OSCAR NILSSON is well-known among archaeologists
for his lifelike facial reconstructions of peoples from
the distant past. Five years after the discovery of
the intact tomb at El Castillo de Huarmey, Miłosz
Giersz‘s team wanted to reconstruct the face of its
most important occupant, the woman who is known
now as the Huarmey Queen. They knew exactly
whom to turn to.
NILSSON’S APPROACH to the work is very “hands
on” rather than relying solely on computer
scans. To re-create the queen’s face, the first
step was to scan her skull (opposite) and
create a 3D printed model as the base.
Scientists had assessed the woman’s age
(estimated to be about 60 years old),
ethnicity, and weight, which allowed
Nilsson to use data sets to estimate
the approximate thickness of her
flesh. Plasticine was used to sculpt
her features and then silicone “skin”
was placed on top of that.
THE QUEEN’S HAIR had been well pre-
served, allowing Nilsson to mimic
her style with a wig of human hair
(from an elderly Andean woman and
purchased in a Peruvian wig shop).
From start to finish, the entire process
took Nilsson 220 hours to create the
astonishing work, giving people
the chance to gaze upon this
woman’s royal visage
once more.
FACE FROM
THE PAST
OSCAR NILSSON/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
THE HUARMEY QUEEN, FACIAL RECONSTRUCTION BY OSCAR NILSSON