Facial reconstruction of an 11-year-old female resident of 430 BC Athens.

Although modern standards of ideal proportions and facial esthetics are based mostly on observations of human faces as depicted in Classical Greek masterpieces of art, the real faces of ordinary ancient Greeks have, until now, remained elusive and subject to the imagination. Objective forensic techniques of facial reconstruction have never been applied before, because human skeletal material from Classical Greece has been extremely scarce, since most decent burials of that time required cremation. Here, the authors show stage by stage the facial reconstruction of an 11-year-old girl whose skull was unearthed in excellent condition from a mass grave with victims of the Plague that struck Athens of 430 bc. The original skull was replicated via three-dimensional modeling and rapid prototyping techniques. The reconstruction followed the Manchester method, laying the facial tissues from the surface of the skull outward by using depth-marker pegs as thickness guides. The shape, size, and position of the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth were determined according to features of the underlying skeletal tissues, whereas the hairstyle followed the fashion of the time. This is the first case of facial reconstruction of a layperson residing in Athens of the Golden Age of Pericles. It is ironic, however, that this unfortunate girl who lived such a short life in ancient Athens, will now, 2500 years later, have the chance to travel and be universally recognizable in a world much bigger than anybody in ancient Athens could have ever imagined.

Dental status and orthodontic treatment needs of an 11-year-old female resident of Athens, 430 BC.

This report presents the skeletal and dental features of "Myrtis", an 11-year-old female resident of ancient Athens back in 430 BC. Her skeleton was unearthed in an archaeological excavation of a mass burial pit located in the outskirts of Kerameikos' ancient cemetery of Athens. "Myrtis" is believed to have been one of the numerous hapless victims of the Plague of Athens. Her skull was found in relatively intact condition bearing her complete dentition corresponding to the mixed dentition stage. A complete dental and orthodontic diagnosis of Myrtis was conducted based on clinical examination, study of panoramic radiographs, and lateral cephalometric analysis of her skull. No significant dental pathology was reported pertaining to deciduous or permanent teeth of "Myrtis". A Class II skeletal and dental malocclusion was observed. The ectopic labial eruption of the maxillary canines mesially to their retained deciduous predecessors, the ectopic distally directed eruption of a lower first premolar, and a unilaterally missing lower third molar were among the most interesting dental findings reported.

DNA examination of ancient dental pulp incriminates typhoid fever as a probable cause of the Plague of Athens.

BACKGROUND: Until now, in the absence of direct microbiological evidence, the cause of the Plague of Athens has remained a matter of debate among scientists who have relied exclusively on Thucydides' narrations to introduce several possible diagnoses. A mass burial pit, unearthed in the Kerameikos ancient cemetery of Athens and dated back to the time of the plague outbreak (around 430 BC), has provided the required skeletal material for the investigation of ancient microbial DNA. OBJECTIVE: To determine the probable cause of the Plague of Athens. METHOD: Dental pulp was our material of choice, since it has been proved to be an ideal DNA source of ancient septicemic microorganisms through its good vascularization, durability and natural sterility. RESULTS: Six DNA amplifications targeted at genomic parts of the agents of plague (Yersinia pestis), typhus (Rickettsia prowazekii), anthrax (Bacillus anthracis), tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), cowpox (cowpox virus) and cat-scratch disease (Bartonella henselae) failed to yield any product in 'suicide' reactions of DNA samples isolated from three ancient teeth. On the seventh such attempt, DNA sequences of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi were identified providing clear evidence for the presence of that microorganism in the dental pulp of teeth recovered from the Kerameikos mass grave. CONCLUSION: The results of this study clearly implicate typhoid fever as a probable cause of the Plague of Athens.