Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (14.2002(2003))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

skulls, tissue data from Black North
Americans9-1 are used. In the cases of
Ancient Egyptians with Caucasoid skulls,
tissue data from Mixed Race Africans10' or
White Europeans11' are used. The origins,
attachments and strength of each muscle,
and the details of the facial features can be
determined from the skeletal structure,
following the reconstruction rules of
Krogman, Gerasimov, Fedosyutkin and
Nainys,12' and Neave.
The Unit of Art in Medicine at the
University of Manchester has a 75%
success rate with identification following
forensic facial reconstruction and has
carried out many laboratory studies into
the accuracy of the technique. These
results suggest that it is possible to
recreate the face of an individual that could
be recognized by a relative or close
friend.13' Therefore, the accuracy of this
forensic facial reconstruction technique is
considered sufficient to enable a compar-
ison of the face of an Egyptian mummy
with the attached portrait.
A study was carried out by R. I. Macleod
and associates14' of an ancient Egyptian
mummy from the collection of the National

Museums of Scotland. The mummy was
examined by CT scanning and a facial
reconstruction was prepared and compared
with the painted portrait attached to the
wrappings. No mention is made as to
whether the portrait was viewed prior to the
production of the reconstruction, but the
results suggest that the face is a close
resemblance to the portrait.
The largest study of mummy portraits
with facial reconstruction was carried out
by Wilkinson, Neave and Smith15' using
four different Egyptian mummies. One
male and one female from the British
Museum collection,16' one male from the
Carlsberg Glyptotek collection17' and one
male from the Metropolitan Museum of
Art collection18' were reconstructed in
a blind study. The British Museum mum-
mies had been previously unwrapped and
the original skulls were available, but the
other two specimens were intact and the
skulls were reconstructed from the digital
data from CT scans.19' The reconstructions
of the British Museum mummies showed
strong similarities to the portraits with
many consistent features, particularly at
the mouths, noses and facial proportions

9) J-S. Rhine and H.R. Campbell, “Thickness of facial tissues in American Blacks”, Journal of Forensic Sciences 25(4)
(1980), 847-858.
10) V.M. Phillips and N.A. Smuts, “Facial reconstruction: utilisation of computerised tomography to measure facial tissue
thickness in a mixed population”, Forensic Science International 83 (1996), 51-59-
11) R. Helmer, Schadelidentiftzierung durch elektronische Bildmischung (Heidelberg: Kriminalistik Verlag 1984).
12) B.A. Fedosyutkin and J.V. Nainys, “The relationship of skull morphology to facial features”, Chapter 15 of Forensic
Analysis of the Skull, eds. M.Y. Iscan and R.P. Helmer (New York 1993).
13) C.M. Wilkinson and R.A.H. Neave, “Skull re-assembly and the implications for forensic facial reconstruction”. Science &
Justice 41 (3) (2001), 233-234; C.M. Wilkinson and D.K. Whittaker, “Juvenile forensic facial reconstruction — a detailed accuracy
study”. Proceedings of the 10th Meeting of the International Association of Craniofacial Identification (Italy 2002), 98-110.
14) R.I. Macleod, A.R. Wright, J. MacDonald, and K. Eremin, “Historical Review — Mummy 1911-210-1" ,J .R.Coll.Surg.
Edinb. 45 (April 2000), 85-92.
15) K. Douglas, “Image is everything", New Scientist 2320 (8 Dec 2001), 39-41.
16) The author would like to thank the British Museum and Dr. Paul Roberts and his team for providing these specimens.
17) The author would like to thank the Carlsberg Glyptotek and Dr. Niels Lynnerup and his team for providing the specimen.
18) The author would like to thank Dr. Bob Briers, Dr. David Mininberg and his team, and the Metropolitan Museum of
Art for making their CT scan data available.
19) H. Hjalgrim, N. Lynnerup, M. Liversage and A. Rosenklint, “Stereolithography; Potential applications in
anthropological studies”, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 91 (1995), 329-333 ■

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