The Asahi Shimbun Displays Creating an Ancestor: The Jericho Skull

The British Museum is committed to curating the human remains in its collection with care, respect and dignity. Their display and study provides one of the most direct and insightful sources of information on past human biology and, different cultural approaches to death. We continue to learn from human remains through state of the art noninvasive technology.

The Imagining and Analysis Centre at the Natural History Museum completed a micro-CT scan of the Jericho Skull. The images allowed us to explore the Jericho Skull digitally in three different planes. Experts were also able to print a 3D model of the bones inside. For the first time specialists were able to visualize and examine hidden areas of the Jericho Skull in detail - such as the shape of the palate, cheekbones, brow ridge and eye sockets. From this detailed examination, specialists were able suggest this individual was male. The images also showed that the skull lacked a jaw, his teeth were broken and decayed, and he had broken his nose during his adult life which had healed before he died. The data also confirmed that he had died aged over forty. There is evidence of tight head binding from early infancy, a physical characteristic that common in other skulls from the same period. The micro-CT scan also revealed unknown details of how the skull was decorated. A hole was cut into the cranium which was packed with soil to stop the bone from collapsing under the weight of the plaster.

One 3D printed model was used as the basis for the facial reconstruction. A lower jaw was added based on a known Neolithic example and the face was rebuilt muscle-by-muscle. There are still some questions left to be answered such as hair or eye colour. However the scientific analyses and facial reconstruction means we now understand more about this individual's appearance and his life-history - further helping us to curate the Jericho Skull with care, respect and dignity.

The Asahi Shimbun Displays are a series of regularly changing displays which look at objects in new or different ways. Sometimes the display highlights a well-known item, sometimes it surprises the audience with extraordinary items from times and cultures that may not be very familiar. This is also an opportunity for the Museum to learn how it can improve its larger exhibitions and permanent gallery displays. These displays have been made possible by the generous sponsorship of The Asahi Shimbun Company, who are long-standing supporters of the British Museum. With a circulation of about 7 million for the morning edition alone, The Asahi Shimbun is the most prestigious newspaper in Japan. The company also publishes magazines and books, and provides a substantial information service on the Internet. The Asahi Shimbun Company has a century long tradition of staging exhibitions in Japan of art, culture and history from around the world.