National Geographic reports you can now see the face of Mary Magdalene, following the forensic and artistic reconstruction of the face of a woman whose skull remains behind a glass barrier in France.
That is, if you are convinced that the woman who is recorded in the New Testament as a follower of Jesus somehow made her way from what now is Israel to France before she died.
And if you believe that the skull, in a crypt behind a basilica in a medieval town in the south of France, is hers.
The report identified Mary Magdalene as “one of the Catholic Church’s most infamous women” and says some have described her as a prostitute.
Lest anyone jump to conclusions, Philippe Charlier, a biological anthropologist from the University of Versailles, told National Geographic: “We are absolutely not sure that this is the true skull of Mary Magdalene. But it was very important to get it out of anonymity.”
He worked with visual forensic artist Philippe Froesch on the project.
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The report explains the facial reconstruction is “based on computer modeling of the skull and depicts a woman with a pointed nose, high cheekbones, and a round face.”
The report notes that “unproven theories” claim she was the wife of Jesus.
“In a 2004 interview with National Geographic, Harvard Divinity School professor Karen King noted that the only conclusive evidence of Magdalene’s role points to her as a follower of Jesus. At the time, King alleged that Magdalene may have played a crucial role in developing the early foundations of Christianity.”
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The report said rumors began to gain popularity in the south of France in 1279, and Rebecca Lea McCarthy raised the issue in the book “Origins of the Magdalene Laundries.” However, McCarthy pointed out that Mary Magdalene’s remains have been “found” in at least five locations.
While working on another project, Froesch became interested in the “Mary” skull, which has been in a locked glass case since 1974, when it last was evaluated.
The researchers took more than 500 photographs of the skull then re-created a model.
“From this information, they were able to glean that the skull belonged to a woman who died at around 50 years old, and who was of Mediterranean descent. The shape of the nose and other features were determined using trigonometric ratios based on characteristics consistent with the skull’s age, sex, and ethnicity,” the report said.
“Photographs of hair found on the skull indicated that the woman had dark brown hair, and skin tone was determined based on tones typically seen in Mediterranean women. A type of clay historically used to prevent lice was also seen on strands of the hair.”
