DNA studies were carried out on Tut’s mummy, and scientists found that he had a few health problems which contributed to his passing. Tut was tall but he was frail with a bone disorder, suffered from many bouts of malaria, and even had an infected broken leg.

There is also evidence of a club foot, which was a disadvantage of inbreeding, a tradition at the time since his mother and father were siblings. These findings are possible explanations for some aspects on the life of King Tut. He is the only pharaoh pictured doing almost everything sitting down, including archery.

Nero was only 17 years old when he became the Roman Emperor, the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. In his fifth year as emperor, Nero had his mother killed. He was known for appearing in public as an actor, charioteer, poet, and musician, which many thought undermined his authority.

The middle and upper classes detested Nero after he raised taxes to fund his extravagant private and public works for his empire. Modern technology helped artists figure out what the emperor looked like.

In 2019, Spanish artists created a lifelike rendering of Nero based on the descriptions, drawings, and busts of the Emperor. They got his attributes perfectly, including the chinstrap and his arrogant smirk.

In 64 A.D. there was a fire that consumed Rome. Nero chose to dress up and then sang on the roof of the palace. But before others could execute him, Nero killed himself saying, “What an artist dies in me!”

This is the bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti, the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten, which is made of limestone, covered in stucco, and believed to be created by the sculptor Thutmose in Amarna, Egypt in 1345 B.C.

The bust was discovered in Thutmose’s workshop back in 1912. Based on the sculpture alone, the Egyptian queen was beautiful with defined facial features. However, 3D imaging meant experts could determine what Nefertiti possibly looked like in person.

In 2018, Travel Channel’s show Expedition Unknown made good use of 3D imaging technology in scanning and digitally mapping the facial structure of “The Younger Lady,” a mummy that was believed to be Nefertiti. The true identity of the mummy is still hotly debated.

The face of the mummy was scanned, taking 500 hours for paleoartist Elisabeth Daynes to recreate the face on the bust, which was based on Nefertiti’s historical images. It looked as if this project proved that “The Younger Lady” was Nefertiti, but upon the release of the image, there was a lot of controversy regarding the color of the Egyptian queen’s skin.

This is Robert the Bruce, who was also called Robert I, the king of Scots who reigned from 1306 until 1329. He secured the independence of Scotland from England after waging a successful guerrilla war against the English.

In June 1314, he won the Battle of Bannockburn. The defeated Edward II refused to give up the overlordship of Scotland. This caused the earls, barons, and the people of Scotland to write a letter to Pope John XXII stating that Robert I was the rightful monarch.

Even though Robert the Bruce is not depicted in any contemporary works of art, researchers at the University of Glasgow were able to use casts from the skull believed to belong to the king of Scots.

In the past, however, artists relied on word of mouth and their imagination to make statues and portraits of Robert I. Researchers used Face Lab technology including legal and archaeological evidence to create his likeness. In 1324, Robert the Bruce was recognized by the Pope as the king of independent Scotland. He passed away five years later.

Julius Caesar was a war general and Roman politician responsible for the Roman Empire’s expansion. He crossed the Rhine River and the English Channel, subsequently invading Britain.

Refusing to step down from command to avoid arrest, Caesar re-entered Roman Italy from Gaul under arms. That led to a civil war. There are many sculptures of him, but it was in 2018 when a realistic rendering of the military genius’s head was created.

There is a lifelike bust of Julius Caesar in Leiden’s National Museum of Antiquities. One of his marble portraits was scanned using 3D technology with the results used to create this 3D reconstruction.

After the Roman civil war that Caesar won, he reigned as a dictator, starting governmental and social reforms while granting citizenship to people who lived in the Roman Empire’s farthest regions. The Senate’s elite members were not pleased, so they assassinated him in 44 B.C.

Cleopatra was able to rule Egypt for almost three decades. She ascended the throne at 18, alongside her brother Ptolemy XIII, who was 10, after their father died. In 49 B.C., her brother’s advisers succeeded in running Cleopatra out of Egypt. With Julius Caesar’s help, she was reinstated years later with her brother, Ptolemy XIV.

Cleopatra gave birth to Ptolemy Caesar, believed to be Caesar’s son. In 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was murdered. Shortly after, Ptolemy XIV died, which led to Cleopatra ruling Egypt with her son.

Cleopatra was multilingual and she was well-educated, leading to her becoming the dominant ruler when she was co-regent. She was also considered an exotic beauty who would use the powers of seduction. Her alliances and romantic relations with rulers of other empires are also documented.

3D artists utilized existing sculptures and portraiture to determine what Cleopatra looked like. The Egyptian queen’s masculine features and prominent nose surprised many who watched Elizabeth Taylor portray Cleopatra in film.

Queen Elizabeth I ruled Ireland and England from 1558 until 1603. Her father was King Henry VIII and her mother was his second wife Anne Boleyn. That marriage was annulled with Anne’s passing, so Elizabeth was regarded as illegitimate.

As a result, it took Elizabeth a few years to ascend the throne, which finally happened in 1558. Many paintings depict what Elizabeth looked like, but in 2018, Mat Collishaw, a mixed media artist, took it to another level.

Collishaw created a hyper-realistic animatronic mask with eyes that follow you around. It had a mouth that opened as if it would speak. There’s a mirror attached to the mask, and is now displayed across the Armada Portrait at the Queen’s House.

The famous Armada portrait shows a youthful Elizabeth, though she was 55 when it was painted. The mask is more accurate in showing what the Virgin Queen could have looked like during her time. Some say that her actual face is more or less the same as in her portraits.

There are many debates over what William Shakespeare looked like, but many historians and scholars agree that the most accurate is this engraving from Martin Droeshout. The man who created literary classics, such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, surely had facial hair with that receding hairline.

In 1975, Professor Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel discovered the death mask of Shakespeare in London. In the 1800s, death masks were made by using plaster or wax placed over the face of the dead. There is still debate over the fact that the mask may not be that of Shakespeare, but someone still decided to make it the real thing.

It was in 2010 when Dundee University’s Dr. Caroline Wilkinson used Shakespeare’s death mask to make a rendering of his face. Wilkinson used 3D imaging on the mask to map every feature of Shakespeare’s face. She created this somber rendering.

Many agree that Wilkinson’s depiction is similar to other interpretations to some extent, except for the fact that Shakespeare’s whole head is not seen here. The literary genius died at 52 years old on April 23, 1616.

George Washington was the first United States President from 1789 until 1797. He won the war for Independence with the Patriot forces, so he was unanimously elected as president of the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Washington was integral in the establishment of a new federal government.

He is a highly revered historical figure in the United States and the Founding Father is everywhere. His face is everywhere like on a dollar bill, a quarter, in numerous government buildings and museums all over the country. People know his face, though it was only recently when what he looked was revealed.

Researchers compared painted portraits to detailed renderings, helping them make this computer-generated picture of Washington which proved that many of his portraits are authentic. This image is very realistic that you can see Washington’s full head of hair, which was real and white in his day, and his five o’clock shadow. George Washington died at the age of 67 on December 14, 1799, after battling complications from a sore throat.

Mary Stuart, popularly known as Mary, Queen of Scots, reigned from 1542 to 1567. Her father died just a few days after her birth, which made her the queen only six days after being born. Mary’s mother sent her to France so that she could be in French court while growing up. She came back to Scotland in 1559.

Dundee University’s Professor Caroline Wilkinson made use of drawings and paintings to create a 3D face of Mary, the Queen of Scots. She then drew upon biographical info to avoid her artwork’s highly stylized depictions.

This rendering of the Queen of Scots is not that different from how classic paintings depicted her but there are still differences. Mary’s nose is the feature that remained closest to the original.

King Richard III ruled England for two years (1483-1485). His reputation was regarded as less than honorable as time went by. He was called a tyrant In Shakespeare’s play and in the end, was replaced by the Tudors. In the 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field, Richard III bravely led a charge into Henry Tudor’s army. He was surrounded and lost his life in the process.

It was in 2012 when it became possible to recreate this image of Richard III. The reason being his body was lost after he died. In 2012, a team of researchers looked for clues that had them going to an underground parking lot where they found his body and exhumed it.

Members from Dundee University helped create this image that depicts what Richard could have looked like when he was alive. There are no realistic paintings of him, so researchers needed to rely on historical records.

Meritamun means “beloved of the god Amun”. Researchers from the University of Melbourne introduced this queen to the public when they searched through their archives and discovered the skull.

She was naturally from ancient Egypt, so her skull traveling across the globe is quite perplexing. Meritamun was one of the Great Royal Wives of Pharaoh Ramesses the Great, while her burial place was the Valley of the Queens in Egypt.

There’s not much on Meritamun that researchers could find since they only had her skull, but they were able to gather some information, like the former queen’s age at the time of her death.

She was believed to have been between 18 to 25 years old at that time, but her death remains a mystery. Researchers also found out that she may have had a sweet tooth because of her tooth decay. Not that surprising since Alexander the Great first brought sugar to Egypt around the same time that she lived.

EVeryone has heard of Jesus Christ. He is the biblical figure who walked on water, turned water into wine, healed the blind, and rose from the dead. The same Jesus Christ who gave up his life on a cross for the greater good. There are renditions created to depict what Jesus looked like, but it looks like artists did not capture Jesus’ true essence.

The Bible does not describe the physical appearance of Jesus. A lot of modern evidence suggests that Jesus does not look like how people have portrayed him over the centuries.

There no skeletal remains or body parts that may have Jesus Christ’s DNA, so researchers had to rely on forensic anthropology. When this image was created, Israeli archeologists and British scientists who did the work relied on methods commonly used in solving crimes.

If you’ve never heard of The Lord of Sipan, he was the first of several discoveries later called the Moche mummies. He was originally found by Archaeologists in Peru back in 1987.

This discovery is among the most significant made during the 20th century. There were many treasures buried with the body of the Lord of Sipan, similar to King Tut. Many are wondering how experts recreated this historical figure.

The forensic team’s job was not easy, especially since pressure from the sediment broke the skull during excavation. Thankfully, modern technology helped in the reconstruction of the 96 separate pieces.

The team used photogrammetry, a process that uses cameras set up at different angles to create a 3D image, to reconfigure the skull. This image was then produced by the Brazilian Team of Forensic Anthropology and Forensic Odontology.

Saint Anthony, born in Portugal in 1195, passed away at the young age of 36. He made a huge impact during his time, with his great ability to heal. The Catholic Church adores Saint Anthony since he was quickly canonized as a saint, making him the second-fastest to be exact. A year after his passing, he was declared as the saint of lost things.

They say when Saint Anthony died, children cried in the street and that bells rang by themselves. His body was exhumed three decades later, but researchers only had his tongue and jawbone to guide them.

The team behind this recreation of his real face was composed of the University of St. Anthony of Padua’s Anthropology Museum researchers and a 3-D designer from the University of Sao Paolo.

King Henry IV is popularly known as “Henry the Great” or “Good King Henry”. Many think that is amazing because of how his reign started. He became the King of Navarre at the age of 19, and then two months later, got married.

Protestants flooded the city in celebration, but were greeted with the “St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.” King Henry IV almost did not make it out alive as he needed to serve while in the French Court.

The Good King was said to survive a total of 12 assassination attempts. Researchers chose to recreate Henry because of his religious tolerance.

The team behind this reconstruction is the same team that worked on Robespierre, facial reconstruction specialist Philippe Froesch and forensic pathologist Philippe Charlier. Henry IV did not survive the 13th assassination attempt. In 1610, a Catholic man stabbed the king with a dagger.

Born in Germany in 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach had a musical background with many regarding him as a great musician in his day. History dictates that he is among the best composers ever, and was the result of music’s golden age.

As a young boy, Bach was already considered a musical prodigy when it came to the organ, even though he wrote music for the church. Many will agree that very few composers come close to Bach in terms of his accomplishments.

Dundee University’s Dr. Caroline Wilkinson used a cast of the skull believed to be Bach’s to recreate him. The genius composer was buried in an unmarked grave that was almost lost to history.

A century and a half later, renovations were done at the church where Bach was laid to rest, so it was a great opportunity to find him. They found a skull thought to be the composer’s and was used to create the image here.

He is one of the world’s most influential figureheads. The Venezuelan military leader Simón Bolívar played a big part in his country’s revolution against the Spanish Empire.

Born into considerable wealth and sent to Spain to study, Bolívar ended up joining the resistance movement. After the invasion of Spain by France, people called him “El Libertador,” which translates to The Liberator in English. He died in a different kind of battle due to tuberculosis.

If you thought this image was based on a real human being, then we’re not surprised because looks can be deceiving. It took a forensic imagery team a whole year to go through historical documents, including help from the government of Venezuela.

After lots of research, the team was able to create this legendary representation of Simón Bolívar. Many think he is aesthetically pleasing, which is something most people would not notice from paintings of him.

There was a time when many believed that our planet was the center of the universe, but thankfully, Nicolaus Copernicus’ theory changed that. Born in 1473, Copernicus made a model of a sun-centered solar system that still holds true to this day.

Originally from Poland, his mind led him all over Europe during his lifetime. Too bad Copernicus is not around today. Someone needs to tell the people who still believe that the Earth is flat that they’re wrong.

Old renditions of Nicolaus Copernicus do not do him justice since he is often depicted as gaunt and hollowed. Thanks to the advancement of technology, someone made a better rendering of the man responsible for opening our eyes to the truth about the universe.

This new depiction still makes him look miserable. Some say that this is the price of genius, and even Oscar Wilde said that the ugly and stupid live the best lives.

Before the year 1990, researchers had been excavating Peru’s El Brujo region, but it was in 2005 when they unearthed a mummy that they named Lady of Cao.

She was found in a simple cloth with her death estimated to have happened around the year 400. Experts assumed she belonged to the Moche people, who lived thousands of years before the Incas. She was mummified with various artifacts buried with her, so chances are she came from aristocracy.

After the Lady of Cao was discovered, her remains were brought to an El Brujo museum. She is kept inside a climate-controlled room and can only be viewed by looking through glass.

She was brought back to life forensically, but it’s still a mystery what her actual role in society was. She’s believed to have died in her late twenties, buried with different objects, and could possibly have been a human sacrifice.