[Image source: USA Today On Deadline blog]

As if the tonnes of make up the models wear for photoshoots are not enough, the pictures are then digitally touched up to make the faces and bodies even more (unrealistically) perfect before they go onto the glossy pages of glam mags or billboards. But, looks like our obsession with perfect looks is not so modern after all. German scientists that used CT scan to study a 3,300 year old bust of queen Nefertiti have found a hidden face beneath the one visible to the observer. The findings are reported in the Radiology journal. They are not sure at this point about why the original face was not left untouched and why some changes were made in the angles of the eyelids, creases around the corners of the mouth and a slight bump on the ridge of the nose.

From the few books I have read about Egypt, Egyptology and archaeology, I seem to remember that Nefertiti was one of the few queens renowned for their looks. So then, was this a case of ancient touch-up sculpting? Was Nefertiti’s face “modified” to conform to her reputation? Who knows, but its an interesting food for thought.