‘Monstrous’ Mummy Face: 1,600 Years of Beauty

According to National Geographic, in 2005, archaeologists working at the site called El Brujo, located on the northern coast of Peru, discovered a very peculiar-looking cloth bundle. It was buried in a lavishly decorated tomb that dates back to around the year 400 AD.

Tattooed Mummy

Inside the cloth bundle was the naturally mummified body of a young noblewoman from the Moche culture, which thrived in the region a thousand years before the Inca Empire.

In 2017, experts decided to reconstruct the facial features of this noblewoman who lived in South America approximately 1,600 years ago using advanced 3D forensic technology.

The mummy, referred to by locals as the Señora of Cao, was named after a nearby town, Magdalena de Cao. The mummy is displayed in a museum in El Brujo, but not all visitors can see it. This is because the mummy must be preserved in a temperature-controlled room to maintain it in the best possible condition. Visitors can only look into the display room through a window. Therefore, people cannot directly view the mummy and can only catch a glimpse of it in a mirror.

Señora’s mummy was wrapped in 20 layers of cloth that covered countless artifacts, including a gold necklace.

Museum curators wanted to provide visitors with a clearer view of this remarkable woman. The solution was to create an authentic replica of her face.

Archaeologist Arabel Fernández López, who oversaw the reconstruction process, said: “This is a way to preserve this extraordinary discovery for future generations.”

An international team of archaeologists, anthropologists, forensic scientists, artists, and 3D technology engineers, led by the Augusto N. Wiese Foundation, began the project in November 2016. They removed a total of 20 layers of cloth wrapped around Señora’s body, along with gold, silver, and gilded copper artifacts, to begin the reconstruction.

Scientists speculate that Señora died in her 20s. Why her body was buried with all these sophisticated artifacts and precisely what role she played in her community remains a mystery.

John Verano, an anthropologist from Tulane University who assisted both in unwrapping the mummy and reconstructing the face, said: “Without written records, we don’t know who she was. Clearly, she was an important person. Barely 1.5 meters tall and somewhat thin, she wasn’t a warrior capable of fighting. But perhaps she was the wife of a ruler, or even a ruler in her own right.”

Señora’s mummy wasn’t intact, with the lips retracted, the nose missing, and the eyes and eyelids dried and sunken, giving it a somewhat eerie appearance. The experts had to rely on other clues to determine her appearance, such as the depictions of people on Moche pottery, studies of Moche skeletons that have been excavated, photographs of northern Peruvians from a century ago, and the faces of Moche descendants living in the area around El Brujo today.

To determine details such as eye color, eyebrows, eyelashes, skin tone, and clothing appropriate to Señora’s high status, Fernández López worked with a sculptor who specializes in recreating historical figures for museums.

Finally, after meticulous reconstruction and extensive research, the scientists were surprised by the “breathtaking” beauty of this woman who lived 1,600 years ago.

Arabel Fernández López said: “It was emotional to witness the final step of the reconstruction process. It felt as if this woman had come back to life. I told myself: ‘Alright, Señora, you’re back here with us.’”

Fernández López added: “We want people of all ages to have a unique, memorable experience that connects them to the Señora of Cao.”

The local people have embraced Señora as a special goddess. “People are very proud of her,” Fernández López said. “She appears in discussions about the cultural identity of the indigenous community and has become a symbol of Peruvian women.”

Professor John Verano added: “I think it will be particularly important for children. By looking into her eyes, they will be able to see their relatives and ancestors. That’s something that a lifeless mummy face cannot convey.”