Friday, September 23, 2011

Tamerlane?

This sculpture of the Tatar conqueror Timur or Tamerlane was made to the specifications of Russian archaeologists, who opened Timur's tomb in 1941 and made a cast of the skull.

I know nothing about the technique used to recreate this face from the skull, but I have seen some good results done by police artists using unfancy technology, so I imagine this is not too far off.

I also have no idea why Soviet archaeologists were opening the tombs of 14th-century conquerors in 1941. Trying to increase support for the war effort among Turks and Uzbeks?

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