Ancient Egyptian boy reconstructed

Researchers have unveiled a 3-D facial reconstruction of an Egyptian boy who was mummified during the first century A.D. Analysis of the skeleton’s bones and teeth suggests the boy was roughly 3 to 4 years old at the time of his death. To create the 3-D reconstruction, the researchers took computerized tomography (CT) scans of the 30-inch-long skeleton encased in the linen mummy wrappings. Their analysis suggested the boy likely succumbed to pneumonia.

Researchers conclude that the similarities between the reconstruction and the portrait are so striking that the painting must have been created just before or after the boy’s death. Attaching so-called “mummy portraits” to the front of mummified corpses was a popular practice among high status Roman Egyptian society between the first and third centuries A.D.