Mummies' Faces, Hairdos, Revealed in 3D: Photos

A young, short man with a slight resemblance to Michael Jackson, a woman with an elaborate hairstyle and an older woman who could slip, unnoticed, into today's society -- all died some 2,000 years ago but now facial reconstructions of the ancient Egyptians have brought them back to life.

The reconstructions were unveiled today at McGill University's Redpath Museum.

The high tech process, involving CT scanning and multiple scientific disciplines, recreates what the three individuals looked like as they were laid to rest nearly 2,000 years ago.

Here, a mummy is set to go into a CT scanner.

Mummies of a young male, a young female and an older woman were virtually unwrapped using CT scanning. Models of their bone structure were then created.

Barbara Lawson, a curator at the Redpath Museum who also worked on the project, added that all three mummies were scanned at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital as part of Western University's IMPACT Radiological Mummy Database Project.

VICTORIA LYWOOD, JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE; REDPATH MUSEUM, MCGILL UNIVERSITY

Forensic artist Victoria Lywood undertook the actual reconstruction work, which was based on the 3-D high-resolution images along with ultrasonic images and anthropological research.

A step in the process involved sketching what the individuals would have looked like.

Some have detected a facial resemblance, at least from the front profile, with the late pop star Michael Jackson. Jackson was, in fact, very interested in Egyptian history, which might have influenced some of his personal style.

VICTORIA LYWOOD, JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE; REDPATH MUSEUM, MCGILL UNIVERSITY

The Theban male died between the ages of 20-30. His mummy was purchased in Thebes, his likely place of death.

The young man was "relatively short in stature," according to Wade.

VICTORIA LYWOOD, JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE; REDPATH MUSEUM, MCGILL UNIVERSITY

Lywood is one of the world's leading experts on such recreations.

"I reconstruct modern-day skulls, archaeological remains and fragmentary skulls," she told Discovery News. "The oldest I have constructed was from 6,000 years ago found in Israel. While there were people of all sizes throughout the ages, my experience is that skull size was much smaller than modern populations."

VICTORIA LYWOOD, JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE; REDPATH MUSEUM, MCGILL UNIVERSITY

This Ptolemaic female was a "late adolescent girl or young woman of average height and elite status," Wade said. "Her age at death is estimated at between 18 and 24 years."

Her mummy was found "in a tomb pit in the solid rock near Hawara el-Makta in Fayum (Lower Egypt) and acquired in Egypt towards the end of the 19th century and donated to the Redpath Museum in 1895," Lawson said.

VICTORIA LYWOOD, JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE; REDPATH MUSEUM, MCGILL UNIVERSITY

Clearly ancient Egyptians prized fashionable coifs, given the complexity of the young woman's hairstyle. Her hair must have been fixed before mummification, perhaps in hopes of sending her off to the next life looking her best.

VICTORIA LYWOOD, JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE; REDPATH MUSEUM, MCGILL UNIVERSITY

The hairdo of a young ancient Egyptian female was reconstructed on a modern woman.

VICTORIA LYWOOD, JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE; REDPATH MUSEUM, MCGILL UNIVERSITY

The reconstructed young woman is shown here without her wig. Clearly her hair was a big part of her look.

VICTORIA LYWOOD, JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE; REDPATH MUSEUM, MCGILL UNIVERSITY

 The oldest individual of the three was this woman -- likely a tall, upper middle-class adult between the ages of 30 and 50 years old.

If she were alive today, this woman (at least based on her physical appearance) would probably fit right in with modern society.

As Wade said, "Humans have been physically pretty much the same for the last 2,000 years...That's not to say that evolution has stopped working on us, but the time frame of 2,000 years is just a drop in the bucket for noticeable physical changes and we've reduced the need for physical changes by adapting culturally."

The three ancient Egyptian people died at somewhat different times and never knew each other. But, as reconstructions, the early Egyptians will spend even more time together, because they will star in a new display in the Redpath Museum's World Cultures gallery starting in February.

VICTORIA LYWOOD, JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE; REDPATH MUSEUM, MCGILL UNIVERSITY

(Source: news.discovery.com)