The boy behind the mask: how scientists built the face of Tutankhamun
The face of Tutankhamun, the Egyptian boy king whose early death sparked an historical murder mystery, was revealed yesterday.
Archaeologists working with forensic specialists and artists have created reconstructions of the pharaoh's head using information from a computed tomography (CT) scan carried out on his mummified body earlier this year.
The cause of Tutankhamun's death around 1325BC has long been a matter of historical controversy. Speculation about royal intrigue, plots and cold-blooded assassination were bolstered by the discovery of skull fragments in X-rays carried out in 1968 by anatomists from Liverpool University.
And more on the supposed cause of death here: Gangrene Felled King Tut
So anyway, now we are sure that there is a race of immortal beings who regularly crop up in various societies throughout history as either political figures or entertainers. We offer as proof:
Tutankhamun:
Kennewick Man:
And so, on to far less interesting stuff:
Earliest states possibly in shape 5,000 years ago
Dozens of prehistoric states might have been developing in eastern China as early as 5,000 years ago,thousands of years before the birth of the first textually attested state that existed in Xia Dynasty (2100 B.C.-1600 B.C.), said a Sino-US archaeological research team.
The presumption was based on a decade-long regional survey and excavation in Rizhao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province. Archaeologists with the team are almost sure they have identified the ruins of a prehistoric state dating back between 3,000 B.C. and 2,200 B.C.
The population of the state was roughly 63,000, and the size of its capital might have an area as large as one million square meters, said Fang Hui, a member of the team and professor in the archaeology department at the Shandong University based in Jinan, the provincial capital.
Lost
Archaeological and paleontology studies on a graveyard dating to 2800 years ago in Lafourak of Mazandaran, north of Iran, led to the identification of three unique tombs among a group of 15.
Lafourak village is part of Savad Kouh area of Mazandaran. Excavations in the graveyard located next to the village have dated it to the late Iron Age, to 2800 years ago.
Archaeologists are carrying out new excavations and paleontology studies in the area to identify and save the ancient remains behind the Alborz Dam before it is flooded. Unique tombs with a type of human skeleton never found before in any other part of Iran, have been identified there.
Persian Gulf artifacts suffering as officials dispute where to display them
Several artifacts which were discovered two years ago during underwater archaeological operations in the Persian Gulf are being kept in improper conditions at Tehran’s Masudieh Palace.
The items, which were the first discoveries in the field of underwater archaeology in Iran, include a 16th century helmet and piece of armor as well as an anchor and several dishes that probably date back to the Sassanid era.