SCIENTISTS have finally put a face to a “pretty” woman whose remains are the most ancient ever discovered in the Americas.
Around 80% of her bones were recovered, allowing scientists to paint a picture of what she would have looked like in her lifetime, thousands of years before the pyramids were built.
The surprise find, dubbed Eve, is revealed to be a pretty, raven-haired woman aged between 20 and 25 and 4ft 8 inches tall.
Eve had suffered a broken back, leading scientists to believe she either died in the cave or had been carried there after death.
“The forensic technology creates, from the real skull, a 3D virtual representation”
Octavio del Rio, discoverer of the remains
Diver Octavio del Rio discovered the remains of the woman in a flooded cave in south-eastern Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula back in 2001.
Del Rio said: “If she arrived alone, maybe looking for water, she did not managed to get it. She was trapped in the dark and she was scared, she used a foetal position and waited for death.
“Basically the forensic technology creates, from the real skull, a 3D virtual representation.”
DNA information and anthropological analysis had also been fed into the computerised system to recreate ethnic characteristics.
CEN/Cicero Moraes
RECONSTRUCTION: The restoration face of the Mayan woman dubbed Eve is shown step-by-step
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ARCHEOLOGY: Eve’s bones were discovered in a flooded cave
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BONES: The woman’s skull is examined by a scientist
Mr Del Rio added that the plentiful supply of caves in the region would have provided ideal accommodation for people in ancient times.
“Those humans chose to live in this area of the Yucatan peninsula,” he said.
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SKELETON: Fragments of the woman’s body are sorted
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SEARCH: The remains were found in this sinkhole
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ANCIENT: The skeleton is 13,600-year-old
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