Scientists render 315,000-year-old Moroccan ancestor in lifelike 3D portrait

A multidisciplinary group created a three-dimensional facial approximation of an early Homo sapiens specimen uncovered at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco. The fossil, originally found in the 1960s and re-dated to roughly 315,000 years ago, was digitised alongside associated jaw and tooth fragments to generate a composite skull model. Using a modern human template, researchers added estimated muscle, fat and skin layers, producing both a scientific grayscale reconstruction and a full-colour portrait depicting a dark-skinned man with long black hair, a bushy beard, deep-set eyes, a wide nose and full lips.

Lead 3D specialist Cícero Moraes emphasized that the lifelike image involves artistic interpretation, especially for traits not preserved in the fossil record. The work appears in the journal Heritage and highlights the diversity of early human appearance in North Africa.