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03
August 2005
The
face of the fourth salt man discovered in the
central province of Zanjan, who is the most intact
and complete one of all, is to be reconstructed by
means of developed 3D devices and cooperation of a
scholar from Copenhagen University.
Although called salt man, the sexuality of the
discovered body is not yet distinguished. However,
experts believe that its physical features are
more sign of its being a woman rather than a man.
To provide a detailed study of the body, after the
preliminary works, more than 1000 pictures are
taken of it and new software technologies are used
to reconstruct its face.
According to restoration expert of the salt man
number four, Hasan Rezai, new instruments are to
be imported to Iran from Denmark for the studies
and Niels Lynnerup, an expert in mummifying from
Copenhagen University is planning to travel to the
country to scan the skull, take 3D pictures of the
soft tissues of the face, and carry on MRI tests.
The first discovery of salt men and their
belongings in Chehr Abad mine of Zanjan province
dates back to some ten years ago. They are among
rare mummies discovered around the world that are
mummified as a result of natural conditions.
Natural mummies are categorized into three groups
which include the ones mummified by ice, like the
Italian iceman, those by salt, and those mummified
in swamps.
So far samples of Zanjan salt men have been sent
to Oxford University to be dated. The fourth salt
man which is the most complete one of all
discovered is now kept in one of the museums of
Zanjan city, preserved and kept under proper
conditions, awaiting further extensive studies.
In the recent years, archaeologists have been
enabled to reconstruct mummies by means of new
modern world technologies. As such is the
reconstruction of the face of world-famous
Egyptian Pharaoh, Tutankhamun by Egyptian, French,
and American scholars.
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