A mysterious mummy known only as the Golden Lady because of her gold headdress will be seen for the first time after scientists reconstructed her face.
The woman lived in Roman-occupied Egypt and died at age 40, perhaps of tuberculosis, and her mummy had no hieroglyphics revealing her name.
To protect her remains, they were never unwrapped, but in 2011 she underwent a CT scan for the first time, which revealed new details about her body.
Now her true face has been revealed more than 1,500 years after her death, revealing her “delicate” features as they were during life.
Cicero Moraes, lead author of the new study, said the reconstruction was aided by careful conservation of the mummy.
A mysterious mummy known only as the Golden Lady because of her golden headdress can be seen for the first time after scientists reconstructed her face.
The woman lived in Roman-occupied Egypt and died at the age of 40, perhaps of tuberculosis, and her mummy had no hieroglyphics revealing her name.
He said: ‘The structure is very well preserved, in the original state of discovery, without the mummy having been unwrapped.
“Something that is striking is the presence of short, curly hair, which can be seen in the tomographic reconstruction.”
He continued: ‘We initially reconstructed the skull, based on the CT scan, and then adjusted the position of the jaw.
‘The skull allows us to design structures such as the nose, ears, eye position, lip boundaries and others, using data measured in CT scans of living people.
‘In addition, we use ultrasound measurements, also on living people, to determine the thickness of soft tissue in different regions of the skull.’
Because of its origins in Roman-occupied Egypt, tissue thickness data from modern European women aged 40 to 49 were used.
The resulting face was fused with another face created through a process called anatomical deformation.
Her true face has been revealed more than 1,500 years after her death, revealing her ‘delicate’ features as they were in life.
The team created two versions of the face: one objective, with eyes closed and in grayscale to avoid making judgments about skin tone.
Mr Moraes said: ‘This is where we adjust the face and skull of a virtual donor to fit the parameters of the Golden Lady, resulting in a structurally compatible face.
‘In the end we cross-referenced all the data, interpolating the projections to create the final face.’
The team created two versions of the face: one objective, with eyes closed and in grayscale to avoid making judgments about skin tone.
The other adds more artistic elements, bringing the recreation to life with color and a hairstyle.
In both cases she was helped by the unusual preservation of short, curly hair, which revealed another aspect of the living woman’s appearance.
Cicero said: ‘It is a delicate and youthful-looking face.
“In some ways it reminds me of my mother-in-law! During the process I showed it to some of my family members and they all agreed.”
The CT scan also showed the living woman had a slight overbite, as well as revealing pieces of resin likely inserted during mummification to enhance the smell.
They were helped by the unusual preservation of short, curly hair, which revealed another aspect of the living woman’s appearance.
The CT scan also showed the living woman had a slight crossbite, as well as revealing pieces of resin likely inserted during mummification to enhance the smell.
Cicero’s co-author, archaeologist Michael Habicht of Flinders University in Australia, said the burial “points to a middle-class individual.”
The remains are currently preserved in the Field Museum in the American city of Chicago.
The multinational team behind the reconstruction spans three continents.
The authors include Elena Varotto, also from Flinders University, Francesco Galassi from the University of Lodz in Poland, Veronica Papa from the University of Naples in Italy and Thiago Beaini from the University of Uberlândia in Brazil.
They published their study in Anthropologie – International Journal of Human Diversity and Evolution.