The face of Ancient Greece
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Wits links the past and present again, giving an identity to the dead.
Wits researchers were involved in what has been called the most important Greek archaeological discovery in 65 years 鈥 the Bronze Age tomb of the so-called , filled with a 鈥渇abulous hoard of wealth鈥. Prof Lynne Schepartz and Tobias Houlton (School of Anatomical Sciences) reconstructed the of the warrior, 鈥渙ne of the powerful men who laid foundations for the Mycenaean civilization, the earliest in Europe鈥.
Using this expertise closer to home, the School has recently launched a Human Variation and Identification Research Unit. Its director is the School鈥檚 Head, Prof Maryna Steyn (PhD 1994), who has also recently been appointed an associate editor of the .
The unit鈥檚 work includes a component of service to the community, helping to identify dead bodies. The Mail & Guardian recently published a series of in-depth on 鈥淪outh Africa鈥檚 Forgotten Dead鈥, supported by Wits鈥 Taco Kuiper Investigative Journalism Fund.