DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Wilkinson, Caroline: The facial Reconstruction of the Marina el-Alamein mummy
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41370#0071
MARINA EL-ALAMEIN
A Hellenistic-Roman town was excavated
there, its necropolis yielding evidence of
many mummified bodies. The mummy in
question comes from the early 2nd century
AD and was buried not in the main funerary
chamber of a large underground tomb (T 6),
but in the western of two additional burial
chambers cut in the rock on either side of
a rockut staircase that led down to the main
chamber of the tomb. There were three
other mummies, all males of different age,
in this small carefully concealed chamber.
All four mummies were provided with
portraits painted on wooden panels, but
only one was preserved in anything like fair
condition (it is now in the storeroom of the
Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria).
A facial reconstruction of this mummy,
a young man with a gold leaf between his
teeth, was suggested as a further blind
study. The skull of the mummy was copied
on site,21) using a dental alginate mould,
and the plaster skull was transported to the
University of Manchester where the facial
reconstruction was produced.
The young Egyptian was known to be
29 to 30 years of age and the skull was in
good condition. All the maxillary teeth
were present except the 1st and 2nd left
premolars, 2nd right premolar, 1st left
molar and 2nd right molar. All the
mandibular teeth were present except the
1st and 2nd right incisors and the 1st and
2nd right premolars. The skull was small
and gracile with a high level of symmetry.
The skull suggested an oval face shape with
a high forehead and gonial angles greater
than 125 degrees. It exhibited moderate
brow ridges, supraorbital notches and
a deep nasion. The skull had an elongated
sagittal contour, frontal bossing (which
was more marked on the right than the
left), a domed cranium, large developed
mastoid processes, mild prognathism,
a marked occipital bulge and gonial flaring
(Fig. 2).
The finer details of the skeletal
structure of the skull suggested slight up-
turned eye fissures (laterally), eyes of
normal protrusion and arched eyebrows
following the supraorbital margin. The
nasal bones indicated a horizontal
columella, a narrow nasal width, a high
nasal root, rounded tip and high oval alae
with the left alar margin being higher than
the right. The nasal profile was hooked.
The teeth exhibited an overbite with the
maxillary teeth projecting further than the
mandibular teeth. The mandibular canines
were prominent suggesting a square lower
lip shape, and the height of the teeth in-
dicated thick lips, with the lower lip being
Fig. 2. The skull of the Marina Mummy
(Photo C. Wilkinson, Unit of Art in
Medicine, University of Manchester)
21) The author was invited by Prof. W.A. Daszewski to join the team and make a cast of the skull during the March 2002
field season at the site.
69
A Hellenistic-Roman town was excavated
there, its necropolis yielding evidence of
many mummified bodies. The mummy in
question comes from the early 2nd century
AD and was buried not in the main funerary
chamber of a large underground tomb (T 6),
but in the western of two additional burial
chambers cut in the rock on either side of
a rockut staircase that led down to the main
chamber of the tomb. There were three
other mummies, all males of different age,
in this small carefully concealed chamber.
All four mummies were provided with
portraits painted on wooden panels, but
only one was preserved in anything like fair
condition (it is now in the storeroom of the
Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria).
A facial reconstruction of this mummy,
a young man with a gold leaf between his
teeth, was suggested as a further blind
study. The skull of the mummy was copied
on site,21) using a dental alginate mould,
and the plaster skull was transported to the
University of Manchester where the facial
reconstruction was produced.
The young Egyptian was known to be
29 to 30 years of age and the skull was in
good condition. All the maxillary teeth
were present except the 1st and 2nd left
premolars, 2nd right premolar, 1st left
molar and 2nd right molar. All the
mandibular teeth were present except the
1st and 2nd right incisors and the 1st and
2nd right premolars. The skull was small
and gracile with a high level of symmetry.
The skull suggested an oval face shape with
a high forehead and gonial angles greater
than 125 degrees. It exhibited moderate
brow ridges, supraorbital notches and
a deep nasion. The skull had an elongated
sagittal contour, frontal bossing (which
was more marked on the right than the
left), a domed cranium, large developed
mastoid processes, mild prognathism,
a marked occipital bulge and gonial flaring
(Fig. 2).
The finer details of the skeletal
structure of the skull suggested slight up-
turned eye fissures (laterally), eyes of
normal protrusion and arched eyebrows
following the supraorbital margin. The
nasal bones indicated a horizontal
columella, a narrow nasal width, a high
nasal root, rounded tip and high oval alae
with the left alar margin being higher than
the right. The nasal profile was hooked.
The teeth exhibited an overbite with the
maxillary teeth projecting further than the
mandibular teeth. The mandibular canines
were prominent suggesting a square lower
lip shape, and the height of the teeth in-
dicated thick lips, with the lower lip being
Fig. 2. The skull of the Marina Mummy
(Photo C. Wilkinson, Unit of Art in
Medicine, University of Manchester)
21) The author was invited by Prof. W.A. Daszewski to join the team and make a cast of the skull during the March 2002
field season at the site.
69