• Question: How do you actually recreate the faces of skulls when you have ni idea of what they looked like

    Asked by anon-346853 on 13 Jan 2023. This question was also asked by anon-346839.
    • Photo: Jessica Liu

      Jessica Liu answered on 13 Jan 2023:

      Dear APF and Anya,

      Thank you for your question! To recreate the shape of the face from the skull, we would use published Facial Soft Tissue Depths as a guide to estimate the thickness of the flesh on a skull.

      We follow anatomical and scientific methods to recreate the features of the face, for example, we could measure bony parts of the nose and estimate how far the nose sticks out from the skull! Through medical imaging techniques, we are are also able to conclude that the eyeballs sits slightly higher and to the side of the eye socket!

      It is not possible to tell the wrinkle pattern or facial blemishes from the skull. To make the final face looks realistic, this is where you have to be artistic, creating a plausible face guided by scientific methods.

      I hope this answers your question!

      Jessica

    • Photo: Katy Bruce

      Katy Bruce answered on 23 Jan 2023:

      This is not my area of expertise but you are fortunate to have a few scientists in this group who are definitely experts! However, from my limited knowledge teaching on our facial identification module, I can say that facial reconstruction is achieved due to the predictable relationship between the anatomy of the skull and the overlaying muscles and facial features. They used to use plasticine or clay to model a reconstructed face but things are much more advanced nowadays and they use clever computer software to produce a 3D image.

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