# Forensic facial reconstruction **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 21, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forensic-facial-reconstruction/752812 "2016-04-21T14:06:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nansbread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nansbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nansbread)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forensic-facial-reconstruction/752812/1 "2016-04-21T14:06:53Z")
These experts can recreate a face from a set of skull fragments or the entire skull. Personally i find it hard to accept it at face value:p poor pun i know. Has anyone tested them by giving them the bones of a person whose photo exists. Just to see if the reconstruction by the forensic experts resembles the persons photo? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forensic-facial-reconstruction/752812/2 "2016-04-21T14:16:34Z")
Of course they have. That’s how they learn. Years of study in anatomy are required. They don’t start with unknowns. They start with knowns, of various animals and people. Art training goes into it as well. You didn’t think somebody walked in off the street and just reconstructed ancient humans, did you? Because it sounds like you did. Why would you think this? ---
**Author:** ![nansbread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nansbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nansbread)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forensic-facial-reconstruction/752812/3 "2016-04-21T14:28:41Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Of course they have. That’s how they learn. > > Years of study in anatomy are required. They don’t start with unknowns. They start with knowns, of various animals and people. Art training goes into it as well. > > You didn’t think somebody walked in off the street and just reconstructed ancient humans, did you? Because it sounds like you did. Why would you think this? Are there any cites Any photos showing reconstruction from skull by expert and real image of the person to show the likeness? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forensic-facial-reconstruction/752812/4 "2016-04-21T15:02:01Z")
[ul] [li][Anthropology | Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History](http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/facial_reconstruction.html%5B/li%5D%5Bli%5Dhttps://www.fbi.gov/about-us/lab/forensic-science-communications/fsc/jan2001/index.htm/phillips.htm%5B/li%5D%5Bli%5Dhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2815945/%5B/li%5D%5Bli%5Dhttp://www.forensicartist.com/reconstruction.html%5B/li%5D%5Bli%5Dhttp://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-do-a-Forensic-Facial-Reconstruction/%5B/li%5D%5B/ul%5D) These should get you started. ---
**Author:** ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forensic-facial-reconstruction/752812/5 "2016-04-21T15:08:30Z")
I’ve wondered about this as well. Especially when I’ve seen archeological reconstructions in say, National Geographic. I believe that you can learn typical tissue thickness and shape for a general skull type but: - Why are primitive people depicted as dark skinned negros? - Can they be sure they had negro curly hair? - Why are neanderthals modeled as hairy, grizzled, wrinkled, scarred, dirty, with HUGE flat noses? Why not a well fed, healthy, smiling neanderthal with a bit more delicate features? They might fit into some modern cultures without being noticed! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forensic-facial-reconstruction/752812/6 "2016-04-21T15:33:26Z")
> [@Nefario](#): > > I’ve wondered about this as well. Especially when I’ve seen archeological reconstructions in say, National Geographic. I believe that you can learn typical tissue thickness and shape for a general skull type but: > > - Why are primitive people depicted as dark skinned negros? > - Can they be sure they had negro curly hair? > - Why are neanderthals modeled as hairy, grizzled, wrinkled, scarred, dirty, with HUGE flat noses? > > Why not a well fed, healthy, smiling neanderthal with a bit more delicate features? They might fit into some modern cultures without being noticed! 😃 White skin is an extremely modern adaptation. Its progress is easy to track because it is highly correlated with the spread of humans out of Africa and into northern cooler climates. Sunlight acting on exposed skin is a major source of vitamin D. Higher amounts of of melanin block this effect. The consensus theory is that whiter skin was selected so that the shorter periods of exposed skin would offer sufficient time to get sufficient vitamin D. The skin color and hair types among Negroid peoples would also be highly correlated. [Neanderthals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal#Anatomy)were physical larger, thicker, and more muscular than humans. The nose was particularly different. > [@](#): > > [Differences] include shorter limb proportions, a wider, barrel-shaped rib cage, a reduced chin and, perhaps most notably, a large nose, which was much larger in both length and width, and started somewhat higher on the face, than in modern humans. They were related to us and wouldn’t appear to be aliens or apelike in [modern clothing](https://www.google.com/search?q=neanderthal+in+modern+clothing&num=100&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjIqYHMhaDMAhWKpB4KHQv_DWcQsAQIHA&biw=1068&bih=1770). But the differences are notable and especially so in the [nude [NSFW]](https://cosmosmagazine.com/life-sciences/neanderthals-live-us). Lots of people have put their entire adult lives in studying these issues. What makes you believe that they don’t know what they are talking about but you do? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forensic-facial-reconstruction/752812/7 "2016-04-21T16:45:07Z")
I notice that Donald Trump made it into the images for Neanderthals in modern clothing … 🙂