Archaeology & History

Scientists recreate the face of Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II

By T.K. Randall
December 28, 2022

Image: Riding a Camel Across Egypt
Credit: Adelbayoumi / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) Thanks to some remarkable advances in computer technology, it has become increasingly possible to digitally recreate the past and, in particular, to look upon the faces of people who haven't walked the Earth for hundreds or even thousands of years.

This latest example, which came about thanks to a collaboration between British and Egyptian scientists, used the skull of pharaoh Ramesses II to produce a detailed facial reconstruction of a man who was at one time considered to be the most powerful ruler in Egypt's history.

The third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty, Ramesses II took the throne some 3,200 years ago in 1279 B.C. and ruled for 67 years before his death at the age of 91.

"My imagination of the face of Ramesses II was influenced by his mummy's face," said Sahar Saleem of Cairo University who created the 3D model of the skull."However, the facial reconstruction helped to put a living face on the mummy."

The actual process itself was done at the Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University.

"We take the computer tomography (CT) model of the skull, which gives us the 3D shape of the skull that we can take into our computer system," said lab director Caroline Wilkinson.

"Then we have a database of pre-modelled facial anatomy that we import and then alter to fit the skull."

Source: Mail Online

Tags: Pharaoh, Egypt