杏吧原创

I鈥檝e seen several archaeological shows in which skulls are built up to create faces. How valid is this? Has anyone tested the procedure on a modern skull and compared the result with a photograph of the person?

鈥� Having developed the at the University of Manchester in the UK between 1973 and 1980, I can confirm that it is perfectly valid. The face will emerge from the cast of a skull as you add the muscles and facial structures with clay or wax, using average soft-tissue measurements as a guide.

The technique was put to the test when I began assisting police with their investigations into the identity of human remains. Using this method, approximately 60 per cent of the individuals were recognised. In these instances, a reconstruction could be checked with an image of the subject. Once a name was provided, more-conventional techniques could be applied to confirm the identity.

Although such studies would never result in an exact portrait, they would routinely generate a face similar enough to the subject鈥檚 that their identity could be ascertained. By today鈥檚 standards the approach may seem simplistic, but this was before DNA testing became available.

I鈥檝e also undertaken studies on casts of the skulls of living people created using scanning technology. A similarity with the subject can always be observed. Although this work was regarded with suspicion when it started in the 1970s, today it can be studied at degree level.

Richard Neave, Rye, East Sussex, UK

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