For those wondering what Egyptian mummies look like, a new DNA recreation shows digital images through 3D reconstruction of what they could look like before being mummified. Learn more about these ancient looks.
Egyptian Mummies 3D Reconstruction
According to the story by CNet, DNA extraction coming from Egyptian mummies is now offering an intriguing glimpse at what three men could have looked like when they were still alive over 2,000 years ago. This genetic sleuthing reportedly led to the highly detailed 3D construction of three people coming from the Nile community called Abusir el-Meleq.
The trio was reportedly estimated to have lived between 2,023 up to 2,797 years ago. The images come as a result of DNA phenotyping which reportedly predicts a certain person's physical characteristics through genetic data. For those wondering what these Egyptian mummies looked like when they were alive, the 3D remake comes up with a visible reconstruction.
Comprehensive DNA Phenotyping
The new re-creations now mark the first time that comprehensive DNA phenotyping has actually been performed on human DNA that was that old. This was according to Parabon Nanolabs, the Virginia-based company behind the images. Parabon works by typically tapping DNA phenotyping to be able to solve criminal cases.
The reconstruction now shows what the men could have actually looked like at 25. This is the company's default age for certain face predictions. During this stage, the face is already mature but has not yet been affected by aging.
Parabon Default Age at 25
Parabon's director of bioinformatics, Ellen Greytak, notes to CNet that when age can actually be estimated from the remains, they also take this into account. It was then noted that when there is an absence of other information, they default show them at age 25.
Parabon actually presented its mummy images at the official 32nd International Symposium on Human Identification. This reportedly took place earlier in September in Orlando, Florida. The conference reportedly focuses on advances that are made in forensic science. Technology is also being used to create a better 3D hologram handshake experience.
DNA Sequencing Used to Map 3D Reconstruction
In order to re-create the faces of these three Egyptian men, the whole Parabon team decided to turn to mummy DNA sequenced by researchers that were in Germany, at the reported University of Tubingen as well the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
They then reportedly extracted just single nucleotide polymorphisms. These are the markers in the genome that then correspond with certain human characteristics. These characteristics include eye and hair color as well as disease predisposition. Technology like 8K resolution is also being used to better understand and help improve electron microscopy.
They then aligned the whole SNPs with the supposed human genome to infer the most likely phenotype for every targeted SNP. They would also then search the database of subjects with other known ancestries for people that have the closest genetic mix to certain ancient Egyptians.
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Written by Urian B.
