Working together with car-crash investigators, a team of British scientists says that the legendary pharaoh Tutankhamen died after being run over by a chariot while on his knees.
The new findings, which also include an explanation as to why the remains of the Egyptian king were burnt, will be presented in a documentary that airs in the U.K. on Sunday, the Independent reports.
Studying a piece of Tutankhamen’s preserved flesh, the team found that the body spontaneously combusted while sealed inside its coffin, a chemical reaction between embalming fluids and linen that resulted from a botched mummification.
A theory presented last year held that the pharaoh might have died from epilepsy.