A museum in southern Ontario unveiled the mysterious face of a mummy on Friday.

The Chatham-Kent museum waited 60 years to put a face to the mummy.

The Sulman family donated the mummy to the museum after their grandfather bought it during a trip to Cairo in the early 1920s.

Mummy's facial reconstruction

Until recently, little was known about the woman in the sarcophagus. X-rays showed she was likely in her 30s when she died. Her small size suggested a childhood illness, but she was otherwise in good health.

Last spring, researchers at the University of Western Ontario in London conducted more sophisticated tests. CT (computed tomography) and laser scans unravelled more of the mystery.

"Our job is to work on this historically anonymous person to create what we call an osteo-biography," said UWO anthropology Prof. Andrew Nelson.

Prof. Andrew Nelson

Researchers first tried to piece together the story of her life through her bones.

The next step involved reconstructing the face without unwrapping the mummy – as far as the team knows it is the first time this has been done.

An artist started with a plaster skull modelled from the CT scans. Skull markings were used to determine where to place tissue and muscle, with the rest left to artistic interpretation.

"The science ends pretty much at the point where the eyes, nose and lips are in place," said London portrait artist Christian Cardell Corbet. "You want it as accurate as possible."

Cardell Corbet said the artistic touch comes in finishing the texture of the piece and adding details.

An eager group of children made their guesses, drawing pictures of how they imagine her face. They look forward to seeing the Sulman mummy as a real person, not just a museum artifact.