Abstract
In 2021, an international collaboration between the Ministry of Cultures, Decolonization and Depatriarchalization of Bolivia, the National Museum of Archaeology - MUNARQ, and Eurac Research set the ground for an interdisciplinary (genetics, anthropology, geochemistry, and conservation) scientific research. This collaboration aimed to develop the Bolivian Mummy project (MumBo, PI Valverde) focused on the first bioarchaeological study of pre-Columbian human remains from Bolivia. The MUNARQ collection comprises over 50 mummified and skeletonised bodies, and over 500 human skulls dated to the Late Intermediate Period (1100- 1450 CE) and potentially to the Inca Period (1450 – 1532 CE), many showing signs of artificial mummification and cranial modifications. Conservation and exhibition of human remains in museums poses a controversial cultural challenge within public discourse and academic investigation. Further problematisation arises when dealing with remains from under-represented cultural communities in countries with a history of colonisation. The present project aims to investigate the use of facial depictions as a tool to contextualise human remains within the museum context and facilitate ethical dissemination to the public. The project will utilise participatory co-design methods to ensure that the relevant communities are considered and involved throughout the process of investigation and dissemination. Facial depictions of individuals from the past can be a powerful form of data visualisation that help convey scientific findings to the general public. By collating data gathered via bioarchaeological investigation, faces of people who lived in the past tell both an individualbased and population-based narrative. For this project, anthropological, palaeopathological, and genetic information pertaining to selected individuals (gathered through MumBo) will be considered to maximise accuracy of the facial depictons. Thus, the facial depictions will serve as a tool to facilitate communication of existing knowledge of pre-Columbian population history, fostering public interest in the cultural heritage represented by the MUNARQ collection.