Around 430 BCE, typhoid
fever wiped out a third of the Athenian population. Among the many casualties
was the great Athenian politician, Pericles. In 1994-95 Greek archaeologists
excavated a mass grave in the Kerameikos cemetery.
The grave contained the
remains of 150 men, women and children all hastily buried. One of those victims
was an 11 year old girl, which [who] archaeologists have dubbed ‘Myrtis’. The girl’s
skull was so well preserved that scientists have been able to reconstruct her
face down to the last detail.
She evidently had reddish-brown hair, brown eyes,
a straight nose and slightly protruding teeth.
What do I think? Science is not dispassionate and there is no
doubt that everyone who was / is involved with this project felt deeply for
this little girl who probably didn’t make it to her 12th birthday. It is truly fantastic that we can now see her
face and we can learn so much from her death. Through the application of
science, her untimely demise leaves us the richer.
Also we must record that
this work is being funded and carried out under the aegis of the University of
Athens – a place where the true meaning of the phrase ‘financial cuts’ must be
blatantly apparent!
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