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Previously, HouseWife reported on the Egyptian-British team’s recreation of Ramses II‘s appearance at the height of his power. Now a team led by Brazilian digital designer Cicero Moraes has revealed what the ruler looked like shortly before his death.
To recreate the elderly pharaoh’s appearance, researchers used his mummified remains and ran a series of procedures to build the most detailed, accurate image possible.
How It Was Done
Ramses II, who reigned from 1279 to 1213 BC, was one of Ancient Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs, renowned for his military exploits.
To reconstruct his appearance at the time of his death (when he was around 90 years old), researchers started with a 3D model of his skull and layered soft tissues and skin over it. The team produced the image of a frail elderly man with a weathered face, with some features echoing those of the giant statues of Ramses II that still stand in Egypt.
Moraes said the team compared the reconstructed face to the statues of Ramses II and found the statues aren’t very accurate. The statues tend to show a thinner forehead and more pronounced lips and chin than the reconstruction does.
Moraes said the scientists “also analyzed anthropometric data and DNA from the ancient Egyptian population.” The team selected a skin tone that appears often in ancient Egyptian art, since the pharaoh’s true skin color is unknown.
The researchers used data from a 1976 study of Ramses II’s mummified remains, which were discovered in 1881. That work found he had a noticeable overbite and severely worn teeth. The study also identified bone problems that would have caused pain. By the end of his life he experienced memory loss, and his forehead showed prominent veins, the researchers said, as reported by the Daily Mail.
The team gathered measurements from hundreds of modern Egyptians to estimate the likely thickness of the pharaoh’s skin at different points on his skull.
They also used anatomical deformation techniques, starting with the face and skull of a living person who had a similar overbite, then digitally adjusted that data to match the dimensions of the pharaoh’s mummy.
Does This Image Resemble the Previous Reconstruction of Ramses II’s Face?
Experts say the new reconstruction echoes an earlier reconstruction mentioned above.
The elderly Ramses II resembles a 2022 middle-age reconstruction by Professor Sahar Salim of Cairo University and Caroline Wilkinson, director of Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University.
That team also used a 3D model of the pharaoh’s skull and, with specialized software, digitally “rejuvenated” him by nearly 50 years to show him at his peak. Professor Salim called the result a rather attractive man.
“I believe the reconstructed face belongs to a very handsome Egyptian with features characteristic of Ramses II, particularly a prominently defined nose and jaw,” she said.
