Ötzi

"The power of Iceman lies in his eerie preservation and in the fact that he was, like most of us, an ordinary human being, nothing more, nothing less. We look back—and we see ourselves."

The Iceman has been given a makeover. The mummified face of "Ötzi " (2nd image) has been restored (1st image) so we can see what he looked like when he was alive c. 3300 B.C.

The reconstruction was done by Dutch artists Alfons Kennis and Adrie Kennis based on forensic mapping technology that uses 3D, infrared, and tomographic images of the skull. In the new image, the approximately 45-year-old man appears prematurely aged, with deep-set eyes (brown, not blue as previously thought), sunken cheeks, a furrowed face, and ungroomed beard and hair. The Iceman is estimated to have stood 5' 3" tall and weighed 110lbs.

Facial reproduction is based scientifically on average tissue depth, but is subject to artistic interpretation, particularly in the areas of the nose, the ears, and the hair. It has been done by sculpting over the skull (or a model of it), but can now also be done digitally. Previous reconstructions and artistic interpretations of Ötzi include a work by British artist Marilène Oliver; American forensic sculptor Frank Bender; the Museum Bélesta in Ariège, France; and Scotland Yard. The latest model will go on display in March at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the mummy’s discovery.

Ötzi's discovery has given rise to a contemporary version of the "mummy's curse," including the 4/18/05 death of German archaeologist Konrad Spindler, who excavated the Iceman in 1991. Spindler died from complications of multiple sclerosis.