A Digital Image of an Egyptian Man from Nearly 35,000 Years Ago Revealed

Credit: Courtesy Cicero Moraes

 

Brazilian experts used digital imaging to reveal the face of a 35,000-year-old Egyptian man.

Moacir Elias Santos, an archaeologist, and Cero Moraes, a 3D designer, recreated a digital image from the skeletal remains of a man discovered at an archaeological site in Egypt.

The image depicts a detailed facial approximation of the skull of Nazlet Khater 2, a 35,000-year-old fossil discovered in Egypt’s Nile Valley in 1980.

An anthropological examination later revealed that the skeletal remains belonged to a man of African ancestry who was between the ages of 17 and 29 at the time of his death. According to the analysis, he stood over five feet and three inches tall.

The team used a technique known as facial approximation, which allows archaeologists to recreate a deceased person’s facial features using skeletal remains.

Anthropological analysis later identified the skeletal remains as being of a man of African ancestry, aged between 17 to 29 years old at the time of his death. Credit: Courtesy Cicero Moraes
“A few years ago, we were already working on a series of approximations related to human evolution, with the best-known fossil replicas,” Moacir Santos, archaeologist at the Ciro Flamarion Cardoso Archaeology Museum in Ponta Grossa, Brazil told CNN. “The videos were converted into photos and were used for the elaboration of the photogrammetry of the skull, which shaped the study.”

After viewing the man’s skeletal remains at Cairo’s National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Santos and Moraes used photogrammetry to extract 3D information from photographs.

Experts have used this method to determine how humans have evolved over time.

In February, researchers revealed a 3D reconstruction of an ancient Nabataean woman based on remains discovered in a 2,000-year-old tomb in Hegra, Saudi Arabia, in 2015.

“Using the skulls of living people in addition to work carried out in the forensic field… the probability that the image resembles what NK2 looked like is significantly high,” Moraes, the designer, told CNN.
Photogrammetry is the process of extracting 3D information from photographs, which is what Santos and Moraes did after viewing the man’s skeletal remains at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo. Credit: Courtesy Cicero Moraes
Santos and Moraes hope that their findings will help other archeologists conduct research on human evolution. Following their study, which was published in the Brazilian journal OrtogOnline last month, they intend to exhibit the facial reconstruction in the future.
“The fact that this individual is over 30,000 years old makes it important for understanding human evolution,” said Santos.
Moraes emphasized that while the man’s jaw is stronger than that of modern humans today, “35,000 (years ago) we are almost the same.”
“If a man of that time could walk down the street (today), people would not see any difference from others,” he said.

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