yamnaya facial reconstruction

Thanks to their incredibly tough lifestyle, their warlike patriarchal culture and their high protein diet, they were big people, with large, robust skulls and big bones. Are we certain about the colors though? "Luckily, the diadem (the silver crown) was found in place, around her head, so that gives us some measure for her head, but it was still a challenge. Ancient DNA reveals how Europeans developed light skin and She was excavated in 1933 from a burial in the , one of Britains earliest Neolithic monuments. Different regions of Old Europe experienced different levels of interaction with these invading Yamnaya and other steppe people. Now, using the partial skull and jewelry from the burial, a scientific Illustrator has digitally recreated the woman's face, as well as the faces of others buried at the site, known as La Almoloya. Read more about the Yamnaya on the Wikipedia page but as always do so with a pinch of salt. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, A skull is laser scanned so that it can inform a digital facial reconstruction. Nothing is known about his DNA, however craniometric analyses suggest that he was in the same cluster as the specimens from the Copper Age Nalchik cemetery, who were possibly Steppe Eneolithic (Proto-Yamnaya). I have the impression their phenotype is portrayed inaccurately, there are remnants of Aryan phenotypes in Central Asia that are still of lighter eyes, hair and skin pigmentation, than what is presented in these recent facial reconstructions. Not according to biology or history. Five of the seven individuals are true locals, forensically reconstructed from skulls excavated around Brighton in the southeastern county of Sussex. New Yamnaya facial reconstructions, with accurate pigmentation phenotypes Date: October 1, 2021 Author: thuletide 3 Comments As far as I know, these are the first As always we have a hard time changing our old harmful ways for new better ones especially when it turns out our ancestors knew better than we did. In this documentary film you can see 3D forensic facial reconstructions of Yamnaya men by the artist Robert Molyneaux and you can learn all about what Yamnaya Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in science writing from NYU. He pioneered paleo-anthropological facial reconstruction of historic figures. Please be respectful of copyright. As such, the pendulum can swing too much one way and affect the end result. In 2018, the dark-skinned, blue-eyed facial reconstruction of Cheddar Man, a 10,000-year-old British resident, made international headlines and sparked discussions about native identity in a nation grappling with Brexit and issues of migration. We need more data and better tools before we can know if they were blond and had blue eyes. For the Europe that pre-dates the Indo-Europeans, visit [r/PaleoEuropean](https://www.reddit.com/r/PaleoEuropean/) To see a long list of links, view the Old Reddit version of this page When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Since the allele is found in populations with EHG but not WHG ancestry, it suggests that its origin is in the Ancient North Eurasian (ANE) population. His skeleton was buried in a kurgan, crouched on its back and covered in red ocher. Because of these innovations they were probably the first people in history to solve the problem of living on the arid, barren grasslands of the Eurasian steppe rather than in the river valleys that cross it. As argued by Wilde et al. European people look and speak how they do because these wagon driving, horse riding warriors are our ancestors. "The earplugs you see in the face reconstruction were found in her tomb, one on each side of her skull. One of the stories that we're going with is how often we've been linked to Europe, and how much of our history is informed by series of mass migrations in each period, he explains, adding that Britain has been physically part of mainland Europe several times over history, the last time just 8,000 years ago. Its name derives from its characteristic burial tradition: yamnaya is a Russian adjective that means related to pits, and these people used to bury their dead in tumuli (the famous kurgans which we call burial mounds in Britain) containing simple pit chambers. Over hundreds of years and many generations, this drove the expansion west and east. Yamnaya: Genetics & Societal Organization David W. Anthony - reddit "La Almoloya is just a fascinating time capsule," she said. Heres the technology that helped scientists find itand what it may have been used for. His skeleton was buried in a kurgan, crouched on its back and covered in red ocher. As the U.K. wrestles with issues of identity and nationalism around Brexit, a new exhibit is putting fresh faces on the region's ancient residents. A "powerful, maybe even frightening" woman buried with a silver diadem in Bronze Age Spain now has a virtually reconstructed face that shows her wearing a serene Web424K views 1 year ago The Yamnaya culture, also called the Kurgan or Late Ochre Grave culture, of the late Neolithic and Bronze age Pontic steppe is believed to belong to one of A mans world? Your email address will not be published. As someone who is a six foot, 210 lb. It was difficult to make him smile without looking too creepy, Nilsson says. This is an older article and comments, but in case anyone else stumbles across it: No, lactose intolerance has NOTHING to do with pasteurization. I thought IE tribes were blonde, blue eyed, fair skinned etc. The Stafford Road Man, left, and the Patcham Woman, right, are among the facial reconstructions of ancient locals who lived on the coast of southern England over the past 40,000 years. Male face from Yamnaya culture, from the Caspian steppes in Russia between 5,000-4,800 years ago. Photos: Viking warrior is actually a woman, Photos: Prehistoric village holds Bronze Age treasures, In photos: Early Bronze Age chariot burial, In rare case, mother delivers two sets of identical twins, back to back. An interesting discussion, but probably twenty years too early. There were also great folk migrations where whole peoples seemed to up and move thousands of miles very quickly, to as far away as India and China, bringing the technology of horse riding, wagons, chariots, and bronze working to those places for the first time. Yamnaya ancestry appears among Mycenaeans, with the Yamnaya Bulgaria sample being its best current ancestral fit; the emergence of steppe ancestry and R1b-M269 in the eastern Mediterranean was associated with Ancient Greeks; Thracians, Albanians, and Armenians also show R1b-M269 subclades and Steppe ancestry. Facial reconstruction of a Yamnaya/Proto-Indo-European woman. Heres why each season begins twice. (Image credit: Copyright Joana Bruno/ASOME/Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona). (Indo-European) aka steppe people. People living on a milk-based diet would have an evolutionary advantage if they could tolerate milk. Earlier this year, researchers announced they had discovered the woman's and a man's remains interred together in a large ceramic pot buried in what was likely an ancient palace. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Scholastic, Popular Science and Spectrum, a site on autism research. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Secondly: how can we know if the skeleton samples we retrieve represent the whole Indo-European population group? The man had died a few years before the woman; after she died at a later date, someone reopened the pot and placed her body next to his. Always use a VPN or Tor and practice good OPSEC. Also, young warriors tend to die in a ditch far from home and seldom get a burial. Much of the expansion from the Black Sea all the way (eventually) to the British Isles was driven by bands of young men leaving their clan to raid and dominate others beyond. RT @Sulkalmakh: Facial reconstruction of an Eneolithic man from Bamut, Chechnya. Lupodellamontagna. So much so that they expanded out of the steppes, along with other related peoples, and into Neolithic Europe. RT @Sulkalmakh: Facial reconstruction of an Eneolithic man from Bamut, Chechnya. Eco-friendly burial alternatives, explained. The remains of a fetus found in her pelvic area suggest she likely died in childbirth, a scientific insight that informed Nilssons artistic depiction. CW seems to be 75% yamnaya, so I guess not too bad for the tech they had back then. Haplogroup R1, especially subclades by Dan | May 13, 2020 | writing | 4 comments. (LogOut/ Later, to "flesh out" the face, Bruno relies on published techniques for the speculative process of estimating the position of facial features, such as the eyes, nose and mouth, and determining the thickness of the tissues, she said. yamna yamnaya bronzeage reconstruction bronze_age Here's a big fellow. Survive the Jive (edited) Courtesy Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove. I personally am more interested in skull shape etc, as I think it effects proportions of different brain regions and hence behavior. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The most modern local, a 40-something man excavated during building construction in the 1980s, dates to the Anglo-Saxon period, a time when England was first unified under one king, explains Richard Le Saux, the museums senior keeper of collections. IIRC the Early Indo-Europeans received a massive amount of blood from the direction of the Caucasus, which may have been mostly matrilineal since the Y-dna didn't change. One of Earth's loneliest volcanoes holds an extraordinary secret. Reconstructions of ancient Indo-Europeans by PhilipEdwin: Inventory incl. Inventory incl. Facial reconstruction of an Eneolithic man from Koskuduk, Kazakhstan. Those with ASD think within the box only when forced by convention. He was buried in a kurgan with numerous articles made of copper and meteor iron, and a wagon. 4.3. A National Geographic team has made the first ascent of the remote Mount Michael, looking for a lava lake in the volcanos crater. They also drank milk, possibly the first people to develop lactose tolerance into adulthood. Oh i always had it completely wrong. Facial reconstructions of Maykop Novosvobodnaya, Steppe Maykop and Yamnaya individuals. What makes the ancient Britons portrayed in the exhibit so interesting, Nilsson says, is how science reveals the lives theyve lived. Classify facial reconstructions from Yamnaya culture. Twelve digitally reconstructed faces in profile from La Almoloya and La Bastida. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, http://eurogenes.blogspot.com/2017/05/european-blond-hair-may-have-originated.html. a flint arrowhead. Aesthetics, Art etc., Facial reconstructions, History, Race. The most ancient natives are a Neanderthal woman and an early modern man. So it seems that (at least some of) the ancestors of the Yamnaya were fairer than their descendants from the tested group of Yamnaya that we have. The Yamnaya feature in my Bronze Age fantasy series GODS OF BRONZE. Download Citation | First bioanthropological evidence for Yamnaya horsemanship | The origins of horseback riding remain elusive. Most men in Britain have the R1b hapologroup which shows how successful these lads were. The Yamnaya and their descendants and cousins replaced to some extent or another the people in Europe before them. WebPeople of the Yamnaya culture are believed to have had mostly brown eye colour, light to intermediate skin, and brown hair colour, with some variation. In the Bronze Age woman's case, she died between the ages of 25 to 30 years old and had several congenital conditions, including a missing neck vertebra and rib. "The earlobes were a more straightforward decision," Bruno said. Inventory incl. Theyre from the new 40 min Yamnaya documentary by Survive the Jive, which is probably one of his best videos yet (link at the end of this article). Then there was the artistic decision that had to be made with Stafford Road Man, a Saxon-era adult who likely died from a terrible facial abscess. Recent DNA analysis from the Neolithic Whitehawk population suggests they were generally dark eyed and dark skinned in comparison to the Beaker population that eventually replaced them around 4,400 years ago. Yamnaya were likely nothing like the Aryans of Nazi mythology. They lived primarily as nomads, with a chiefdom system and wheeled carts that allowed them to manage large herds. I here that those who drink raw milk do not get lactose intolerant. A digital image of one of the facial reconstructions in process. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. Could be that there was more pigmentation variation than we assume, could be that the PIE got darkened up from a foreign source. However, she did have to make some guesses. (Reconstruction: Most of Homo Sapien and Neanderthalis interbreeding occured in the middle east as humans were just migrating out of Africa. Hes one of the only content creators covering European history in an honest way, free of all Leftist ideological biases, and based on all of the latest scientific data. One interesting aspect of the Yamnaya migration is that it seems to have consisted mostly of men. He was R1b and the Samara culture is (one of) the ancestors of PIE. Contact

Small and slender, Whitehawk Woman lived about 5,600 years ago and died before the age of 25, possibly during childbirth (the remains of a fetus were found in her pelvic area). They ate horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and also hunted saiga antelope and other animals of the steppe and river valleys (like the Don and the Volga and their tributaries). There is also a gap between neanderthal extinction and the appareance of blue eye or blond hair phenotypes in homo sapiens. A guide for complete novices, Freaks associated with NJP, Joel Davis, Keith Woods, etc. Thankfully, they'll all miss. Long COVID patients turn to unproven treatments, Why evenings can be harder on people with dementia, This disease often goes under-diagnosedunless youre white, This sacred site could be Georgias first national park, See glow-in-the-dark mushrooms in Brazils other rainforest, 9 things to know about Holi, Indias most colorful festival, Anyone can discover a fossil on this beach. A "powerful, maybe even frightening" woman buried with a silver diadem in Bronze Age Spain now has a virtually reconstructed face that shows her wearing a serene expression and huge hoop earrings dangling from earplugs. ", Photos: Viking warrior is actually a woman, Photos: Prehistoric village holds Bronze Age treasures, In photos: Early Bronze Age chariot burial, The entire process and Bruno's collaboration with anthropologists highlights "the ability to estimate and 'rebuild' missing skeletal portions with the highest possible accuracy and without damaging the original," Cristina Rihuete Herrada, a professor of archaeology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a co-researcher of the 2021 study, told Live Science in an email. Its related to genetics. Anyways the Yamnaya seemed a bit darker regarding skin complexion but I think I read somewhere that blond hair developed amongst Ancient North Eurasian populations which made up like half of the Yamnaya ancestry, so they could have had low frequencies of blond hair. As far as I know, the first known blond-haired, blue-eyed person in history was the Samara hunter-gatherer. "And, since the DNA can tell us more about their kinship, it is also an opportunity to see if these faces somehow carry similar features that could hint at those shared relationships.". I was obsessed with neuroscience so this basic idea doesn't seem that farfetched. Instead of testing to see if it is contaminated they just decided to pasteurize all. (By the time they reached Egypt they were a conglomeration of steppe and Semitic peoples). Recent DNA analysis from the Neolithic Whitehawk population suggests they were generally dark eyed and dark skinned in comparison to the that eventually replaced them around 4,400 years ago.

, The 'extreme cruelty' around the global trade in frog legs, What does cancer smell like? NY 10036. Plus stuff like facial features/ brain structure seems to me, a more complex genetic traits than pigmentation. In this documentary film you can see 3D forensic facial reconstructions of Yamnaya men by the artist Robert Molyneaux and you can learn all about what Yamnaya people ate, why they loved milk, how they lived, their burial customs, how they spread and more. A subreddit for discussion of common Indo-European culture - descended from the [Proto-Indo-Europeans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-Europeans), and evident in the various languages, mythologies, and rituals of Eurasia. Although their ancestry peaks in the Slavic and Baltic nations in northeast Europe (I think), the blond hair and blue-eyed phenotype was present there long before their arrival. ", Bruno is now creating archaeological reconstructions of other El Argar people from La Almoloya "using the faces I reconstructed from their skulls, and including the information generated by the archaeological and genetic research," she said. These skeletons may have the answer, Scientists are making advancements in birth controlfor men, Blood cleaning? I am told it is because pasteurization kills all the good bugs & thing in milk that help body digest & use all in milk. Boldyrevo I, Kurgan I, Grave 1 was an elite burial of a Yamnaya (Pit-Grave Culture) man. Perhaps these riches indicate that the woman had more power than her burial partner, especially given that she outlived him and was still buried with treasured goods, the researchers said at the time. Lab-grown minibrains will be used as 'biological hardware' to create new biocomputers, scientists propose, Ancient Roman 'spike defenses' made famous by Julius Caesar found in Germany, 'Building blocks of life' recovered from asteroid Ryugu are older than the solar system itself, New Moai statue that 'deified ancestors' found on Easter Island, The ultimate action-packed science and technology magazine bursting with exciting information about the universe, Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with checkout code 'LOVE5', Engaging articles, amazing illustrations & exclusive interviews, Issues delivered straight to your door or device. From his skeleton he was apparently a mass of muscle too. Facial reconstruction is a delicate mix of science and art. The Yamnaya culture was a late Copper Age to early Bronze Age archaeological culture of the the Pontic steppe (north of the Black Sea) dating to 33002600 BC. a flint arrowhead. Simple. WebThe paper deals with cranial remains from the cemeteries of the Yamnaya (Pit-grave) and Sintashta archaeological cultures investigated in the areas directly adjacent to the fortified settlement Arkaim, which belongs to the Chelyabinsk State Historical and Cultural Reserve Arkaim and the Kizil Valley. I used laser scans of the earplugs and the diadem in the face reconstruction. The groundbreaking promise of cellular housekeeping. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress. Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. These facial reconstructions reveal 40,000 years of English ancestry As the U.K. wrestles with issues of identity and nationalism around Brexit, a new exhibit is reconstruction chalcolithic indoeuropean yamna bronze_age yamnaya bronzeage. "This information is always taken into account when producing the face reconstruction," Bruno said. Now for someone different, a proto-Indo-European. Mikhail Gerasimov hard at work in his studio, sculpting skulls from skulls. Dead Meat (2016) - A short film by Robert Molyneaux. The remains of the diadem-wearing woman (right) and a male (left) were buried together during the Bronze Age in La Almoloya. "Thanks to the 3D laser scanning of the jewels, Joana has been able to show us that woman's stunning shimmering look. You can read the novella THE WOLF GOD for free now by signing up to my email newsletter. When does spring start? The burial tradition is typical of Eneolithic Steppe populations, also known as Proto-Yamnaya." (1,548 1,386 pixels, file size: 4.61 MB, MIME type: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0, Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Yamnaya_phenotype,_Reconstruction,_male,_grave_Novooleksiivka;_Ukraine.png&oldid=649809360, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Uploaded a work by Wojciech Pdzich, Robert Molyneaux from [https://www.quora.com/profile/Wojciech-P%C4%99dzich-1/Yamnaya-phenotype-Forensic-Reconstructian-of-a-male-from-Kurgan-Novooleksiivka-Ukraine-license-CC-BY-SA-4-0-origin] with UploadWizard. Blond hair originated in the Baltic/Scandinavian region perhaps 12,000 years ago and blue eyes are found there too (and were dominant among Western Hunter-Gatherers). Which travel companies promote harmful wildlife activities? One of the world's Very little I would say. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, Yamnaya phenotype, Reconstruction, male, grave Novooleksiivka; Ukraine, Yamnaya phenotype, Reconstruction, male, grave Novooleksiivka; Ukraine.png. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. So this idea that the Aryans were blue eyed blond hair people is honestly not too farfetched but they just didn't know there were older groups to look at like the Yamnaya, or maybe they did but they didn't give a shit because, you know, Nazi Germany. Right: Reconstruction of Yamnaya-skull. The IE people seem to have a unique skull shape, dolocephalic, high nose bridge ( which means expanded pfc ), peculiar strong jaw line and cheek bones. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. ", Related: 6 times that showed us women from antiquity were totally badass. Recent genome studies of ancient European populations enable Nilsson to outfit his reconstructions with reasonably accurate estimates of skin, hair, and eye color. I think they got everything except the colors right. Search Reddit posts and comments - see average sentiment, top terms, activity per day and more The diadem-wearing woman's identity has intrigued scientists since archaeologists unearthed her burial in 2014. Old cells hang around as we age, doing damage to the body. Corinthian Helmet. [45] [46] A 2022 study by Some offshoots even briefly conquered ancient Egypt, bringing the chariot and other technology with them. The Corded Ware-related steppe people from Central Europe had the light hair/eyes and were basically the same as modern northern Europeans. The Yamnaya culture was a late Copper Age to early Bronze Age archaeological culture of the the Pontic steppe (north of the Black Sea) dating to 33002600 BC. (LogOut/ I don't think they would have had the phenotypes assosciated with Northern Europeans and even if they did the percentage of actual neanderthal DNA is really low. All structured data from the file namespace is available under the. a flint arrowhead. Learn how your comment data is processed. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Where the blue haired, blond eyed people of the nazi myths or where they something else? Their facial reconstructions are based on remains from elsewhere in Europe, but artifacts found in the Brighton area show that both were local residents some 40,000 years ago. Facial reconstruction of Yamnaya/Sintashta. ], https://thuletide.wordpress.com/2021/03/13/facial-reconstructions-of-ancient-europeans-from-mesolithic-to-bronze-age-infographic-collages/, [Blog Feedback] Do you have an off-topic suggestion, request, question, or complaint? Some did a bit of farming, growing millet and amaranth but it wasnt a huge part of their diet. Museums in Canada unveil high-tech facial reconstructions that breathe new life into very old bones. This page was last edited on 18 April 2022, at 23:25. Scientists just confirmed a 30-foot void first detected inside the monument years ago. Required fields are marked *. The Yamnaya culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans, and is the strongest candidate for the urheimat (original homeland) of the Proto-Indo-European language (of which English is just one of many descendants). At present, were building general hypotheses based on a few individuals where DNA can be extracted. When Bruno decided to digitally recreate the woman's face, it was in part due to the site's impressive preservation of many of its original inhabitants. NASA warns of 3 skyscraper-sized asteroids headed toward Earth this week. heh, look like a Russian and a Ukrainian but with darker features. Next, Bruno takes specific measurements of the skull and does a laser scan of the skull and lower jaw. The faces that developed became so individual.. They represent people that played an important role in the dynamics of the EBA Pontic-Caspian Steppe. The infection was probably grotesquely swollen at the time of his death, but Nilsson chose not to exaggerate the ailment. These animals can sniff it out. Yamnaya-related steppe people had darker hair/eyes and looked similar to modern day Avars or Darginians. Whitehawk Woman stands out for the apparently unusual circumstances of her life and death: Scientific studies show that she was born more than 5,000 years ago on the Welsh border, then moved several hundred miles [east] to Sussex at some point, and was buried with good luck charms in a grave at the entrance to a Neolithic ceremonial site. Consistent with this, we observe that earliest known individual with the derived allele is the [Siberian] ANE individual Afontova Gora 3 which is directly dated to 16130-15749 cal BCE (1471060 BP, MAMS-27186: a previously unpublished date that we newly report here). But it was more complicated and gradual than that. To clarify which bones did not survive, Bruno rendered them as gray and transparent in a video showing the reconstruction process. Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. They possibly invented the wheel, they may have been the first to domesticate and ride horses, and they invented 4-wheeled, ox-drawn axeled wagons that enabled them to drive herds of cattle across the steppes. His skeleton was buried in a kurgan, crouched on its back and covered in red ocher. Is this statement completely wrong? The Neolithic population that the 5,600-year-old Whitehawk woman belonged to, for instance, generally had lighter skin and darker eyes than earlier occupants of Britain such as Cheddar Man, but were darker than the exhibits Ditchling Road man, who arrived on the island in the first wave of light-skinned, light-eyed Beaker people from continental Europe around 4,400 years ago. The swaggering 2,300-year-old Slonk Hill Man posed his own particular problems, Nilsson adds. The Yamnaya transformed the gene pools of northern and central Europe, such that some populations, like Norwegians, owe around 50% of their ancestry to these Can we bring a species back from the brink?, Video Story, Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, Copyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. The existence of ASD or lack of it may explain the sporadic nature of technological development. The nazis subscribed to the theory that the Corded Ware in Germany were the original IE people. Can we bring a species back from the brink? The role of people with ASD in history has been overlooked. Before any virtual reconstruction, anthropologists clean, stabilize and study the deceased's skeleton to determine the person's sex, age of death, general health and other characteristics. Your email address will not be published. male who is half Swede (possibly 50% Saami) half Dane with ASD (Autism spectrum disorder), is it possible that a Yamna possessing ASD invented the wheel, the two wheeled cart and the four wheeled wagon, revolutionizing that culture and eventually the rest of the world? Original file (1,548 1,386 pixels, file size: 4.61 MB, MIME type: image/png). Nilssons forensic technique starts with an exact 3D replica of the original skull, scanned, printed, and then modeled by hand to reflect bone structure and tissue thickness based on the individuals origin, sex, and estimated age at death. They were brown-eyed for the most part with darker hair than northern Europeans. What if we could clean them out? The burial tradition is typical of Eneolithic Steppe populations, also known as Proto-Yamnaya. Laura is the archaeology/history and Life's Little Mysteries editor at Live Science. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong. The new year once started in Marchhere's why, Jimmy Carter on the greatest challenges of the 21st century, This ancient Greek warship ruled the Mediterranean, How cosmic rays helped find a tunnel in Egypt's Great Pyramid, Who first rode horses? "The biggest challenge about this facial reconstruction was that the upper portion of her skull did not survive the ages," Joana Bruno, the freelance scientific illustrator who created the digital reconstructions and a collaborator with the La Almoloya archaeologists at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, told Live Science in an email.