Facial reconstruction
As facial reconstruction (also plastic facial reconstruction ) is referred to the attempt to the appearance of the face or the head of deceased or of lost people in a life-like as possible three-dimensional model to simulate . In order to produce facial reconstructions, existing skull parts or data from medical imaging processes are generally used, possibly also photographs of the person in connection with anatomical findings from forensic medicine .
The primary areas of application for facial reconstructions are the identification of unknown corpses in criminology or the representation of a life picture of a historical person, for example in museums .
Methods
The basics for making a facial reconstruction are primarily existing skeletal parts such as the skull, three-dimensional data from computer tomography , magnetic resonance imaging , but also two-dimensional data such as x-rays or photographs . In most cases, the reconstruction is based on the cast of the skull or on a skull model produced using the rapid prototyping process. In the early days and in rare cases, the reconstruction was based on the original skull.
First of all, precise observations of the available skeletal material are carried out to determine the gender , age and stature of the present person. The characteristics of muscle attachment marks provide information about the stature of the individual. On the basis of statistical data on tissue thicknesses of the soft tissue in different parts of the head from forensic medicine , the soft tissue thicknesses are built up in the corresponding regions of the skull.
Glass eyes are often placed in the eye sockets of the skull to create a lifelike image . This is followed by the application of the nose, mouth, ears and eyelids. Finally, an artistic design of the face follows, also based on statistical data from forensic medicine. The facial reconstruction can also be supplemented with a hairstyle, beard and eyebrows. Depending on the purpose for which the reconstruction was made, the final design of the facial reconstruction can be supplemented with skin folds, pores or a special facial expression.
history
The earliest evidence, which can be referred to as reconstructed facial replicas that are relatively realistic, comes from excavations in Jericho , Palestine , where a total of nine reconstructed heads were found under the floors of a Neolithic house between 1953 and 1958 7500 and 5500 BC Were deposited in different places of the house. The heads were built with plaster of paris on the original skulls, whereby individual features of the faces were worked out with particular care, and the eyes were imitated with inserted mussel shells . Only one head was reconstructed with the associated lower jaw, with all others the chin was modeled over the missing lower jaw. These reconstructions are most likely to be seen against a ritual background. Other examples of such earlier facial reconstructions are from Ain Ghazal ( Jordan from) and Nahal Hemar preceramic Neolithic B before.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, numerous lifelike wax moulages of human bodies were created in Europe to support anatomical-medical training. The first attempts to recreate the realistic appearance of a deceased person using his skull go back to the anatomist Wilhelm His , who reconstructed Johann Sebastian Bach's head in 1895 on the basis of current scientific findings.
The forensic scientist Richard Neave had attempted, among other things, to reconstruct a possible appearance of Jesus of Nazareth .
literature
- Constanze Niess, Stephanie Fey: The faces of the dead . Lübbe, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-7857-2492-7 (with colored images).
- Annika Lampe: Faces of the past: plastic facial reconstruction in archeology . In: Museum Journal Natur und Mensch . No. 3 , 2007, ISSN 1862-9083 , p. 69-83 .
- John Prague, Richard Neave: Making faces: using forensic and archaeological evidence . British Museum, London 1997, ISBN 0-7141-1743-9 (English).
Individual evidence
- ^ John Prague, Richard Neave: The History of Facial Reconstruction . In: Making faces: using forensic and archaeological evidence . British Museum, London 1997, ISBN 0-7141-1743-9 , pp. 12-19 (English).
- ↑ Forensic phantom: This is what Jesus really looked like .