Model Of Mummy's Head Made Without Unwrapping

jekluk writes "This story in World Science has a cool picture. Basically they used CT scanning to create a 3D model of a mummy's head without unwrapping a stitch of the mummy. Looks very lifelike, just as if the guy is asleep. The details are shown down to the mole on his forehead."

Comments

forensic reconstruction

[wowbagger]

As I read the article, they took the CAT scans, then used the data to reconstruct the face in the same way as they reconstruct the faces of skulls now - that is, by using a model of how deep the skin and muscle is on the skull.

In other words, if you could "see through" the wrappings on the mummy, his face would NOT look like the image in the article - it would be dried out and, well, mummified-looking.

Am I understanding this correctly?

[the darn]

I think the CT scan was just a starting point for the nifty image, that is, it revealed bone structure and dessicated facial features, but they had to use "reconstruction" techniques to figure out what he looked like in life. What we see is more of a very sophisiticated "artist's impression" based on the CT than a 3-D snapshot of what's under the bandages. But I might have misread it.

Re:Am I understanding this correctly?

[justkarl]

I work in a medical imaging department, so I have a pretty good understanding of how it works.
For the most part, you hit the nail on the head. What probably happened is they took a very precise CT of his head, and then reconstructed a 3-dimentional image from the axial CT.

It's really interesting, because it's actually very accurate...This probably gives us a very good idea of what he looked like.

Captain Picard

[schnits0r]

AM I the only person who tihnks this guy looked liek captain picard?

Invasive

[pipingguy]

Asked about this technological development, Harwa said, "You're invading my privacy!".

Wow

[adeyadey]

Thats the geezer out of StarGate!

age?

[suckamc_0x90]

"The facial reconstruction revealed Harwa to be 45 years old at the time of his death" How do you tell how old he was based on his facial reconstruction?

Re:age?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because when he was 44, he went to the local skull drilling store and had 44 holes drilled (one for each year obviously). and then when he got back home, his wife was so appalled that she filled in the holes with Egyptian super-glue. Also, It was well known at the time that on your fourty-sixth birthday you will have your jaw removed as a fun party trick. So now, using this information and the FACT that the mummy had 44 filled-in holes (not visible) in his head AND he still had his jaw intact, we can deduce that he is 45 years old.
Thanks for asking.
I took two years of Archaeology in University back about twenty years ago...I never thought that I would use it!

TDz.

Re:age?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh crap...those 44 holes are just image processing artifacts. Nevermind.
I'm guessing the guy is actually 42 years old instead of 45
And that jawbone removal party thing? Yeah, well I just made that up.

Re:age?

[Bowling Moses]

I'm no forensic anthropologist, but here's some ideas: Check the sutures of the skull--the older the person the less trace of them there will be. Second, check the teeth. Increasing wear and damage implies an older (or perhaps poorer...) person. Also you can check to see if the wisdom teeth have erupted or not. Also, the presence of deciduous teeth obviously means a very young age. You could also check bone density--the less dense the older the individual, IIRC. Also I think the jaw will deteriorate as people get older, especially if there are a lot of missing teeth. Also cartilage keeps on growing thoughout the life of a person, so cartilaginous portions of the nose and ears will get larger over time. Just some ideas, and I imagine no one would be too surprised if this individual was in his late 30's or mid-50's.