Researchers Recreate Face Of Medieval Man Using 600-Year-Old Skull

Updated September 8, 2021

While a lot of hard, tedious work often goes into archaeology and paleontology, it must feel immensely rewarding when you discover and then uncover something that hasn't seen the light of day for hundreds if not millions of years.

And it's also true that you never really know where those discoveries are going to happen. After all, the areas that now host sprawling urban environments were once easily roamed by all sorts of fascinating creatures and humans with much simpler ambitions.

But since we find ourselves in a much different time from them, we have a lot more tools at our disposal to figure out what life would have been like for them.

And researchers recently used some of those tools to deliver some eye-catching results.

In 2015, the Aberdeen Art Gallery in Scotland went under construction, which led workers to discover some long-hidden bones.

Reddit | [deleted]

According to USA Today, members of the AOC Archaeology Group would end up uncovering 60 skeletons and 4,272 bone fragments from underneath the museum.

One of these skeletons belonged to a man that researchers designated Skeleton 125 (or SK 125) who lived about 600 years ago.

Aberdeen City Council

As the Aberdeen City council stated in a release, he was likely interred at the Blackfriars Dominican Friary before it was destroyed in 1560 alongside at least 380 other individuals.

One of the archaeology group's members, Dr. Paula Milburn, said their work will likely determine the ages, gender, health, and lifestyles of these people.

Indeed, it seems they were able to do that to a pretty extensive degree with SK 125.

Aberdeen City Council

In the city council's release, they said the team determined he was a man aged over 46 with a height between 5'2'' and 5'5'', which was considered shorter than the average at the time.

A clue to his age was found in signs of degenerative joint disease in his middle and lower back.

As USA Today reported, they were also able to recreate what his face may have looked like by using facial reconstruction technology and calling on the assistance of forensic artist Hayley Fisher.

They also found out that the man had some pretty severe dental diseases in life.

Warner Bros. via YouTube

As the council's release explained, this wasn't just limited to some cavities, but also a chronic abscess, lost teeth, and a gum infection that they referred to as a periodontal disease.

It's unclear whether those dental issues had an effect on the image of the man that Fisher and the group ended up producing.

Aberdeen City Council

What is clear, however, is that the man only spent the latter years of his life in Aberdeen and had likely grown up in either the northwest Highlands or Outer Hebrides.

The internet being what it is, the medieval man's face was mercilessly roasted as soon as the recreation went public.

While he reminded this person of a wonky texture in a video game, another was more specific and said he looked like a character from Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Another seemed to suggest that the man's face was large enough to accommodate the needs of about three people.

Others seemed to agree because they ended up subtly shrinking his facial features to make the whole package seem even wider.

Still, at least one person seemed to feel a little sorry for the guy in the wake of all these zingers.

Although since we weren't exactly around for this man's life, maybe he didn't have a particularly weird face for the time.

All I know that the laundry list of problems he had in life is definitely making me appreciate my dentist more.

h/t: Aberdeen City Council, USA Today

Filed Under: