' We'll never know for sure what his exact skin tone was or the color of his eyes with 100 percent certainty.
"Maybe in the future, people will come to a different conclusion."
One thing the new CT-based reconstruction gives us without doubt is the first accurate glimpse of King Tut's facial topography since he walked the sands of ancient Egypt.