Aquincum’s Ancient Residents Come to Life in Budapest Exhibition

A new exhibition in Budapest’s Aquincum Museum brings the faces and stories of ancient Roman city residents to life in remarkable fidelity. The display, which runs until October 31, showcases highly detailed facial reconstructions from over a dozen skulls found in the ancient city of Aquincum.

The facial reconstructions were crafted using DNA analysis and other techniques from fields such as archaeology and anthropology to determine how the people may have looked in life nearly 2,000 years ago. Experts with the Aquincum Museum used DNA analysis of unearthed bones to reveal skin, hair, and eye color, as well as whether the person may have had freckles.

The shape, density, and other characteristics of the skull revealed details of the structure of the face, as well as the person’s age and whether they had sustained any injuries or suffered from disease. Based on the findings, curators came up with names, trades, and biographical stories to each of the reconstructed faces, giving them new life.

One character, a construction worker named Respectus, is described as having made his living in Aquincum plastering walls and splitting stone blocks. The exhibit says the work took its toll on his bones, and in a wine-fueled skirmish in a local tavern, his nose was broken, and one of his teeth knocked out.

The story and social status of Respectus are typical of many Aquincum residents depicted. Loránt Vass, an archaeologist and the exhibition’s co-curator, said their studies showed that the bones of almost all individuals show a ‘fairly high degree’ of inflammation.

‘They were subjected to regular physical labor, and in many cases, they were exposed to starvation for a certain period of time,’ Vass said. ‘Based on this, it can be concluded that most of them belonged to the lower middle class, which is the least remembered segment of Roman society.’

Of the 16 reconstructions, six are silicon moldings that have been painted and meticulously adorned with true-to-life hair, clothing, and jewelry. Emese Gábor, who handcrafted the silicon reconstructions, said that while artificial intelligence can also be used to model ancient faces, ‘they just appear on a screen.’

‘The advantage of this kind of reconstruction is that it can be displayed in a museum, it can be viewed from all angles, and is totally life-size,’ she said. ‘I stick to scientific methods and combine classical and modern scientific methods in this work.’

Another valuable piece of information that DNA can reveal is the ethnic origin of the person. Analyses showed the presence of not only Roman citizens with origins in the heart of the empire in modern-day Italy but also people from as far away as today’s Scotland and Syria, as well as members of the nomadic Sarmatian tribes of the Eurasian steppes.

Also among Aquincum’s residents were Celts, who inhabited the region in the Iron Age before Roman settlement. Vass said that during typical excavations of Roman-era skeletons, artifacts are examined, documented, and stored, meaning ‘the bodies have no weight, no life, no soul.’

By confronting visitors with their ancient predecessors, the museum hopes to forge a connection. The exhibition’s title, ‘Once we were like you,’ attempts to answer questions about ordinary people in ancient societies: What did they look like? What were their names? What was their fate?

Vass said that the exhibition suggests that people are people, regardless of their social status or life conditions. ‘I don’t think that has changed much across history,’ he said.

The exhibition is a testament to the power of science and technology in uncovering the secrets of the past and bringing people closer to their ancestors.