The 16th century Italian 'vampire' buried with a brick in her JAWS to stop her feeding on victims of a plague

A 16th century Italian 'vampire' who was buried with a brick jammed in her mouth over fears she would feed on corpses underground has had her face reconstructed by scientists.

Incredible new images – made using 3D scans of her ancient skull – reveal a woman with a pointed chin, silver hair, wrinkled skin and a slightly crooked nose. 

They also show what she would have looked like with the stone block inserted in her jaws. 

Experts think the brick was put there shortly after she died by locals who feared she would feed on fellow victims of a plague that swept an Italian town located minutes from Venice. 

Skeletal evidence already suggests she was 60 years of age at time of death, but not much more is known about her. 

Recreation of the woman's face using 3D software allowed examination whether a brick could have been inserted into her mouth

His research also allowed him to test the theory whether inserting the brick would even have been possible without damaging the mouth and teeth

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The amazing reconstructions were done by Brazilian forensic expert and 3D illustrator Cícero Moraes, who detailed the project in a new study. 

As Moraes explains, the skeleton was found in 2006 during excavations of burial pits of Nuovo Lazzaretto in Venice, where plague victims who died between the 15th and 17th centuries were buried. 

During the work, the skull from one of the tombs caught attention, as the jaw was open and inside the oral cavity there was a stone brick. 

'Studies were carried out to find out whether the positioning of the brick was accidental or deliberate,' Moraes says in his paper. 

'The results rejected the first hypothesis, indicating that the placement of the brick was intentional and was part of a symbolic burial ritual.' 

Fears of vampires were rife in Europe in the middle ages, largely due to a lack of understanding as to why dead bodies would swell up. 

Belief in vampires led to such rituals as staking corpses through the heart before they were buried.

In some cultures the dead were buried face-down to prevent them from finding their way out of their graves, but objects in the mouth was another practice. 

According to Moraes, the suggestion that the woman was considered a vampire dates back to a 2010 study published by forensic anthropologist Matteo Borrini. 

'The anti-vampirism rituals that we know today are the result of a historical evolution of the myth,' Moraes told MailOnline.

The remains of a female 'vampire' from 16th-century Venice, buried with a brick in her mouth allegedly to prevent her feasting on plague victims 

The exploration of the mass grave from the 1576 outbreak of plague yielded one of the most bizarre archeological finds. Now, images show what she likely looked like 

In 2006, the woman's skeleton was found in a mass grave of plaque victims on the Venetian island of Lazzaretto Nuovo

'The study specifically addresses the belief that inserting the brick made it impossible for vampires to feed, and neutralise them.' 

Using 3D scans of the skull, Moraes estimated the distribution of soft tissue to flesh out the woman's face. 

Then the nose was designed based on data extracted from measurements taken from tomography scans of living individuals of different ancestries. 

'Using all the projected information, it was possible to draw the profile of the face,' he says. 

His research also allowed him to test the theory whether inserting the brick would even have been possible without damaging the mouth and teeth.  

Moraes recreated the brick with styrofoam cut down to the exact measurements to see if it could fit in his own mouth. 

'The original study contains some measurements of the brick, other images contain reference to the thickness,' Moraes told MailOnline. 

'I crossed data to generate a brick with a compatible size and cut it out of a piece of Styrofoam, which I painted to keep it firm. 

'Then I tested the placement in my own mouth, under the observation of another person, as I didn't know if it would work or not. 

'It worked, so I transported the data to the 3D model and it was compatible there too.'

3D scan of the 'vampire' woman's skull in red with reconstructed tissue and the brick sticking out of her mouth 

Researcher Cicero Moraes recreated the brick using styrofoam to see if it could fit in his mouth

Researcher Cicero Moraes recreated the brick using styrofoam to see if it could fit in his mouth

Moraes says there is no surviving documentation from the woman's lifetime to suggest she was considered a vampire. 

Instead, this has come from modern interpretations of why exactly the brick was there.

It's already known that Lazzaretto Nuovo served as a quarantine station for plague victims from the 1400s to the 1700s. 

This coincided with a fear of vampires, triggered when locals noticed that dead bodies swelled up as if they were feasting on flesh. 

Venice's 'vampire' skeleton is not the only to have been found with a objects in the mouth, however. 

Back in 2014, researchers reported the discovery of the remains of a man in Poland with a rock in its mouth and a stake in its leg. 

Eight century remains in Ireland also had large stones in their mouths, placed there 'violently'.