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Mummy Facial Reconstruction |
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One of the most captivating items in the NMS collection is a
striking 'Portrait Mummy'. During the Roman period it became
fashionable to include a painted portrait
in the mummy wrappings, and to elaborately
weave and stud the bandages. In addition feet
and hands were often molded in plaster and fitted to the wrappings.
Ironically this attention to the outer appearance was thought
to coincide with a dramatic decline in the standard of the preservation
processes used by the embalmers. |
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As part of the mummy project this mummy was CAT scanned. CAT
(or Computer Aided Tomography) is a sophisticated XRay technique
which involves building up a 3-d image of a body by taking a
series of 'slices' through it. This enables Egyptologists to
to see exactly what is inside a set of wrappings without damaging
them.
One exciting by-product of this process is that the scans
can be used to build up a 3 dimensional model in plastic of the
Mummies skull, and then to produce an approximate reconstruction
of the face of the mummy. |
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The question the project was trying to answer was 'Is the portrait
board an accurate representation of the Mummified man ?'. When
the reconstruction of the features was complete the similarity
to the face on the wrappings was striking. The addition of black
curly hair and a short beard, as shown on the portrait, proved
that the portrait was an accurate depiction of the mummies actual
face. Judge for yourself. |
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Project homepage
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