A Neanderthal just got quite the makeover after a Brazilian graphic artist used scans of an ancient skull to construct the face of the man.
The Neanderthal is believed to have lived between 130,000 and 40,000 years ago.
Despite the age of his skeletal remains, he was only discovered by a priest inside a cave in La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France, 115 years ago.
The graphic artist Cícero Moraes used computed tomography (CT) to give us an eerie look into what the ancient man may have looked like.
He was able to do this by comparing them to human skulls in a database with similar measurements in order to fill in the blanks.
Speaking to the Mail Online, Moraes was asked if the man was handsome and said: “Curiously, this [Neanderthal] is the second approximation that the people ‘fall in love,’ the first one was the ‘vampire’ of Celakovice.”
He added: “The fossil is often referred to as an ‘old man’ because he was suffering from severe periodontal disease and joint degeneration or arthritis.
“The ability of this individual to survive such severe ailments indicates that he probably had help from others.”
Moraes also spoke to Live Science and explained why there were two images created.
“We generated two images, one more objective with just the bust in sepia tone without hair and another more speculative [and] colorful with a beard and hair,” he said.
“This image shows how Neanderthals were similar to us, but at the same time, they were different, with more obvious peculiarities such as the absence of a chin, for example.
“Even so, it is impossible not to look at the image and try to imagine what that individual’s life was like thousands of years ago.”
Just like any research into the past, what caused the Neanderthals to go extinct, has been a hotly debated topic and there are many competing theories.
Neanderthals existed for around 100,000 years and were alongside humans for much of that, before going extinct an estimated 40,000 years ago.
Some theories suggest they went extinct due to an inability to adapt to a shifting climate, others due to the aggression of homo sapiens or even because they chose to shack up with their competitor and interbreed.
Well, whatever it was, we at least have another great photo to add to the collection of ancient ancestors.
