Valley of the Kings Pharaoh who changed course of history comes ‘back to life’ with face seen for first time in 3,500yrs

THE face of the Valley of the Kings Pharaoh who rewrote history can be seen for the first time in 3,500 years.

The famous Amenhotep I ushered in a new age of peace and prosperity for ancient Egypt - and was worshipped as a god for his achievements.

Amenhotep I reigned in the 16th century BC and is credited with initiating the "heyday" of the New Kingdom, when Egypt's power and wealth peaked.

He solidified the borders of the nascent realm and may have started the Valley of the Kings, while science and art flourished under his rule.

He was even deified upon his death, being worshipped as a god for centuries after his reign, and consulted as an oracle.

Now his living face can be seen for the first time in more than 3,500 years, after scientists used his skull to rebuild his likeness.

Cicero Moraes, the Brazilian graphics expert behind the recreation, said the god depicted in statues wasn't a perfect match for the living pharaoh.

He said: "Many mummies, such as Amenhotep I, show a retrognathism or overbite, and this is generally not reflected in a compatible way in the statues.

"In general terms, the statues of Amenhotep I are compatible in the nose region, but more gracile in the glabella region and more projected in the chin region."

To complete the recreation, Mr Moraes and his team blended faces made using various methods.

One involved distributing soft tissue thickness markers across the pharaoh's skull, guided by CT scan data from living donors, to reveal the likely shape of his face.

Another was a technique called anatomical deformation, in which a digital recreation of a donor's head was adjusted until the skull matched the pharaoh's.

Mr Moraes said: "By crossing the data from all the projections, we generated the final bust and complemented the structure with historical costume.

"We generated three groups of images: one objective, in greyscale, with the eyes closed and hairless.

"Another was in colour, with hair and eyes open, and there was a more artistic one, with all the elements and the costume."

The result was a "dignified" face, he said.

For the recreation, a virtual copy of the pharaoh's skull was built.

This was made using data from a 2021 study by Egyptologists Sahar Saleem and Zahi Hawass, in which Amenhotep's mummy was "virtually unwrapped" via CT scanning.

Cicero's co-author, archaeologist Michael Habicht of Flinders University in Australia, described some of the details gleaned from this study.

He said: "The 2021 study did not indicate a cause of death, but stipulated his age at death as approximately 35 years.

"It showed that he would have been 1.68m tall, that his teeth were in good condition, and that his hair was coiled.

"He also suffered a series of postmortem injuries, probably inflicted by tomb robbers or by the embalmers who re-wrapped the mummy later."

It was a short life, but one that echoed through the centuries.

Dr Habicht continued: "Under the peaceful rule of Amenhotep I, the rise of Egypt was initiated and the heyday of the New Kingdom began."

Mr Moraes paid tribute to the Egyptologists whose work paved the way for his team's.

He said: "I feel very honoured, as always.

"This work was not done just by us, but by all those who studied and study ancient Egypt seriously, always sharing information."

Mr Moraes, Dr Habicht, and their co-author, Elena Varotto of the FAPAB Research Center in Italy, plan to publish their study in a scientific journal.

What is the Valley of the Kings

VALLEY of the Kings is a famous Egyptian archaeological site that's home to the tombs of some of the most important pharaohs in ancient history.

It is a long narrow defile west of the Nile River in Upper Egypt.

The site is the burial place of almost all kings of the 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties which took place between 1539 to 1075 BCE.

Some famous pharaoh names include Thutmose I and Ramses X.

In 1979, the Valley of the Kings became a World Heritage Site due to the royal burials of the pharaohs, their families and their invaluable possessions.

It contains at least 63 tombs.

The pharaohs in ancient Egypt were both the religious leader and the head of state.

“Pharaoh” means “Great House,” in reference to the palace where the pharaoh resided.

The early rulers were referred to as kings but over time the name “pharaoh” stuck, according to the National Geographic.

Pharaohs were seen as the divine intermediary between the gods and Egyptians.

It was there job to maintain religious harmony as well as make laws and oversee all of Egypt.

Many also waged war to expand the Egyptian empire.

When pharaohs died they were entombed and surrounded by riches which it was thought they could use in the afterlife.

Over the years archaeologists and explorers have discovered their resting places and unearthed a wealth of knowledge about life in ancient Egypt