Faces From Ancient Egypt Are Coming Back to Life in Extraordinary Detail

The face of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh—Ramesses II—has been brought back to life by scientists in the U.K. from his mummified remains. Researchers from the Liverpool John Moores University Face Lab were able to reconstruct the bygone ruler's face using computer software and a process of "reverse aging" to find out what he would have looked like in his prime.

"The facial reconstruction process depicts the face at death, as the skull and face continue to change throughout adult life," Caroline Wilkinson, the director of the Face Lab, told Newsweek. "However, we know how skulls and faces age, and it is possible to predict how a person looked at a younger age by removing some of the skeletal and soft tissue changes associated with old age, such as wrinkles, drooping nose and ears, jowls, tooth loss."

Facial reconstruction is not only used to visualize the faces of long-dead rulers; it is also used to identify missing persons and unidentified bodies in modern-day investigations. Therefore, it is important that the predictions from these technologies are accurate.

"We are pretty confident in our ability to predict face shape from skeletal structure," Wilkinson said.

"We have tested our methods using CT [scans] from living donors and we have evaluated the facial reconstruction using geometric comparison that shows approximately 70 percent [of the] surface of the facial reconstruction with less than 2 millimeters of error," she added.

Ancient Egyptian mummies are relatively well preserved compared with the decomposing corpses of a cold murder case, offering additional clues as to what their living counterparts might have looked like.

"With ancient Egyptian mummies we have additional information—such as ear shape, creases or hair pattern—that should increase the level of accuracy [of the reconstruction]," Wilkinson said.

"The difficult part is what comes after shape—the surface textures, skin/eye/hair colors—these textures/colors are estimated through discussions with Egyptology experts as the most likely appearance.

"The age regression was the most challenging aspect as this involved changing both [Ramesses II's] skeletal structure and his facial appearance."

Pharaoh Ramesses II ruled from 1279 to 1213 B.C., the second-longest reign of any ancient Egyptian ruler. He is believed to have been the unnamed pharaoh in the Bible who persecuted Moses and the Israelites in the story of Exodus. His mummy was discovered in 1881 near Luxor in southern Egypt.

For the present model, Sahar Saleem, a professor of radiology at Cairo University, made a 3D model of the pharaoh's head and skull using a CT scanner, which Wilkinson used for the facial reconstruction.

Historical reconstructions like this play an important role in helping us gain a better understanding of our past.

"Research shows that human facial appearance is critical to status and success—and this is especially true for leaders, where appearance may help us to understand their power, resilience and charisma," Wilkinson said. "Visualizing how a famous historical figure looked can provide a deeper understanding of them and allow us to connect to them as a person rather than a museum artifact.

"In this case, we can stare into the face of an incredibly powerful and resilient leader, we can see him at the height of his power, and we can compare him to great contemporary leaders."

In recent years, Wilkinson and her team have reconstructed the faces of numerous historical figures, including England's King Richard III and Saint Nicholas (aka Santa Claus.) But Hew Morrison, a forensic artist from Inverness in Scotland, who also works in facial reconstruction, said that we can learn just as much from the faces of the unknown dead.

"With historical facial reconstructions, the faces sometimes remind members of the public of someone that they know," he told Newsweek. "Being able to look at the faces of individuals from the past can give us a great opportunity to identify with our own ancient ancestors. By reconstructing ancient faces, the personality of these individuals can be reinstated and we can look into their past by coming face to face with them."

Morrison has recently worked on reconstructing the face of the first-ever pregnant Egyptian mummy to be discovered, who is believed to have died around 2,000 years ago while 28 weeks pregnant.

At the Face Lab, Wilkinson's team have also breathed life into the faces of lesser known figures of ancient Egypt, working in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum. In 2018, they reconstructed the faces of two collectors' mummies—the Goucher Mummy and the Cohen Mummy, named after their collectors—to present the mummies as real people.

The team have also just finished working on the facial depiction of a Viking from a burial site at St. John's College, Oxford in the U.K.

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