Warwick L Nixon Wrote:
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> do you know if the reconstructions were 'Blind'?
>
> were they done independantly?
>
> had those involved seen the figurines?

The issue of the figurines actually was of no assistance, though the artists were aware of the statuettes' existence, they did not compare their reconstructions with the statuettes until after completion (Prag and Neave 1997: 47).

It was determined from the reconstruction that the statuettes had been mislabeled, so while the forensic reconstruction artists knew about the figurines, they found the features of the statuettes and on the individual coffins did not match the inhabitant of the coffins (Prag and Neave 1997: 45; 47).

Margaret Murray had unwrapped the mummies of the Two Brothers back in 1908. By the time of the Prag and Neave reconstruction in 1977, all that remained of the mummies were skeletal remains, so their reconstructions were based primarily upon the Kollman and Büchly system of bones measurement and tissue depth determination to make the reconstructions (Prag and Neave 1997: 46).

The inner coffin of Khnum-Nakht, who was later identified as having negroid features can be see here, while the inner coffin of his brother, Nakht-ankh, a eunuch and shorter of the Two Brothers, can be found here (both images from the Manchester Museum wesbite).

Dr. David issued a book concerning the Manchester Museum's examination of these two mummies, in late 2007, as The Two Brothers: Death and the Afterlife in Middle Kingdom Egypt, which can be acquired from Amazon UK.

Reference:

Prag, J. and R. Neave 1997. Making Faces: Using Forensic and Archaeological Evidence. London: British Museum Press.

Murray, M. A. 1910. The Tomb of Two Brothers. Manchester Museum Handbooks. Manchester: Sherratt & Hughes.

HTH.

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg

Doctoral Candidate
Oriental Institute
Doctoral Programme in Oriental Studies [Egyptology]
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom