A computer artist has brought to life a medieval soldier's skull that archaeologists discovered in a mass grave near Visby, a city on the Swedish island of Gotland.
A warrior had broken the person's eye, and cheekbones with a pole weapon before an axe ripped open his lips and nose, according to scientists' 3D scans of the skull.
This warrior has now been revived from the dead by a computer artist who recreated his severely disfigured head and faced using these 3D scans and statistical genetic data.
His design was included in the online magazine OrtogOnLineMag for 3D computer graphics.
Scientists examined the DNA of people who lived centuries ago, extracting genetic material from human remains buried in three London cemeteries.
Axe-Wounded Warrior Brought to Life After 600 Years
Brazilian graphics specialist Cicero Moraes imported his skull into a digital interface to give his characteristics life.
He said that several soft tissue thickness indicators were placed all over the skull once they prepared it.
According to Moraes, these markings, in some areas of the face, represent the limits of the skin.
"To complement the data, we imported a CT scan of a living donor and deformed the bones and soft tissue from the CT scan to match the face being approximated," said Moraes (per The Irish Sun).
"With the basic face defined, we finalized the approximation and generated the most scientific image, in shades of gray, with eyes closed and without hair," added Moraes.
The size of the nose, mouth, and eyes are projections based on statistical data because the skull only provides a partial set of information.
Contrarily, subjective issues like hair and skin tone exist.
The final product, however, approximates the warrior's appearance at the moment of his demise.
Unknown is whether the axe's blow proved to be the fatal one.
Dark History of Gotland Fields
According to Ancient Origins, 2,500 Danish invaders massacred over 2,000 inhabitants of Visby, a Swedish settlement on the island of Gotland, on July 22, 1361. Danish King Valdemar Atterdag was eager to capture Gotland following his conquest of the nearby kingdoms of Skne and Land.
On July 27, outside Visby's town walls, a Gutnish yeomen army of peasant farmers and their families clashed with the Danish soldiers. Roughly 1,800 peasant farmers brandishing farming implements were swiftly massacred. Many historians compare this incident to the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 AD, which occurred during the Hundred Years' War and saw a comparable number of Frenchmen ruthlessly murdered by an Anglo-Gascon force led by Edward, the Black Prince.
Five mass graves have been discovered outside Visby's old town walls since 1905. The atrocities of the massacre were recently brought to light during archaeological investigations at one of these mass graves when it was discovered that "at least a third of the 1,800 poorly armed militia of farmers were children and elderly."
RELATED ARTICLE: 17th-Century Mummified Baby Likely Died Due to Lack of Sunlight Exposure, Virtual Autopsy Reveals
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