(ORDO NEWS) — A famous 9,000-year-old human skull discovered near the biblical city of Jericho has been given a new facelift for its owner thanks to the efforts of a multinational team of researchers.
The so-called “Skull of Jericho” – one of seven discovered by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon in 1953 and now in the British Museum in London – was found covered in plaster and with shells for eyes, apparently in an attempt to make a death mask. more realistic.
This prehistoric design was “the world‘s first facial reconstruction,” said Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes, head of a project to study the ancient remains.
In 2016, the British Museum published accurate measurements of the Jericho skull , based on micro-computed tomography or micro-CT scans – essentially very detailed X-ray scans.
The measurements were then used to create a virtual 3D model of the skull, and the model was used to make an initial approximation of the face.
But the new approximation, uses a variety of methods to determine what a face might have looked like, and goes a step further by artistically adding head and facial hair.
Skull from Jericho
Although the skull was originally believed to be female, later observations showed that it belonged to a man, therefore, in the new version, his face is from a dark-haired man aged 30-40 years.
Based on how the wound on the skull healed, archaeologists suggest that by today’s standards, he was “middle-aged” at the time of his death.
According to Moraes, an unusual feature of the Jericho skull in the British Museum is that the skull, or top of the skull, is significantly larger than average.
In addition, the skull appears to have been artificially lengthened when the man was very young, probably by tightly bandaging it; some of the other stucco skulls found by Kenyon also show signs of this operation, but the cause is unknown.
Jericho appears in the biblical Book of Joshua as the first Canaanite city attacked by the Israelites after they crossed the Jordan River around 1400 BC.
According to the biblical story, the walls of Jericho collapsed after Joshua ordered the Israelites to circle around the city for seven days, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, and then blowing trumpets and making war cries.
But archaeological research has been unable to find any evidence for this event, and it is now considered by many historians to be Jewish propaganda.
However, archaeologists have determined that Jericho was permanently inhabited approximately 11,000 years ago; and in 1953 Kenyon unearthed seven skulls at a site near the ancient city.
Each was encased in plaster, and the space inside the skull was covered with earth. They also had kauri sea shells placed over their eye sockets, and some showed traces of brown paint.
Since then, more than 50 stucco skulls from around the same period have been found in the region and are now thought to be relics of funerary practice, according to a study by Denise Schmandt-Besser, professor emeritus of arts and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
New approach
The latest work used an approach based on anatomical strain and statistical predictions derived from computed tomography (CT) scans thousands of x-rays stitched together to create a three-dimensional image of living people.
These methods are also used to plan plastic surgeries and make prostheses (artificial body parts),
Moraes is now hoping to digitally approximate other stucco skulls from the region, but so far only accurate measurements of the Jericho skull in the British Museum have been released.
“There are a lot of mysteries surrounding this material,” Moraes said. “With new technology, we are discovering new things in items, but there is still a lot to be explored.”
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