An international team of scientists had reconstructed the face of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen, who was still a teenager when he died more than three thousand years ago.
Tutankhamen c. 1341 BC – c. 1323 BC was the ante penultimate pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. He ascended to the throne around the age of nine and reigned until his death around the age of nineteen.
His features were brought to life by an international team of academics from Brazil, Australia and Italy using a digital model of his mummified skull.
Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Morales, who co-authored the new study, said: “To me, he looks like a young man with a delicate face.
“Looking at him, we see more of a young student than a politician full of responsibilities, which makes the historical figure even more interesting.”
As quoted by reports, Brazilian graphics expert and co-author Cicero Morales said, "He looks like a young man with a delicate face. Looking at him, we see more of a young student than a politician full of responsibilities, which makes the historical figure even more interesting."
Morales said that the team's lack of direct access to the former pharaoh's head made modelling extremely challenging.
But fortunately, the researchers were able to access documents from prior studies that included references to skull measurements as well as photographs of King Tut.
Morales explained, "It was detective work, where traces of information were concatenated in order to provide us with a three-dimensional model of the skull."
"With the proportion data and some important cephalometric measurements, it was possible to take the digital skull of a virtual donor and adjust it so that it became the skull of Tutankhamun," Morales added.
About King Tutankhamun's life
Tutankhamun is a vital part of ancient Egyptian history. He accomplished a lot in his short life after he ascended to the throne around the age of nine and reigned until his death around the age of 19.
Tutankhamun (also known as Tutankhamon, Tutankhamen or, Tutankhaten) was the antepenultimate pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt.
Tutankhamun was worshipped as a deity during his lifetime
Tutankhamun’s most significant actions during his reign were reversing the societal changes enacted by his predecessor, Akhenaten, during the Amarna Period: Tutankhamun restored the traditional polytheistic form of ancient Egyptian religion, undoing the religious shift known as Atenism, and moved the royal court away from Akhenaten’s capital, Amarna.
Tutankhamun was one of the few kings worshipped as a deity during his lifetime; this was usually done posthumously for most pharaohs.
In popular culture, he is known for the vastly opulent wealth found during the 1922 discovery of his tomb, KV62, the only such tomb to date to have been found in near-intact condition. The discovery of his tomb is widely considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time.
Sarcophagus of Pharaoh Ramses II unveiled in Paris
Last month, the sarcophagus of ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II was unveiled to reporters in Paris on Thursday following its rare journey outside of Egypt. The ornate coffin will be on show to the public in the French capital from April 7 to September 6. Benedicte Lhoyer, a scientific advisor to the exhibition, told AFP the "exceptional" loan was thanks to "an unprecedented cooperation between France and Egypt".
The Ramses II exhibition is on a tour that includes the United States and Australia, but only France is receiving the sarcophagus, in recognition of the assistance from French scientists who helped save the mummy from decay following a previous visit to Paris in 1976. The mummy itself has stayed behind this time, since Egyptian law now forbids transporting royal mummies abroad.
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