Reconstruction Offers a Glimpse of the Face of “Penang Woman”

GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA—The New Straits Times reports that researchers from the University of Science, Malaysia, and Brazilian 3-D graphics expert Cicero Moraes, have reconstructed the face of “Penang Woman” using information obtained from a CT scan of her 5,000-year-old remains. The bones, along with pottery and stone tools, were discovered in 2017 in a shell midden at the Neolithic site of Guar Kepah, which is located on the northwestern coast of peninsular Malaysia. A total of 41 skeletons have been found in the shell middens at the site since 1851. The researchers suggest that additional study of the remains could provide clues to the origins of Malaysia’s Neolithic population. To read about archaeology in the Malaysian jungle, go to "Letter from Borneo: The Landscape of Memory."