Faces from Keeladi: 2,500-year-old skulls reconstructed

Two men who lived over 2,500 years ago in Tamil Nadu’s Keeladi region now have faces, thanks to a first-of-its-kind forensic facial reconstruction effort led by researchers from Madurai Kamaraj University and Liverpool John Moores University.

The skulls, excavated from the Kondagai burial site, about 800 metres from the main Keeladi dig, were digitally scanned and reconstructed using CT imagery. While the upper portions were rebuilt with anatomical accuracy, the lower halves—missing their jaws—were estimated using orthodontic standards.

“These are predominantly South Indian faces with some West Eurasian and Austro-Asiatic features,” Prof G Kumaresan of Madurai Kamaraj University said, as per Times of India. He described the process as “80 per cent science and 20 per cent art”. Tissue depth data from modern South Indians was used to digitally recreate muscle, skin and fat, and a photographic database helped assign skin, hair and eye colour.

Professor Caroline Wilkinson from Liverpool’s Face Lab said clinical imaging guidelines and forensic standards were followed. “We used cranial measurements to estimate mandible shapes,” she said.

Keeladi, long at the centre of debate over its antiquity, has yielded 29 radiocarbon dates ranging from the 6th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. While the Tamil Nadu state archaeology department supports the earlier timeline, the ASI recently asked its archaeologist to revise findings.

DNA from Kondagai urns is now being analysed with Harvard University to trace genetic ancestry and migration patterns. Preliminary studies suggest the skeletal remains, mostly of individuals aged around 50, had average male and female heights of 170.82 cm and 157.74 cm, respectively.

“This is the first time we’ve attempted facial reconstruction in South India,” said K Rajan, advisor to the Tamil Nadu archaeology department.

The past, quite literally, has a face now.