So what if she did? Cleopatra (THE Cleopatra, I believe was Cleopatra VII), also had a pronounced "Greek" bump on her nose according to her images on ancient coins, but she is still reputed as one of the most "beautiful" women in the world ever, along with Nefertiti. (Image of Nefertiti Bust: Berlin Museum).
Of course, "beauty" encompasses a lot of meanings. At the risk of being absolutely prosaic, there's a reason for that old saw "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with just physical beauty - whatever that means (it changes every other year, it seems).
Anyway, this is a fascinating story - sort of CSI archaeology. The famous bust of Nefertiti housed in Berlin, the one that Zahi Hawass lusts after so much to be "returned" to Egypt, underwent a high-tech CT scan recently. The scan revealed that the stone "under-sculpture" that supports the outer layer of gesso forming the face of Nefertiti with which we are all familiar, shows some decided flaws that did not show up in the final bust/portrait.
Oh my, what's an archaeologist to do??? LOL! I guess they just don't understand about "before" and "after" make-overs, do they? Heh heh heh.
Coverage:
AFP report at Google
Yahoo! News (some photos which show the underlying stone sculpture and it's "flaws")
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Did Nefertiti Have a Bump on Her Nose?
So what if she did? Cleopatra (THE Cleopatra, I believe was Cleopatra VII), also had a pronounced "Greek" bump on her nose according to her images on ancient coins, but she is still reputed as one of the most "beautiful" women in the world ever, along with Nefertiti. (Image of Nefertiti Bust: Berlin Museum).
Of course, "beauty" encompasses a lot of meanings. At the risk of being absolutely prosaic, there's a reason for that old saw "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with just physical beauty - whatever that means (it changes every other year, it seems).
Anyway, this is a fascinating story - sort of CSI archaeology. The famous bust of Nefertiti housed in Berlin, the one that Zahi Hawass lusts after so much to be "returned" to Egypt, underwent a high-tech CT scan recently. The scan revealed that the stone "under-sculpture" that supports the outer layer of gesso forming the face of Nefertiti with which we are all familiar, shows some decided flaws that did not show up in the final bust/portrait.
Oh my, what's an archaeologist to do??? LOL! I guess they just don't understand about "before" and "after" make-overs, do they? Heh heh heh.
Coverage:
AFP report at Google
Yahoo! News (some photos which show the underlying stone sculpture and it's "flaws")
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