Scientists took the mask to four centennial Andean mummies. Here’s your faces

A 6 or 7 -year -old child, a woman about 60 years old and two young men were buried in Colombia with “mortuary masks.” Centuries later, researchers digitally removed them and revealed their faces for the first time.

At some point between the 13th and 18th centuries, four indigenous individuals from South America died and were buried with “Mortuary MasksTo cover their face.

Now, centuries later, a team of scientists got “Remove” digitally These masks, and create realistic representations of what their features may have been.

According to, individuals lived in the eastern Andes, between Colombia, between 1216 and 1797. The group consists of a child of 6 or 7 years, a woman about 60 years old and two young men.

Everyone was buried with masks made of waxresin, clay and corn, decorated with small accounts that outlined their eyes.

Despite the damage suffered over the centuries, masks remain an example of an “extraordinary handmade mastery,” says Felipe Cárdenas-ArroyoArchaeologist at the Colombian Academy of History that participated in the project, in the Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) in the United Kingdom.

The tombs of these individuals were lootedfrom what archaeologists have little information about them. At one point, the mummified bodies were eventually collected by the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, where they remain today.

To recreate the faces, the LJMU Face LAB researchers, performed computerized tomography (CT) of the skulls with the masks. A CT captures numerous X-ray images detailed in 2D, from various anglesand combines them to form a three -dimensional model.

This technique allowed scientists “Remove” digitally The layers corresponding to the masks, thus obtaining a clean view of the skulls.

With the skulls digitally “unmasked”The team then used a tactile pen and specialized software for soft tissuelike muscles and fat, to the faces.

In the case of two young men, they resorted to data on the average thickness of face tissues of current adult Colombian men. However, as there is no equivalent data for women and Colombian children, the investigators had to make founded estimates For these reconstructions.

From there, they were Added the final touches. Researchers opted for darker skin, eyes and hair, characteristic of Colombia populations, and included details such as freckles, wrinkles, eyelashes and pores.

Although digital portraits are incredibly realistic, researchers stress that it is only scientific interpretations of the possible aspect of the people – not of exact representations.

“Texture is always the biggest challenge, because we simply don’t know how these people were presenting themselves – whether they had scars or facial tattoos, or what exactly the tone of the skin would be,” he explains Jessica LiuProject Manager on Face Lab, Live Science. “What we present in terms of texture is an average representation, based on what we know about these individuals”.

The faces were publicly revealed for the first time in August, during the World Congress of Mummy Studies held in Peru. In the future, the team expects the project to increase interest in these extraordinary civilizations, said Liu.