Modern Tools Flesh Out Ancient Faces

ATHENS — What was Agamemnon like?

British researchers are uniting DNA analysis, forensic science and traditional archeology to try to put a face to the fabled king--or at least gain a better picture of the common features of subjects and royalty in the times leading up to Agamemnon.

The effort is part of the new spectrum of techniques being used around the world to bring new meaning to discoveries that have gathered dust in museums for decades or centuries.

“Tremendous vistas have been opened,” said John Prag, the “keeper of archeology” at Manchester University in Britain.

More than 120 years ago, the German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann claimed--with much fanfare--to have uncovered the golden death mask of Agamemnon, the Greek king who sacked Troy. The find, however, was later determined to be from an even earlier Hellenistic reign.

Now Prag’s team has extracted DNA from remains in grave sites near Schliemann’s 1876 excavation in ancient Mycenae in southern Greece.

Using techniques such as DNA mapping, the team hopes to answer questions about the common physical traits and general health conditions in Mycenae, where many believe Agamemnon ruled 1,200 years before the birth of Christ.

“It’s radical and very exciting,” Prag said. “This is an opportunity to ‘talk’ to these people, to ask them as many questions as possible.”

Other modern tools include neutron activation, which involves the use of nuclear particle accelerators and mass spectrography. The process shows the precise composition and trace elements of any object, including bones.

As experts in biochemistry and genetics study the Mycenae DNA, another member of the team will be trying to add details to faces emerging from the dig site.

Richard Neave, an expert in facial reconstruction at Manchester University’s school of medicine, has already shaped seven head models from the Mycenae bones. The faces closely resemble those of modern-day Greeks, but they’re a far cry from the stylized beauty of figures decorating classic pottery.

The DNA study could add greater nuances to the appearance of the ancient Greeks.

Prag and Neave earlier had collaborated on reconstructing the face of Alexander the Great’s father from a skull found in his grave in northern Greece.

“After Philip of Macedon, why not Agamemnon?” asked Prag, who describes the late Bronze Age monarch as “hovering between legend and history like King Arthur.”

The main point of reference for Agamemnon is Homer’s epic poem “Iliad,” which recounts Agamemnon’s exploits as leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War.

Two main grave sites containing skeletons have been found at Mycenae. Unfortunately, the skulls found by Schliemann were too fragmented to reconstruct a face.

So Prag, Neave and their team shifted their focus to seven skulls found in a nearby grave site, dating to about 400 years before Agamemnon. The reconstructed faces showed that at least two of the people buried there were probably brothers.