July 24, 2007
Modern imaging technology may help us take a look at the face of a woman immortalized in stone who hasn’t walked the earth for thousands of years.
The bust of Nefertiti housed in Berlin’s Altes Museum, is one of the most renowned works of ancient Egyptian sculpture was put through a CT scan 15 years ago. The scan revealed that a second structure was hidden inside that was presumed to be a cast of the subject’s face, but the image resolution was too poor to be conclusive.
With recent advances in CT scanning, researchers called for a repeat scan to document the structure within the bust. Results of the scan, which was conducted using a Siemens Medical Solutions SOMATOM Sensation 64-Slice CT, are included in a new National Geographic Channel special.
With the help of one of Siemens’ highest resolution CT scanners, scientists at the Imaging Science Institute in Berlin, as well as the National Geographic team, were able to X-ray the bust without damaging it.
Researchers who conducted the original CT scan of Nefertiti assumed that the bust’s limestone core would more accurately approximate the subject’s face. After the facial mold was cast, the limestone core was coated with plaster and painted. Prof. Wildung said that the portrait on the coat of plaster is not very representative and that the bust itself is of greater value in determining the features of the subject.
