Image: A digital facial reconstruction © Perth Museum, Culture Perth and Kinross, working with Chris Rynn, 2024.
Three digital avatars have been created in a project supported by experts in facial reconstruction
Ahead of its March reopening, Perth Museum has revealed details of a project to recreate the faces of local people from the distant past.
Three digitally reconstructed faces from the Bronze age are set to go on display, following the detailed assessment of their remains.
The recreation process was informed by scientific research at the University of Aberdeen and carried out by independent craniofacial anthropologist Chris Rynn.
Among the remains used in the project is a bronze age skeleton which was found locally in 1962. Analysis suggests that the skeleton was an adult female, who was likely in her 30s at the time of her death.
A video published by the museum shows the steps involved in the recreation of the woman’s face.
A further two reconstructed faces come from bronze-aged skeletons discovered locally in the early 1980s, and early 2000s.
Welcoming the results of this strand of interpretation for the new Museum, curator Mark Hall said: “It’s always an immense privilege to work with the physical remains of our past and collaborate with other colleagues to recover some of the stories those remains can tell us about past lives and ways of living.
“I hope visitors will be excited to engage with the digital facial reconstructions, of which there will be more to discover in the new Museum. I have come to think of these faces as avatars from the past, here to guide us through some of its realities”.