Earlier, HouseWife reported an Egyptian-British team’s reconstruction of Ramesses II at the height of his power. Now researchers led by Brazilian digital designer and reconstructor Cicero Moraes have revealed what the aging ruler looked like shortly before his death.
To recreate the appearance of the elderly Ramesses II, the team used the pharaoh’s mummified remains. They performed numerous procedures to produce as detailed and accurate an image as possible.
How did they do it?
Ramesses II, who ruled from 1279 to 1213 BC, was one of Ancient Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs, best known for his military campaigns.
To reconstruct his appearance at death — around age 90 — researchers built a 3D model of his skull and layered soft tissue and skin over it. The result is a frail, elderly man with a weathered face, whose features echo those of the giant statues of Ramesses II that still stand in Egypt.
Moraes says the team compared the reconstructed face with the statues and found the statues give a somewhat inaccurate image of the pharaoh — depicting him with a thinner forehead, more pronounced lips, and a sharper chin.
Moraes says the team analyzed anthropometric data and DNA from ancient Egyptian populations. They chose Ramesses II’s skin color based on ancient Egyptian art, since the pharaoh’s true skin tone is unknown.
They also used data from a 1976 study of Ramesses II‘s mummified remains, which were discovered in 1881. That study found he had a noticeably misaligned bite and heavily worn teeth. It also identified bone problems that likely caused him pain. Daily Mail reported that in his final years he suffered memory loss and developed very prominent veins on his forehead.
The team also collected data from hundreds of modern Egyptians to estimate the possible thickness of the pharaoh’s skin at different points on his skull.
They modeled anatomical deformation by using the face and skull of a living person with a similar bite misalignment, then digitally adjusted that data to match the pharaoh’s skull.
Does this match the previous reconstruction of Ramesses II?
Experts say the new result aligns with the earlier reconstruction mentioned above.
The elderly Ramesses II resembles the middle-aged reconstruction created in 2022 by Professor Sahar Salim of Cairo University and Caroline Wilkinson, director of Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University.
Those researchers also used a 3D model of the pharaoh’s skull. Using software, they “rejuvenated” the ruler by nearly 50 years to show him at his prime — producing what Professor Salim called a rather attractive man.
“I believe that the reconstructed face belongs to a very handsome Egyptian with facial features characteristic of Ramses II, particularly with a prominently defined nose and jaw,” she said.
