The reconstruction of the face of an Egyptian man who lived 35,000 years ago “lacks credibility”, experts say.
Brazilian archaeologist Moacir Elias Santos and 3D designer Cícero Moraes, also from Brazil, announced on 8 April that they had created a digital image of a male skeleton using photogrammetry.
The laid-out skeleton is of a young man dating back to the Upper Paleolithic age, 35,000 years. He was buried near the village of Nazlet Khater in Sohag Governorate, Upper Egyptian.
The curvature of the man’s spine suggests that he carried heavy loads and a stone tool was placed next to his remains.
However, authorities at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) in Fustat doubt the credibility of the Brazilians’ findings.
“The Brazilian team did not take the correct scientific, administrative and legal measures that are internationally-recognised in the field of scientific research, as they did not submit any request to the museum authority to photograph the skeleton or take anatomical measurements,” NMEC authorities said in a statement issued by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
“Nor did they indicate the source of the anatomical measurements, which lends no credibility to the results of the research, the anatomical proportions contained therein, or in the process of re-imagining the face,” the statement added.
“The team based their research on a purely artistic vision of the skeleton by using graphic programmes and not on anatomical measurements. These results therefore go against the standards of scientific research,” the authors of the statement added.
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