Researchers recreate face of woman who lived in Stone Age
Just under a month ago, we reported here at Mega Curioso that scientists were able to recreate the features of a man who lived 700 years ago. Now the story is even older: it comes from the Stone Age!
In 2002, archaeologists found a skeleton in the Tham Lod cave in Thailand, which, though fragmented, still had the bones of the head and teeth. From then on, Susan Hayes and her team at Wollongong University in Australia devoted themselves to studying it and even recreated its approximate appearance; The results were published in the journal Antiquity .
Following clues
The body lay on its side, flexed, and above the tomb was a circle of five large stones and rounded limestone fragments. This may be interpreted as part of the ritual used at his burial, but for now there is only speculation, as researchers have not found a pattern among the tombs in the region.
Using accelerator mass spectrometry, the team separated radiocarbon isotopes from the sediment where the body was found. Then, based on the rates of decay of this type of carbon, it was concluded that the bones probably belonged to a woman who was between 25 and 35 years old and about 1.50 meters tall and lived for over 13, 6 thousand years.
That means she is “the oldest person to be excavated from her grave in northwestern Thailand and probably a direct descendant of the founding population of Southeast Asia, ” archaeologist Rasmi Shoocongdej of Bangkok's Silpakorn University explains.
Detailing the face
To reproduce the woman's face, the team did not use the widespread forensic facial reconstruction method. Hayes reveals that "facial reconstruction is a hugely popular method, but it has been found to be scientifically invalid since 2002 or so." Therefore, the strategy adopted in this case was a technique called “facial approximation, ” which is based on a series of tissue-bone relationships and considers measurements of contemporary individuals from around the world.
By the way, the team considered the woman the perfect candidate to test whether the new methods could then reconstruct the unique details of facial features of such an ancient, non-European individual. The result was a small woman with almond-shaped eyes and a wide jaw. However, Hayes warns that this is probably a general impression, not an absolutely faithful portrayal of Tham Lod's wife's appearance.
Based on the comparisons made, the researchers found that the facial approximation showed a closer connection with East and Southeast Asian women, as well as similarities to the current appearance of Japanese women in face shape and height. In addition, eye, nose, and mouth analyzes pointed to morphological similarities between the Stone Age girl and African women.
The study team itself admits that the disadvantage of the method used is that much more time is needed to achieve reconstruction; However, Hayes argues that "the dead deserve the best we can do, regardless of when they lived, and that includes taking the time to apply the best methods for estimating every single face of humans in the past."
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