Colombian mummies’ faces revealed for first time after removing death masks

Scientists in a recent breakthrough have successfully unveiled the faces of centuries-old mummies from the Andes of Colombia for the very first time.

The team has digitally removed death masks from and the skulls to reconstruct their faces which they presented for the very first time during the 11th World Congress on Mummy Studies in Peru.

These individuals belonging to the 13th and 18th centuries were found buried deep with death masks covering their faces and jaws.

Initially the CT scans were performed on the masked skulls. By using the X ray, the researchers generated virtual 3D images by taking a lot of images of 2D slices of samples and putting them together. Through this approach, the team was successful in digitally revealing the skulls by removing the layers.

The researchers also performed virtual sculpting using specialized software and a haptic touch stylus pen to superimpose soft tissues and muscles onto a digitally unmasked skull.

After giving the individuals’ skin, hair, and eye colour according to region, they gave them facial texture.

According to Jessica Liu, the project manager, "Texture is always the biggest challenge, just because we simply don't know how they would present themselves, whether or not they have any facial scarring or tattoos, or if that actually is the skin tone.

“What we present in terms of texture is an average representation, based on what we know of these individuals,” Liu added.