Recent CT scans suggest Ramesses III throat was slit in an attempt on his life. News of the coup has been known for some time from the Turin legal papyrus (above) which suggests that Ramesses' wife and son acted together with palace officials including a palace magician to murder the king (see a translation here: http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/judicial_turin_papyrus.htm). As punishment, the papyrus indicates that some of the members of the coup were forced to commit suicide.
CT scans on a mummy which COULD have been Ramesses III's attempted successor, Pentawere, (based on DNA evidence) show "unusual marks" at the neck:
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The authors argue that the body was poorly mummified and found in a "ritually impure" goatskin, though textile analysts like Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood have argued that this interpretation of goatskin's impurity was yet another rumor spread by Herodotus (see Ancient Textile Industry of Amarna, 2001). While interpretation of this mummy still seems preliminary as unusual marks on the neck could have been from the mummification process, disease, or many other origins, this conspiracy is one of the most interesting brief periods in Egyptian history and it's great to see how texts and human remains are being used together to unfold more about this fascinating episode!
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