In 1996, two unwrapped mummies in the British Museum were scanned and skulls were milled out from the scans in order that reconstructions of the deceased could be made. The two were known to be a male aged around 50 and a female of between 20 and 25 years of age. The two had been discovered by Sir Flinders Petrie at Hawara in 1888. The mummies had attached encaustic portraits produced on lime wood, and part of the reason for the reconstructions was compare them to the "portraits" and to discover if the "portraits" were indeed just that, portraits painted during life, or were stylised representations of the deceased. To this end, the portraits were not shown to Richard Neave and Denise Smith until after the reconstructions were completed.

The female skull was small and gracile, with slight asymmetry. The nose appeared to deviate to the left and the face was narrow and long. The mouth was slightly prognethic. When compared with the portrait, the reconstruction shows a marked consistency, especially around the nose, eyes and jawline.