Did Nefertiti wear King Tut’s iconic mask first? Scientists reignite debate

Researchers say the mask's pierced ears and mismatched gold suggest it was originally made for a female ruler, possibly Nefertiti.

By Jerusalem Post Staff, October 14, 2025

https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-870312

King Tutankhamun's golden burial mask. (photo credit: Jaroslav Moravcik at Shutterstock)

Laboratory tests on Tutankhamun’s celebrated gold funerary mask reopened a century-old debate about its origin. A team working between Cairo and Oxford examined the alloy’s chemical makeup to identify the workshop that produced it, according to Newsam. Combined with findings from the University of York, the data suggests that artisans first fashioned the piece for Queen Nefertiti and only later altered it for the boy-king.

York researchers noted that the mask’s facial proportions and the outline of the chin matched known portraits of Nefertiti more closely than those of Tutankhamun. Microscopic studies revealed solder lines joining gold of two different purities—one for the face and another for the headdress—supporting the idea that the visage was attached in haste. An insert at the base of the chin and neatly cut openings at the ears added to the evidence of reworking.

“The research suggests that the king did not wear earrings after childhood,” said Professor Joann Fletcher, an Egyptologist, according to Al-Bayan. She argued that the earring sockets, typical for royal women and children of the 18th Dynasty, would have been unnecessary for a teenage monarch at the end of his life.

Other clues point to a rushed burial. Tutankhamun’s tomb, discovered in 1922, was unusually small for a pharaoh and lay in a side corridor of the Valley of the Kings. Scholars believe the chamber had been prepared for another noble and pressed into service after the ruler’s sudden death. Unfinished wall paintings, cramped room layouts, and treasures packed tightly together underscored the sense of urgency.

Roughly 3,400 years ago (around 1323 BCE), mourners sealed extraordinary wealth - including the mask - inside that modest tomb. DNA studies indicated that Tutankhamun contracted malaria several times and suffered congenital ailments linked to royal inbreeding. CT scans showed a clubfoot, and embalmers placed walking sticks beside him as symbols of frailty.

The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.