Face of an 8,000-Year-Old Jiahu Man Rebuilt in China
He lived more than 8,000 years ago, and for the first time in modern times he has a face. A team in China has unveiled a reconstruction of a man from the Jiahu site, one of the most famous early Neolithic settlements in the country.
The sculpture was unveiled on September 29 in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province. It was built by researchers from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology and the bioarchaeology laboratory at Jilin University. They combined physical anthropology with high-precision 3D facial reconstruction technology.
Who he was
Zhu Hong, a professor at the Jilin lab, said the shape of the pelvis and the wear on the teeth identified the individual as a man aged 25 to 30 at death. His skull was regularly oval with a prominent brow ridge and strong cheekbones. His face was angular and relatively flat, and his nose was of moderate size. Zhu said these features reflect traits typical of prehistoric people in China’s Central Plains.
How the face was built
The team collected high-resolution 3D data and built a detailed model of the skull. They used 28 key points on the skull and assessed muscle attachment features to shape the contours of the face. They then added subtle wrinkles and a natural beard to fit his age at death. Features like hair, skin color and the beard are informed guesses, as a skull cannot show them.
The Jiahu site
The Jiahu site, in Jiahu Village in Wuyang County, dates from about 9,000 to 7,500 years ago. Archaeologists have found bone flutes, tortoise shells, pottery and stone items there, which are important for exploring the origins of Chinese civilization. Wang Wei, head of the Henan institute, said the work gives the public a more direct way to visualize the people of Jiahu.
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