Tutankhamun’s death mask is one of the most-recognized images around the globe. Measuring 21 inches tall, inlaid with a detailed mosaic of precious stones, and featuring a 5.5 lb golden beard, the artifact is surely one of the world’s most iconic objects. But researchers think that the pharaoh’s ears may be hiding a secret in plain sight.

The death mask was found in 1925 by the Egyptologist Howard Carter during his excavations of Tutankhamun’s tomb which his team rediscovered in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings near the city of Luxor. Carter’s records are kept at the University of Oxford’s Griffith Institute which was established 17 years after Carter first discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb as the center for Egyptology at the university, named after the university’s first Professor of Egyptology, Francis Llewellyn Griffith.

Tutankhamun, known as the “Boy King,” came to the throne aged just nine and ruled Egypt for around nine years between ca. 1332 and 1323 BCE. He was riddled with ailments including scoliosis and a cleft palate, thought to be due to his parents being brother and sister.

Howard Carter and an Egyptian workman examine the third coffin of Tutankhamun made of solid gold, inside the case of the second coffin (October 1925). Photo by Harry Burton, courtesy of INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo.

But new research out of the University of York suggests that the mask was not originally designed for the young Pharaoh, and was instead intended for a regal female burial—perhaps Tutankhamun’s stepmother Queen Nefertiti who died before Tutankhamun, though no specific date for her death is known. This theory hinges on one key detail of the death mask: Tutankhamun’s pierced ears.

Piercings were typically only found on the death masks of female rulers and children. Lead researcher Professor Joann Fletcher said in a documentary for History Hit in 2022 that “research suggests that the King wouldn’t have worn earrings beyond childhood, so by the age of 20 when he died he would not have been portrayed with pierced ears” calling the pierced ears of the mask a “long-overlooked feature”.

When compared, the gold used on the face of Tutankhamun is entirely different to the gold used on the rest of the mask, suggesting—as Fletcher put it—that Tutankhamun’s face was “effectively grafted on” to the pre-existing mask of a previous—and likely female—ruler.

There is no doubt, however, that the likeness is of King Tut, as the likeness of a death mask was considered imperative should the person’s soul be able to be reunited with their body for judgement by the god of funerary practices and guide to the underworld, Anubis, after their death.

Crowds inside “Treasures Of Tutankhamun Exhibition” exhibition. Photo: Getty Images.

“I was sure the death mask was not specifically designed for King Tut”, Fletcher said.

Fletcher suggests that the originally intended recipient of the mask could be the Pharaoh Nefertiti, who married and ruled alongside Tutankhamun’s father Pharaoh Akhenaten. This theory was first proposed in 2015 by the British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves. There is scholarly debate about whether Nefertiti ruled as pharaoh on her own for a short time between her husband’s death and Tutankhamun ascending to the throne. Nefertiti’s tomb has never been discovered.

The reason for this make-do-and-mend approach to the burial of, at that point, the most powerful and wealthy man in Egypt may be due to the suddenness of his death, aged around 19. Theories on Tutankhamun’s cause of death have included murder, but it is currently believed that he passed away from malaria and an infection the young ruler developed after a serious chariot crash which left him with a broken leg at the time of his burial. The lack of preparation for this death may have led to the decision to alter a pre-existing mask rather than commission a new one from scratch. Other details suggesting that Tutankhamun’s burial was hurried were patches of paint on the walls of his tomb which would have still been wet when the tomb was sealed.

The mask is kept in the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which re-opened last month after an 11 year delay.