Luxor, Egypt ? A team of researchers briefly removed King Tut’s mummy from its tomb Wednesday and laid bare his bones for a CT scan that could solve an enduring mystery: Was it murder or natural causes that killed Egypt’s boy pharaoh 3,000 years ago?

Tut’s toes and fingers and an eerie outline of his face could be seen as the mummy, resting in a box to protect it, was placed inside the machine in a specially equipped van parked near his tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings.

Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities, center, checks the 3,300-year-old mummy of the ancient King Tutankhamun at his tomb in Luxor, Egypt, before exposing it to X-ray to assess the need for restoration. Wednesday's research also was an attempt to discover the cause of death for Tutankhamun, who ruled for nine years before dying at age 17.

The 1,700 images taken during the 15-minute CT scan could answer many of the mysteries that shroud King Tutankhamun’s life and death — including his royal lineage, his exact age at the time of his death — now estimated at 17 — and the reason he died.

The CT scan will provide a detailed, three-dimensional view of the scattered bones and coverings that make up Tut’s mummy.

Egypt’s chief archeologist, Zahi Hawass, said the results of the Tut scan would be announced later this month in Cairo.

“There are so many stories about his death and his age,” Hawass said. “Today we will determine what really happened.”