Cold case techniques bring mummy’s face to life

Joshua Harker's recreation of Mummy Meresamun's face. See more at joshharker.com.

The University of Chicago News Office reports that the Oriental Institute brought in Chicago forensic artist Joshua Harker and police sketch artist Michael Brassel to reconstruct the face of Meresamun, the Oriental Institute’s 2,800-year-old mummy. Both artists, though working independently, produced strikingly similar images. The drawings are on display at the Oriental Institute Museum, and have been placed on the institute’s website and Meresamun’s Facebook page.

Artist Joshua Harker will return the University of Chicago campus on October 24 to talk about the process of recreating the mummy’s face as part of the 2009 Humanities Day. For more information about that event, see the Humanities Day website.