Why doesn't meredith, an Athenian girl, look like a modern Greek? Were the ancient Greeks Nordic?

"Mirtis" is a nickname given by modern archaeologists to an Athenian girl of 1 1 years old. She was born around 44 1 year BC and died of the great plague in Athens around 430 BC. She was buried in a mass grave in Clemkos, Athens. Archaeologists found her remains during the excavation from 1994 to 1995.

After the body of Mirtis was excavated, forensic experts measured her bones, and a Swedish artist named Oscar Nilsson made a model of Mirtis according to his own imagination. Reconstruction is very speculative, because it is impossible to reconstruct a person's appearance reliably and accurately only based on skeletal measurement.

In fact, no one knows the color of Myrtis's skin, hair or eyes, because the researchers did not conduct any kind of genetic analysis to determine these characteristics. In view of the lack of information, Nelson chose Milton with very pale skin, bright red hair and brown eyes.

There is nothing unusual about Nelson's choice to portray Milton, because there must be some Greeks in the world today with pale skin and red hair. Similarly, we know that some Greeks in ancient times had pale skin and red hair. Nevertheless, red hair is rare in Greece. Since ancient times, most Greeks have olive skin and dark hair. So Nelson chose pale skin and red hair as the default values, rather than olive skin and black hair, which is strange.

Unfortunately, this description seems to be rooted in a long-standing Nordic imagination tradition (without evidence), that is, the ancient Greeks must have white skin and blond hair. I believe that Oscar Nelson has no malice towards his Milton model, but he should be more aware of the fact that his model will be regarded as the representative of the ancient Greeks. By choosing to express Milton with pale skin and red hair, he will reinforce the inaccurate and popular impression of the oldest Greeks.