Эрдэмтэд хүний хувьслын түүхэн дэх хамгийн эртний Homo sapiens-ийн төрхийг орчин үеийн дижитал технологи ашиглан дүрсэлжээ.
Марокко улсын Жебел Ирхуд (Jebel Irhoud) сайтаас 1960-аад онд олдсон эртний хүний гавлын ясыг ашиглан судлаачид 315,000 жилийн өмнө амьдарч байсан хүний нүүр царайг сэргээн бүтээлээ. Энэхүү олдвор нь манай зүйлийн гарал үүслийн талаарх шинжлэх ухааны ойлголтыг өөрчилсөн бөгөөд 2017 онд хийсэн судалгаагаар үүнийг Homo sapiens-ийн хамгийн эртний үлдэгдэл болохыг тогтоосон юм.
Бразилийн 3D дизайнер Сисеро Мораес (Cícero Moraes) тэргүүтэй баг уг ажлыг гүйцэтгэхдээ хэд хэдэн хувь хүний ясны хэсгүүдээс бүрдсэн дижитал загварыг ашиглажээ. Судлаачид орчин үеийн хүний компьютер томографийн (CT) зураг болон нүүрний зөөлөн эдийн зузааны хэмжилтүүдийг ашиглан эртний ясан дээр нүүрний бүтцийг урлан гаргасан байна.
Сэргээн бүтээсэн нүүр царай нь орчин үеийн хүний шинж төрхтэй гайхалтай төстэй байгаа нь судалгааны онцлох үр дүн болжээ. Хэдийгээр тухайн үеийн хүмүүс хүчирхэг эрүү, тод томруун нүүрний онцлогтой байсан ч өнөөгийн хүмүүсийн дунд байсан бол анзаарагдахааргүй харагдаж магадгүй гэж судлаачид дүгнэв.
Гэсэн хэдий ч энэхүү бүтээл нь тодорхой хэмжээний уран сайхны тайлбар агуулж байгааг анхаарах нь зүйтэй. Археологийн олдвороос арьс, булчингийн эд эс үлдээгүй тул нүүрний өнгө, үс зэргийг зөвхөн таамаглал дээр үндэслэн дүрсэлсэн бөгөөд энэ нь ягштал батлагдсан хөрөг биш гэдгийг судлаачид онцолсон байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Scientists have recreated the face of a human who lived around 315,000 years ago, using ancient fossils found in Morocco. And despite the enormous gap in time, the result looks surprisingly familiar. With a strong jaw and pronounced facial features, this early Homo sapiens might not have looked all that different from someone walking down the street today.
The face comes from fossils discovered at Jebel Irhoud, a site that changed what scientists thought they knew about the origins of our species. When the first skull was uncovered in the 1960s, researchers had no idea just how old it really was.
Now, Brazilian 3D designer Cícero Moraes has used digital technology to give those ancient bones a face. His reconstruction offers a closer look at some of the earliest known members of our species, even if certain details remain a matter of artistic interpretation.
The Skull That Changed Everything
It all started in the early 1960s, when a worker extracting minerals at Jebel Irhoud came across a human skull. Scientists initially believed it belonged to an African Neanderthal who had lived around 40,000 years ago. Over the following decades, researchers uncovered more fossils and stone tools at the site, gradually changing their understanding of the remains.
In 2017, two studies identified the fossils as early Homo sapiens, dating them to approximately 315,000 years ago, give or take 34,000 years. The discovery pushed back the known history of our species by roughly 100,000 years, making the Jebel Irhoud remains the oldest known Homo sapiens fossils.
There was another interesting detail. These early humans already had relatively modern-looking faces, but their braincases still had a more ancient shape. The findings showed that the features we associate with modern humans didn’t all develop at once.
Rebuilding A Face From Ancient Bones
Reconstructing the face wasn’t as simple as working from a complete skull. In fact, the skull used for the project came from several different individuals. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology had previously combined fossil specimens into a digital model. Most of the upper face and braincase came from a skull known as Irhoud 1, while the jaw and teeth came from other remains found in the same archaeological layer. Moraes found the fit between the pieces convincing.
“The mandible and teeth, which belong to another individual, fit remarkably well,” he explained in an interview with ScienceAlert.
His team then used images and video footage of the composite skull to build a three-dimensional model, checking its proportions against published measurements. To work out what the face might have looked like, the researchers turned to a CT scan of a modern adult. They digitally reshaped that person’s skull to match the ancient bones, allowing the surrounding facial tissues to change along with it. Using Blender and OrtogOnBlender tools, they refined the model with measurements of facial tissue thickness.
The reconstructed skull had a cranial cavity measuring 1,364 milliliters, very close to an earlier estimate of 1,375 milliliters. That was a useful check on the skull’s proportions, though it couldn’t confirm exactly how the face looked.
An Ancient Human With A Modern Face
Perhaps the most surprising part of the reconstruction is just how recognizable the finished face appears.
“As for the individual from Jebel Irhoud, he might go unnoticed in a crowd, but a closer look would reveal something that sets him apart from the rest – most notably his robust features and a projecting jaw,” Moraessaid.
The study, available on Heritage, created two versions of the face. One shows a grayscale reconstruction without hair, while the other adds skin pigmentation, dark hair, and facial hair. Those extra details make the portrait feel more lifelike, but the fossils don’t tell researchers what the person’s skin or hair actually looked like.
Moraes himself acknowledged that the colored version is the more artistic interpretation, while the grayscale images focus on features supported more directly by anatomical evidence. With no surviving skin or muscle to compare against, the reconstruction remains an estimate rather than an exact portrait.
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