Nefertiti 'had two faces'
Researchers in Germany have uncovered a secret within one of ancient Egypt's most treasured artworks – the bust of Nefertiti has two faces.
A team led by Dr Alexander Huppertz, director of the Imaging Science Institute at Berlin's Charite hospital and medical school, discovered a detailed stone carving that differs from the external stucco face when they performed a computed tomography, or CT, scan on the bust.
The findings, published in the monthly journal Radiology, are the first to show that the stone core of the statue is a highly detailed sculpture of the queen, Mr Huppertz said.
The differences between the faces, though slight – creases at the corners of the mouth, a bump on the nose of the stone version – suggest to Mr Huppertz that someone expressly ordered the adjustments between stone and stucco when royal sculptors immortalised the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten 3,300 years ago.
John H Taylor, a curator for Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum in London, said the scan raises interesting questions about why the features were adjusted – but that answers will probably remain elusive.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
A team led by Dr Alexander Huppertz, director of the Imaging Science Institute at Berlin's Charite hospital and medical school, discovered a detailed stone carving that differs from the external stucco face when they performed a computed tomography, or CT, scan on the bust.
The findings, published in the monthly journal Radiology, are the first to show that the stone core of the statue is a highly detailed sculpture of the queen, Mr Huppertz said.
The differences between the faces, though slight – creases at the corners of the mouth, a bump on the nose of the stone version – suggest to Mr Huppertz that someone expressly ordered the adjustments between stone and stucco when royal sculptors immortalised the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten 3,300 years ago.
John H Taylor, a curator for Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum in London, said the scan raises interesting questions about why the features were adjusted – but that answers will probably remain elusive.