The pharaoh was originally called Tutankhaten. This name, which means “living image of the Aten”, embodied his parents’ faith: they prayed to a sun god called “the Aten”.However, the king changed his own name a few years after he became pharaoh. He no longer worshipped Aten, and instead favoured the god Amun (the king of the gods). As his name no longer matched his religious beliefs, he chose the moniker Tutankhamun instead, translating to the “living image of Amun”.

Yes, even though Tutankhamun’s tomb is one of the most famous in the Valley of the Kings, from a size perspective, it’s rather unimpressive in comparison to the area’s other burial chambers. Tutankhamun was laid to rest in a cramped tomb that was cut directly into the floor of the main valley.  No one is entirely sure of the reason why his tomb is so tiny, but some have speculated that there could be parts of the tomb which Egyptologists haven’t discovered yet. The theory that the plastered wall of his burial chamber may be hiding secret chambers has gained particular traction.

The face that adorns the middle coffin doesn’t resemble those of the other two coffins, nor Tutankhamun’s death mask. This, coupled with the fact that the coffin has a slightly different style to the outer and inner coffins, has led many Egyptologists to believe that the middle coffin – along with some of the pharaoh’s other grave goods – was actually constructed for “Neferneferuaten”. This mysterious figure may have been Tutankhamun’s immediate predecessor, but we don’t know what happened to them – nor why Tutankhamun was laid to rest in their coffin.

Animals had many meanings within Egyptian society, and ostriches were no different. The large birds, whose feathers and eggs were prized as luxury items, were hunted by pharaohs as a royal sport – it was a way for the rulers to demonstrate their control over nature. Tutankhamun was apparently fond of such hunts. He was even buried with an ostrich-feather fan, which contained feathers from ostriches that were apparently captured by the boy king himself.

Ancient Egyptians viewed the heart as the organ of reasoning, and so they believed it would be needed in the afterlife. It was purposefully left inside cadavers during the process of mummification. However, no heart has been found in Tutankhamun: instead, there’s an inscribed amuletic scarab. This substitution could be the result of careless morticians, or it may instead indicate that Tutankhamun died far from home: when his body finally made it to the undertakers’ workshop, the organ might have been too decayed to be properly preserved.

The dagger, found inside Tutankhamun’s tomb, was made of “iron from the sky” – a type of iron that was almost entirely obtained from meteorites. This material was very rare, and as such the dagger was far more valuable than its ostentatious gold counterpart. 

Two trumpets were found amongst Tutankhamun’s grave goods: one was made of silver and fitted with a gold mouthpiece, and the second was bronze with a partial gold overlay. On 16 April 1939, around 150 million people tuned in to hear both trumpets being played from Cairo Museum in a BBC live radio broadcast. However, some people – buoyed by the myth of ‘Tutankhamun’s curse’ – have provocatively suggested that the trumpets are able to summon war, with their sounding in 1939 causing Britain to enter the Second World War.

Unlike Tutankhamun’s outer and middle coffins, which were made of wood and covered with gold sheets, the innermost coffin was hewn from thick sheets of beaten gold. The coffin is worth well over £1m in today’s currency.

Tutankhamun’s body set on fire when it was in the coffin owing to a chemical reaction. However, this was not the only injury to befall the deceased pharaoh: his body sustained injuries immediately before or after death; during the mummification process; and while it was being removed from the coffin.