Face of Paleolithic Woman Reconstructed

MLADEČ, CZECH REPUBLIC—According to a Live Science report, the face of a person whose remains were discovered in 1881 in a cave in the Czech Republic has been reconstructed from computed tomography scans of the skull, which is known as Mladeč 1. The individual is estimated to have been about 17 years old at the time of death sometime during the Upper Paleolithic period, between 43,000 and 26,000 years ago. “When the skull was analyzed individually, the features pointed to a male,” said team member and graphics expert Cicero Moraes. “But when later studies compared the skull with others found at the site, the evidence pointed to a female,” he said. Because the lower jaw is missing, data taken from some 200 CT scans of modern human jaws was used to project missing areas of the face. Soft tissue markers were then added to the digital image of the skull to create a neutral expression. To read about the diet of people who lived at the Upper Paleolithic settlement of Predmostí, go to "World Roundup: Czech Republic."