A global team comprising academics from Australia, Brazil, and Italy collaborated to perform a facial reconstruction of the esteemed King Tutankhamun using his skull that had been mummified.
Facial Reconstruction of King Tutankhamun
MailOnline reports that the facial reconstruction revealed the king's youthful appearance, as he was still an adolescent when he passed away over three millennia ago.
Cicero Moraes, a Brazilian graphics expert, was part of the new study's efforts. He notes that, for him, the reconstruction of King Tutankhamun made him look like a young man with a delicate face. Mr. Moraes adds that, looking at facial reconstruction, one may see a young student compared to a politician who had several responsibilities. For this reason, the historical figure appears more intriguing and interesting.
The study is set to be included in the Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology. Mr. Moraes notes that the team was unable to directly access the skull of the former pharaoh. Because of this, the modeling was quite difficult, the New York Post reports. However, they were able to work around records based on the earliest studies that covered skull measurements and photos of the late king.
Mr. Moraes explains that the work involved detective efforts, wherein they concatenated information traces in order to come up with the skull's 3D model. He adds that with the help of cephalometric dimensions and proportion data, it became possible to use a virtual donor's skull and modify it to become that of king Tutankhamun.
He adds that the lip size, eyeball position, nose front, and ear height were all determined from prior computerized tomography scans. He further explains that, considering the studies developed based on living people's data and the comparison with actual dimensions, they are quite confident that the facial reconstruction is compatible with king Tutankhamun's real face.
The Independent reports that Michael Habicht, an archaeologist and Egyptologist from Flinders University in Australia, explains that the new facial reconstruction was strikingly close to one that was made by a French team a few years before. He adds that the reconstruction corresponds with prehistoric depictions of the king.
King Tutankhamun's face is seen for the first time in over 3,300 YEARS https://t.co/kMnwNC0ISd pic.twitter.com/u2TBjqm30P
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) May 31, 2023
ALSO READ: Revealing King Tut: Bioarchaeologist Employs Digital Reconstruction Unveiling Actual King's Face
King Tutankhamun
While there is still a lot of mystery surrounding the ancient king Tutankhamun, it is known that he was crowned king at the mere age of nine years old. He then ruled the country for a decade until his death at 19 years old, as National Geographic reports.
His burial chamber was found by Howard Carter, a British archaeologist, in 1922. It was found under the Valley of Kings in Egypt. Several survey teams and historians have shown striking interest in his tomb.
As for the cause of King Tutankhamun's death, several speculations and assumptions have surfaced. Some think that he was killed or even poisoned. However, advanced technologies, such as 3D scanning, revealed that the strong king had poor health and even a broken leg. National Geographic notes that the late king could have died due to an infection. However, archaeologists have not conclusively declared that the mystery has been solved.
Check out more news and information on Ancient Egypt in Science Times.
