This is what it might have looked like – the face of the young man who died in the biblical city of Jericho more than 9,000 years ago.
Researchers and graphic experts have given the so-called Jericho skull a face using micro-CT technology and graphic editing. The skull dates from the Neolithic period and was found by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon in 1953. It is in the British Museum in London. In 2016, researchers reconstructed the skull using a CT scan and created a 3D replica. That was the basis on which graphics experts have now sculpted a face and modeled body hair and eyes. The narrow shape of the skull is particularly striking: According to experts, the man’s skull was tied off as a child – probably a beauty ideal at that time. Other skulls that researcher Kenyon found here also show this change. Archaeologists estimate the man was in his 30s or 40s when he died. After his death, shells were placed on his eyes and his face was modeled with plaster. About 50 such skulls have been discovered in Jericho over time. Researchers assume that they were made to decorate tombs. It may have been modeled images of deceased relatives that were meant to be remembered. Thanks to graphical reconstruction options, we now have an idea of what the deceased man might have looked like.
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