Face of Medieval Duke Who Ruled the Czech Dynasty Was Rebuilt

Facial recognition software has helped recreate the faces of Czech royals who died more than a thousand years ago.

Researchers used radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis to identify the remains of Duke Spytihněv I and his brother, Vratislav, who died within a few years of each other in the early 10th century.

The team scanned the dukes’ skulls in minute details and incorporated information about their diet, health, and mobility to render their three-dimensional likenesses.

A digital result was created of each man, showing each with blue eyes and reddish-brown hair – all of which were determined through DNA analysis.

The brothers were from the House of Přemyslid, a Czech dynasty which reigned from the 9th century to the start of the 14th century, controlling Bohemia, Moravia, Poland, Hungary, and Austria.

They’re considered important figures in Czech history, the sons of the first Přemyslid ruler, Bořivoj I and his wife, St. Ludmila.

Ruling from 894 AD until his death in 915 AD, Spytihněv I founded Prague Castle and formed important alliances to fend off invasion by the Magyars of Hungary.

Vratislav I, his younger brother, took over after Spytihněv’s death and was also the father of King Wenceslas, the patron saint of the Czech state.

Anthropologist Emanuel Vlček first uncovered their remains at Prague Castle in the 1980s, but improved radiocarbon dating now allows researchers to get much more specific in identifying individuals.

And DNA analysis can determine diet and mobility and other characteristics.

Archaeologist Jan Frolík, geophysicist Jiří Šindelář and photographer Martin Frouz partnered with Cicero André da Costa Moraes, a forensic facial reconstruction expert from Brazil on the project.

They scanned the Přemyslid brothers skulls using photogrammetry, a process that involves digital photos taken from multiple angles in exacting detail.

Not only is the technique fast and accurate, but it’s also virtually contactless, preserving the remains from further degradation.

Moraes then ‘fleshed out’ his subject with musculature, relying on different reconstruction techniques, including anatomical and soft tissue depth methods.

It’s crucial for him to work in ‘blindness,’ Moraes said, not knowing anything about his subjects beforehand.

Moraes has used the same technique to reveal the visages of other Czech royals, including Queen Judita of Thuringia and Zdislava of Lemberk, the patron saint of difficult marriages and those mocked for their piety

At the behest of the Archbishopric of Prague, the team will next work on reconstructing the face of Saint Ludmila of Bohemia in honor of the 1100-year anniversary of her martyrdom.

They’ll also start work on reconstructing Vratislav’s son, Wenceslas I, the patron saint of the Czech Republic who was murdered by his brother on his way to Mass.

For most of his subjects, Moraes can only guess at eye and hair color, but an extensive DNA study pointed to both brothers having reddish-brown hair and blue eyes.

Their hairstyles, facial hair and clothing, however, were all educated guesses based on illustrations in manuscripts that have survived.