'Boffins in Dig for Mona Lisa Body'
April 6 2011
That's The Sun's take on a group of researchers in Italy who are excavating remains that may be those of the Mona Lisa, Lisa Gherardini. They want to take samples of her DNA, and then recreate her face to see if it matches the Mona Lisa.
The Daily Mail, meanwhile, reports that the dig may be a waste of time:
..there are fears that the project will be unsuccessful as locals have told the team that 30 years ago the remains of the convent were bulldozed into a rubbish dump.
I'm afraid I'm deeply suspicious of facial reconstructions from skulls - they always look like rejects from Madame Tussaud's, c.1795.
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