{"id":21035,"date":"2023-06-13T14:23:31","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T04:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/?p=21035"},"modified":"2023-06-13T16:43:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T07:13:26","slug":"pharoahs-face-comes-to-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/2023\/06\/13\/pharoahs-face-comes-to-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Pharoah’s face comes to life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Archaeology, visual and other experts have come up with a modern facial approximation to reconstruct what the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun may have looked like.<\/p>\n

While much has been written about the royal youth, who held the throne from about the age of 9 until his death a decade later around 1323 BC, his actual appearance is still a matter of debate.<\/p>\n

\"\"The new facial approximation, featuring slight buck teeth and eyeliner on his lower lid, provides a glimpse of what the historical figure may have looked like, revealing new insight into some of the former king’s more peculiar facial characteristics.<\/p>\n

“Tutankhamun is of archaeological interest not only because of his world-famous burial treasure, but because he ruled for a decade at an important phase in Egyptian history,” says Dr Michael Habicht<\/a>, a senior research fellow from Flinders University and co-author of the new research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

King\u00a0Tut’s father, the revolutionary pharaoh Akhenaten, had discouraged worship of all gods except Aten, the sun disc. But Tut did not follow his father’s ways.<\/p>\n

“His reign saw a return to the old gods after his father Akhenaten’s new [Aten] cult had failed and plunged the land on the Nile into chaos,” says Dr Habicht. “Therefore, a forensic facial reconstruction is helpful to get an idea of the appearance of the young king.”<\/p>\n

To make the three-dimensional facial approximation of King Tut<\/a>, an international team of researchers, including Dr Elena Varotto<\/a> and Associate Professor Francesco Galassi<\/a>, used existing CT (computed tomography) scans of the mummy’s complete skull. They also referenced X-rays and measurements of the skull taken by archaeologists.<\/p>\n

Earlier research had noted that Tutankhamun’s skull was slightly longer than normal. The new investigation found additional evidence for this finding.<\/p>\n

While studying the data, the researchers noticed that he had not only a uniquely shaped head but also an exceedingly large brain volume, especially when compared with cadaver skulls whose scans were also available in the research database.<\/p>\n

The average man has a brain volume of approximately 1234 cubic cm, whereas the pharaoh’s was 1432 cubic cm.<\/p>\n

\"\"“His skull has a particular shape; in our study the measurements showed affinities with skulls that underwent [skull reshaping], but this does not seem to be the case of Tutankhamun, because although it has a peculiar, elongated shape, everything indicates that it is a natural skull,” says study co-researcher Professor C\u00edcero Moraes, a Brazilian graphics expert, in\u00a0 Live Science<\/em><\/a>. “Interestingly, its structure differs from the characteristics of other Egyptian mummies present in our database.”<\/p>\n

The researchers created two facial approximations. The first was an “objective” grayscale image showing the pharaoh with his eyes closed in a neutral position. The second, a colorised version that offers “the necessary elements for a complete humanisation,” depicts a young man with a shaved head and a dark skin tone wearing eyeliner, as was the style at the time, according to the study.<\/p>\n

This is far from the first time that a facial approximation has been made of King Tut. In 1983, forensic artist Betty Pat Gatliff created a reconstruction using a plaster cast of his skull. And in 2005, researchers based in France, the United States and Egypt worked in tandem to create their own separate approximations.<\/p>\n

The article, Pharaoh Tutankhamun: a novel 3Ddigital facial approximation (May 2023)\u00a0 by C Moraes, ME Habicht, FM Galassi, E Varotto and T Beaini, was published in the Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology<\/em> (Florence University Press).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Archaeology, visual and other experts have come up with a modern facial approximation to reconstruct what the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun may have looked like. 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