Reconstruction of female mummy from ancient Egypt reveals new face

An ancient Egyptian female mummy found in an Australian school library has been reconstructed using scientific methods, revealing a new face and offering insights into her appearance in life

In Australia, the reconstruction of an ancient Egyptian female mummy’s face found in a school library has been completed. The mummified head has been reconstructed using scientific methods and given a new face.

It is not known precisely how the mummified head found in Grafton High School in New South Wales, about 480 kilometers (298.2 miles) north of Sydney, came from Egypt, but a centuries-old note states it belonged to an authentic Egyptian mummy.

During reconstruction, medical scans and forensic techniques were used to create 3D-printed sculptures to show what the head would have looked like in life.

Forensic sculptor Jennifer Mann, who carried out the reconstruction, said that this work de-emphasizes the display of human remains and offers a solution to the reluctance of museums to exhibit ancient human remains.

Mann, who works at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in Melbourne, has previously reconstructed the faces of many historical figures, including the mummified head of the ancient Egyptian woman Meritamun.

For the reconstruction, the researchers created a digital model of the ancient skull by scanning it with computed tomography. Then they printed it three-dimensionally with polymer resin, allowing Mann to create a realistic reconstruction.

The scans and analysis revealed that the head belonged to a woman who was between 50 and 60 years old when she died. In addition, gold pieces glued to the mummified head showed that it belonged to a woman living during the Greco-Roman period in Egypt.

This reconstruction work produced a realistic depiction of an elderly Egyptian woman with hair in the famous Greek style.

Source: Newsroom