The features of a 1,500-year-old mummy have been revealed after scientists were able to reconstruct her face with the help of a CT scan.
Knewz.com has learned that said mummy – a woman who hailed from Roman-occupied Egypt and died in her 40s – has not been unwrapped since her discovery in 2011.
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The reason for the latter is that archeologists and scientists alike endeavor to preserve the woman’s remains for as long as possible.
Be this as it may, Cicero Moraes, the lead expert in charge of the project and the ensuing academic paper, drew his data from a CT scan—the result of which is thought to be a likeness of the female from the Middle Ages, who is suspected to have succumbed to tuberculosis.
“The structure is very well preserved, in the original state of discovery, without the mummy being unwrapped,” Moraes explained.
“Something that draws attention is the presence of short, curly hair, which can be seen in the tomography reconstruction,” he said of the smooth-skinned, frizzy-haired image.
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“Initially, we reconstructed the skull, based on the computed tomography [medical imaging using numerous computer-processed combinations of X-ray measurements to produce a cross-section], and later adjusted the position of the jaw.”
“The skull allows us to design structures such as the nose, ears, eye position, lip limits and others, using data measured in tomography scans of living people,” he explained.
“Furthermore, we use measurements carried out using ultrasound, also on living people, to find out the thickness of the soft tissue in different regions of the skull.”
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The study further noted that because of the woman's Roman-Egyptian origins, the same tissue thickness seen in European women between the ages of 40 and 49 was applied to her features before it was blended with another visage.
“This is where we adjust the face and skull of a virtual donor to suit the parameters of the gilded lady, resulting in a structurally compatible face,” Moraes explained.
“At the end we cross-reference all the data, interpolating the projections to create the final face.”
The result was what Moraes observed to be “a delicate, youthful-looking face.”
It was also noted that the woman also seemed to have an overbite
Not averse to humor, he claimed: “She reminds me of my mother-in-law in some ways! During the process, I showed it to some family members and they all agreed,” via Pen News.
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This reconstruction is not Moraes’ first rodeo. Knewz.com reported on his reconstruction of the 300,000 male believed to be among the first humans to walk the Earth.
Said the male’s skull was found at the Moroccan Jebel Irhoud archeological dig in 2017 and after Moraes’ work, the face was described as “strong and serene.”
“It is currently the oldest Homo sapiens, dating to approximately 315,000 years before present,” Moraes, who is also a professor and produces veterinary prosthetics, said of the skull.