Craniofacial reconstruction (CFR), a technique to rebuild the ante-mortem facial appearance of the individual, is employed in that very few scientific evidences are remaining to aid the identification of missing people’s remains [1, 2]. CFR becomes also very significant in archaeology of Korea. In brief, during Joseon dynasty period (1392–1897 CE), the facial appearance of respectful officials or scholars were plentifully drawn by contemporary painters. However, as for Korean mummies of Joseon period, there were many cases without any portraits or sculptures remained. When museum curators hoped to get mummified figures’ portrait for public occasions, little information could be available. In that case, portrait drawings must rely on simple imagination or vague reference materials. To overcome this shortcoming, the facial appearance of mummies can be re-created by CFR and the result becomes an ideal reference for drawing authentic portraits of them [3-5]. This idea has been very meaningful in mummy study; however, we admit that it is nothing short of just begun. Actually, authentic achievement cannot be obtained if more experience for drawing mummified people’s portraits based on CFR is not accumulated properly.

Recently, we had a chance to make a CFR-based portrait of Joseon period celebrity who was mummified inside the grave and recently discovered by archaeologists. In January 2019, the grave of Eung-Cheok Ko (1531–1605) was archaeologically investigated at Gumi City (Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea). He was a famous writer and scholar of the Joseon Dynasty, having passed civil service examination in 1561, and then served as governor of Hoedeok county and Gyeongju city. In his grave, many clothes, cotton blankets, and pillows could be also found in a well-preserved state. The mummy was moved to Seoul National University College of Medicine. Computed tomography (CT) scan was performed with the cooperation of Dankook University Hospital (Cheonan, Korea). While removing the shrouds surrounding the mummy in the lab, the work was suspended due to concerns from descendants who feared damage to their ancestor’s body (Appendix 1). Although the mummy’s face was not exposed to us, the possibility of predicting his face based on the skull recovered from the CT data remains.

It is of great significance in that creating reliable portraits of historically famous figures can be possible by CFR. In this report, we took a scientifically restored face shape with age and gender into account; and portrait drawing was finally carried out by an artist, referring to the latest historical research updates on Joseon period clothing. In our work, the facial appearance should reflect the fact that Eung-Cheok Ko survived to the age of 74 years. His ears and skin were expressed droopier as they got older, wrinkles were depicted around the eyes, and the age range of this person was expressed with eyebrows and whiskers that looked like a little thin. And we also reflected in the portrait that he was a prominent scholar and a celebrity respected by the people at the time. A headband of Eung-Cheok Ko in the portrait is expressed in a decent arrangement. The top he was wearing was depicted reflecting the style of the man’s coat worn by the scholars at the time. The hat Eung-Cheok Ko wore on his head was drawn by referring to the portrait of Kim Jin (1500–1580) and the existing hat of Seong-ryong Yu (1542–1607). According to the historical literatures, he was a great scholar who studied diligently in his hometown and received considerable respect from people at that time [14]. Therefore, we tried to reflect his admirable personality in historical records when we painted the portrait. In South Korea, since CFR becomes an ideal technique to make historical figures’ portraits or statues more reliable [5, 15], our report can be accepted as a part of continuing efforts to accumulate academic experience indispensable in this task.