LONDON: The face of Egyptian pharaoh King Tutankhamun has been newly reconstructed, The Independent reported on Thursday.
The scientists who conducted the reconstruction and study published the results in the Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology.
“Looking at him, we see more of a young student than a politician full of responsibilities, which makes the historical figure even more interesting,” co-author Cicero Moraes told MailOnline, as reported by The Independent.
“Faced with the studies we have developed with data from living people, comparing projections with actual measurements, we are confident that there is good compatibility with the real face,” Moraes added.
Egyptologist and archaeologist Michael Habicht of Australia’s Flinders University said the new reconstruction was “amazingly close” to one done by a French team a few years ago.
“It also corresponds with the ancient depictions of Tutankhamun, especially with the head on the lotus flower from his tomb treasure,” Habicht told The Independent.
Various facial reconstructions have been attempted throughout the years, with the first in 1983 by forensic artist Betty Pat Gatliff, who built a mould using a plaster skull constructed from radiographs.
During his lifetime, Tutankhamun was worshiped as a deity, ascending to the throne at the age of nine. He died when he was just 19 and is renowned for the abundance of wealth discovered inside his tomb.
To date, his tomb is the only one that has been discovered totally intact, and its discovery is regarded as one of the most significant archaeological finds in history.
New evidence in 2022 suggested that the archaeologist who discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb stole treasure from it.
