Abstract
Craniofacial reconstruction (CFR) -also known as facial approximation or representation - is a forensic technique used for the reconstruction of the ante mortem facial appearance of an individual starting from the skull. CFR techniques are employed in archaeological research to create portraits of people from the past. Moreover, the reconstruction of facial features offers the opportunity to expand the knowledge of the biological profile (age at death, sex, stature, paleopathologies).
In this study, the facial features of a mummy (Suppl.14396) exhibited at the Museo Egizio in Turin (Italy), were reconstructed using computerised tomography (CT-scan) from the mummified cranium, following the combination Manchester method in a virtual environment. This mummy was found alongside some grave goods (e.g., linen cloths. headrest, a clay jar, mirror), during an excavation campaign in Asyut (Egypt), under the direction of Ernesto Schiaparelli (1911-1913). The individual, dated to the Old kingdom (14C), was a mature woman, showing several dental pathologies (e.g., periodontitis, abscess) and signs of trauma on the right parietal bone of the cranium.
The restitution of the appearance of the mummy will allow the museum visitors to virtually ‘meet’ an individual of the past, no longer only seen as an archaeological remains, but as the human being they once were.