The face of a seven-millenia-old woman whose remains were discovered seven months ago in Tehran’s Molavi neighborhood has been reconstructed.
In November 2014, archeology student, Mahsa Vahabi, accidentally discovered ancient earthenware in a sewage trench dug by Tehran’s Water and Wastewater Company. The discovery garnered attention from the Iranian Center of Archeological Research, which formed a team with Vahabi to explore the site.
The excavation team soon found an exceptionally intact skeleton of a woman dating back 7,000 years, Mehr News Agency reported.
Archeologists began studying the well-preserved remains. Mohammad Reza Rokni, an archeology expert at the research center, created a 3D reconstruction of her face. For this purpose, the skeleton was x-rayed and scanned. He then turned the x-ray images into 3D photogrammetric maps by computer, where dots and curves make up the outer surface of the face.
“The model was developed drawing upon the supine position of the skeleton to represent its true position when interred. To reconstruct the face we added a digital version of missing parts mounted on the 3D model,” he said.
Commenting on the skin and hair color of the reconstruction, Rokni said his team was inspired on drawings found on pottery discovered in Cheshmeh Ali in southern Tehran.
Rokni claims the reconstructed face is a 95% match to the woman’s actual face.
“To fine-tune the facial features, the software was fed with images of real faces,” he said.
