Was King Tut Murdered? CSI Investigation Activity for Kids

If you are looking for a fun way to explore history with kids, specifically Ancient Egypt for kids, you are going to love this fun, CSI style investigation into King Tut’s early demise. This fun king tut for kids activity includes lots of egyptian printables to learn about the mystery of the 18-year-old pharoah’s death. SImply print the king tut printables and you are ready to play and learn with first grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grad,e 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, and 12 graders too!

King Tut for Kids

King Tutankhamun, commonly referred to as King Tut, was the pharaoh of ancient Egypt for only 9 short years. After his father Pharaoh Akhenaten died, he passed the throne to his 9-year-old son. Tut married his half-sister, the daughter of Akhenaten and his first wife Nefertiti. King Tut’s rule began in 1332 B.C. The people had been frustrated with his father who had moved the capital and eliminated the traditional Egyptian gods for one god, the son God Atena. As Tut was very young, he relied heavily on two of his father’s former advisors.  At the age of 18, he mysteriously died and there are several theories as to how he died. Was it an injury, was he murdered, was there a power struggle? In this fun CSI style history activity for kids, your students will get a chance to examine the evidence themselves and weigh into the likely result. This fun, hands-on activity will allow elementary, jr high, and high schoolers to examine the physical evidence, archeological evidence, historical evidence, and modern-day science examining DNA and autoposy reports.

Ancient Egypt for Kids

Start by scrolling to the bottom of the post, under the terms of use, and click on the text link that says >> _____ <<. The King Tut printables pdf file will open in a new window for you to save the freebie and print the template.

King Tut Activity

After you have the file, you will want to print the clues to hang around your crime scene and the case files with background information, and files on persons-of-interest in this history mystery.

For each student you will want a

• police incident report where they will take notes of the FACTS
• summary of the clues (for more indepth information they will need to look at the actual clues!)
• Official Briefing where students will summarize the information, give possible scenarios, and ultimately make a case for what they think is the most likely reason King Tut died based on the science and historical evidence

King Tut’s Tomb for Kids

You can let them explore and see the amazing tomb for yourself. YOu can wwatch the above vidoe, or see the archeological discoveries, and/or thirdly explore King Tut’s tomb in the King Tut Museum to set the stage. We know a lot about this young pharaoh because his tomb remained untouched by looters for over 3000 years! It was discovered, filled with remarkable treasures, by Howard Carter in 1922.  Included was a dazzling coffin with 4 layers, the 3rd layer was made of 2500 pounds of pure gold! The death mask – arguably the most known ancient Egyptian artifact, was incredibly ornate and well preserved. Their were over 5000 objects, taking over 10 years to catalog. The wooden artificats allowed archeologists to learn a lot about what life was like from the papyrus boats used on the Nile River to women grinding grain, and more!

The big mystery is HOW did King Tutankhamun die? There are lots of theories, but now it’s time for you to examine the evidence yourself and decide how the young pharaoh died.

Ancient Egypt Activities

I suggest outlining a student in maksing tape or painters tape for added fun. then tape the clues around the outline or on neighboring walls for students to study and take notes on.  Their is a king tut death mask image in the file to put on the face part (we made a craft one from ancient egypt study)

King Tut Printables

Both the included Police Indident Report for kIds and the Official Briefing  printable are to be printed 2-sided. They are pretty self-explanatory. I love seeing what different ideas the kids came up with!  It is a great way for kids to use critical thinking skills and to exame evidence. If you watch videos from the subjects you will find major sites like history.com, national geographic, and others will disagree on the cause. So don’t worry about finding the “correct answer” because there isn’t ONE answer. Just that they thought through the evidence and made a possible or logical conclusion!

King Tut was Murdered by Aye

One of the advisors to King Tut was Aye, also referred to as Ay. Aye not only became Pharoah after Tut’s untimely demise, but he married King Tut’s wife, Ankhesenamun, shortly after her husband’s death.  Research shows that Aye may have forced Ankhesenamun to marry him to make his rule of Egypt more legitimate. Stone tablets were uncovered that show her making a “last-chance” attempt to save the kingdom by begging for a Hittite prince (their long-time enemy) to marry her, possible to keep Aye from the throne.  So their was motive, but does the evidence suppor this hypothesis?

King Tut was Murdered by Horemheb

The other advisor was a military general named Horemheb. Many researchers believe that King Tut gained more independence the older he got and he relied less and less on Haremheb. After Tut died, Aye ruled the empire for four years until his death. But after his death, Horemheb took over as ruler. He restored the traditional Egyptian religious practice of plytheism, more than one god. Horemheb abandoned Amenhotep IV’s new capital and returned to the historic capital of Memphis. He even removed King Tut’s name from several significant temples and monuments and inserted his own name.

Or perhaps Aye and Horemheb worked together to get rid of Tut. And remember that Hitite prince Ankhesenamun begged for, well he never made it to Egypt. Although King Tut did die rather young, life expectancy at this time was only 33 years old.

King Tut Died of Injury or Illness

The pharoah was very young to have died naturally, so perhaps he died of illness or injury. Modern scientists have conducted DNA tests and have revealed King Tut suffered from a disease known as avascular bone necrosis. This would have caused his bones to be deprived of essential blood supply. Although that would not have killed him, if he had an injury or infection it would have made it much worse. Further investigation revealed that Tut also had malaria. But many live with malaria and while it affects quality of life, it isn’t a death sentance. Malaria would explain why a cain was found in his tomb and in illustrations.  In 2013 a researcher conducted an autopsy on King Tut’s mummified corpse and the results revealed the young king’s entire left side of the body had injuries: broke foot, shattered kneecap, shattered ribs, and a broken pelvis. Dr. Naunton’s findings may explain a further scenario where King Tut died as a result of injuries from falling from his chariot during a chariot race, a common sport in Ancient Egypt.

So, how do you think King Tut died?

 

Ancient Egypt Activities

• Was King Tut Murdered? CSI Investigation Activity for Kids
• Ancient Egypt Worksheets – themed math and literacy worksheets for pre-k, kindergarten, and first graders
• Moses and the Red Sea Craft and lesson for kids
• Ancient Egypt Coloring Pages
• Simple Egyptian Mummy Craft for Kids
• Ancient Egypt Art Project – Canopic Jars
• Free Ancient Egypt Printable Worksheets Pre-K-2nd
• Hieroglyphic Worksheets
• Papyrus Ancient Egypt Craft for Kids

   

History Lessons for Kids

Check out one of or MANY engaging, Free history lessons for kids or go to American History for kids including lots of fun, hands on activities and free printables

• Digging into World History Curriculum for the whole family to learn together!
• Dive into Mesopotamia History to learn about Gilgamesh
• Learn about Ancient Egypt Activities, crafts, lessons, worksheets, ancient egypt free printables, and more!
• Ancient Civlizations of MesoAmerica: Who Were the Ancient Maya People Readers, Inca Facts Reader, and Aztecs for Kids Reader
• 4 week lesson about Early Explorers for Kids
• Learn about castles, knights, and more in this exciting Middle Ages for Kids
• Make a teepee, dig for arrowheads, color our printable books and more in this Native Americans for Kids lessons
• The Colonial America for Kids lesson takes kids on a journey back to the first permanent settlement in America – Jamestown. Students will learn about colonial life with lots of hands on projects like eating Gruel, making a Wattle & Daub house, and creating a tin lantern will make the settlement come alive.
• We will make westward expansion for kids come alive for kids as they learn facts about the time period from about 1783-1898. In addition to learning about the Oregon trail, pony express, gold rush, transcontinental railroad, students will also learn to match animal trails, map the united states, and learn about North American animals too.
• Civil War for Kids – students will learn about slavery, famous Americans from the Civil War, famous battles, and how our nation stayed together. Lesson includes printable worksheets, mapping activities, printable civil war board game and more!
• Famous Explorers for Kids Reader – discovering America
• Jamestown Color & Read  Jamestown worksheeds pdf
• Revolutionary War Reader – american revolutionary easy reading
• Read, Color & Learn War of 1812 worksheet pdf
• Westward Expansion Reader westward expansion worksheet pdf
• Pennant History Posters to see US History At-a-Glance
• Titanic for Kids Reader to Color and Learn
• World War 1 Coloring Pages to color, read, and learn
• Learn about the Roaring 1920s for Kids – Printable Book to Read, Color, and Learn
• 1930s for Kids – Printable Book about the Golden age of Hollywood, Great Depression for Kids and more to read, color, and learn
• Life in the 1940s America for Kids Reader
• WW2 Printables to read, color, and learn about World War 2
• Learn about the trading of goods that began in 1941 with this Columbian Exchange for Kids printable reader.
• Anne Frank Facts for Kids Printable Reader to read, color, and learn about this Jewish girl who lived behind the wall in Holland during World War 2
• 1950s for Kids Reader to Color, Learn and read about what life was like in America in 1950
• Rosa Parks Worksheets pdf – Free Printable Reader to Color and Learn
• Martin Luther King Jr for Kids Printable Reader to Color and Learn
• Life in the 1960s for Kids Printable book to read, color and learn about life in the 1960s
• Learn about platform shoes, disco, the beginning of Star Wars and more with this 1970s for kids Reader
• 1980s for Kids Printable American History Reader
• 1990s for Kids Printable Reader filled with information about fashion, technology, Presidents, and more!
• Learn about life for early 2000s Kids with these american history printables to read, color, and learn!
• Review what you’ve leanred with these American History Worksheets (Notebooking)

History CSI Case for Kids

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