Sometimes in ancient burials, people were interred with “death masks” — coverings over the face and jaw, made of materials like clay, wax, resin or maize. In a recent study, scientists have now digitally removed these masks from four Colombian mummies to reconstruct how these individuals might have looked during life — giving us a rare chance to “see” the faces beneath the coverings.
These mummies, from the Andean region of Colombia, lived sometime between the 13th and 18th centuries. The four individuals included a child about 6–7 years old, a woman in her 60s, and two young adult males. Although their graves were looted in the past, the masks remained on their faces, hiding the skeletal features below.
Using CT scans, the research team captured highly detailed 3D images of the skulls, then removed the digital layer corresponding to the mask. On top of the exposed skulls, they added soft tissue — muscles, fat, and skin — using specialized software and a haptic stylus (a kind of digital sculpting tool). The result: four reconstructed faces with neutral expressions.
Because the masks themselves were often damaged (noses missing, base edges broken), the reconstructions also depended on modeling choices. For example, for the two male adult skulls, the team used modern facial-tissue depth data from present-day Colombian males to guide how much soft tissue to add. But for the woman and child, no such modern data exists for those groups, so more interpretive decisions had to be made.
Features like nose shape and size were chosen by measuring the underlying bone and comparing with an array of possible nose forms. Skin, hair, and eye color were assigned based on typical traits of the region. Then the finishing touches — texture, wrinkles, eyelashes, pores — were added, though the researchers emphasize these are putative details. In their own words, these faces show what they could have looked like, not exact portraits.
These reconstructions serve as a bridge to the past, helping us visualize and humanize ancient people whose faces would otherwise remain hidden. The project also shines light on the cultural practice in pre-Hispanic Colombia of burying individuals with death masks — a practice more often observed in other parts of South America.
