Craniofacial reconstruction of the Indus Valley Civilization individuals found at 4500-year-old Rakhigarhi cemetery

Anat Sci Int. 2020 Mar;95(2):286-292. doi: 10.1007/s12565-019-00504-3. Epub 2019 Oct 1.

Abstract

Despite academic efforts to study the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC), there have as yet been no successful attempts to unveil the IVC people's craniofacial appearance. We investigated the IVC cemetery area of Rakhigarhi site, which was estimated to be of 2273 ± 38 and 2616 ± 73 years BCE. By craniofacial reconstruction (CFR) procedure using computed tomography (CT) data of two Rakhigarhi skulls (A1 BR02 and A2 BR36), we successfully reconstructed the faces of the IVC individuals who were buried about 4500 years ago. This is the first attempt to unveil scientifically accurate representations of IVC people's actual facial morphology.

Keywords: Computed tomography; Craniofacial reconstruction; India; Indus Valley Civilization; Rakhigarhi cemetery.

MeSH terms

  • Archaeology*
  • Cemeteries*
  • Civilization*
  • Face / anatomy & histology*
  • Face / diagnostic imaging*
  • Humans
  • India
  • Skull / anatomy & histology*
  • Skull / diagnostic imaging*
  • Time Factors
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods