﻿The Art and Science Facial Reconstruction The skull is made up of 22 bones, with every
unique face having its own variation due to the environment during development and every person
having distinctive soft-tissue facial features. So, how do forensic scientists piece together
the complicated puzzle of skeletal remains to develop intricate 3D models of faces?
The importance of facial aesthetics is found in a variety of disciplines, proving it to be
a multifaceted science that is valued throughout both Eastern and Western Culture. You may see the
fruits of facial aesthetics research in physical anthropology, who look at the cultural nuances
and differences between facial construction across different populations. You may see it
with Plastic surgeons, who operationalise facial aesthetics research to redefine the
facial features of clients. You’ll also see facial aesthetics research with Psychologists,
who assess and continually conceptualize the link between cognitive psychology
and perception with facial attractiveness. On top of that, Engineers use facial aesthetics
to develop Artificial Intelligence models to calculate and assess aesthetic ideals,
And, most importantly for today, forensic scientists use facial aesthetics research
for facial reconstruction, allowing them to identify deceased people whose skeletons
have deteriorated. Archaeologists also use facial reconstruction technology,
developed through facial aesthetics research, allowing them to create 3-dimensional portraits of
people from the past, like ancient Egyptian mummies, or even famous musicians like Bach.
Today we will look at how archaeologists and Forensic scientists balance scientific rigour,
supported by the extensive field of facial aesthetics research, and artistic interpretation,
to develop the most precise and accurate reconstructions of faces of the deceased.
Forensic facial anthropology and science is the interpretation of human remains to attempt
to depict the face of the individual. In recent years, the field came into light after the major
natural disasters of the Boxing Day Tsunami in Indonesia in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in America
just a year later. With so many lives lost, and bodies decomposed, years of facial construction
surgery came into play to literally piece together humans. When you look at the human face,
the unique elements of every one can be daunting. Every human has their own unique skin colour,
hair style, eye colour, nose shape, eye shape, cheek bone formation, jawline facial ratio
and more. What is important to forensic scientists and archaeologists is how these
facial features join together and compliment each other, allowing them to use the morphological
qualities of the human skull to piece together the puzzle of the human face.
As stated by a seminal 2016 anatomical paper by Caroline Wilkinson, the mainstream method for
facial reconstruction is through a 3D computerized technique that places facial sculptures over skull
replicas, creating a facial appearance that appears living. As can be seen here,
the 3D computerized model shown below by C is a step above the 2D sketches of earlier generations
represented by A, and above the clay-based 3D models represented by B. Conveniently,
the reconstruction technique involves three elements, namely, anatomical modelling, morphology
determination, and the depiction of the resulting face. Let’s run over each of these steps and their
link to the mainstream facial aesthetics research that is the centrefold of QOVES studio.
First, Anatomical Modeling. With only minor variations between humans,
faces have a similar number of muscles, each with the same attachments and origins,
and this similarity is what allows anatomy to be an evidence based science. However, in relation to
the skull, the size and shape of these individual muscles vary between individuals. The size and
shape of individual facial muscles have a direct influence on craniofacial morphology, or the size
and shape of the skull and face. The role of the forensic scientist is to infer qualities about
both the skull and the muscles surrounding the skull based on the little information they have.
As the muscles attached to the skull are intrinsically linked to the bones of the skull,
having information about 1 element of the face can lead us to understand its complimentary element.
For example, when the cheekbones are wide and heavy, the basis of the cheek muscle,
whose scientific name are the zygomaticus major and minor muscles,
will be placed further back in the face, and when they are narrow and slender, they will be based
closer to the front of the face. Now, back to the earlier balancing act of juggling scientific
rigour with artistic interpretation, it is clearly stated in the research that anatomical guidelines
need to be followed to create reliable reconstructions of faces. As such, there
is no room in step 1 of facial reconstruction technology for artistic interpretation.
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Step 2, morphology determination, holds a similar evidence based structure with little room for
artistry. As the rules of forensic facial reconstruction are so developed and tight,
there is simply no need to put a subjective touch to the appearance of the reconstructed skull at
this point. In this step, the bony detail of the skull is assessed. This bony detail is compared
to the standards of anatomical principles and hence the skull is pieced together. For example,
when looking towards piecing together the eye region of the skull, the inner and outer canthi,
or the medial and lateral canthi, seen here as the bones attached to the corner of the eye,
are looked at in detail with reference to extensive dissection studies. Factors like
the curves of eyelid margins, the symmetry of the two bones, the angles of the two canthi
and their relative position to the skull are all considered. This process as detailed for the eye,
is repeated for the nose, with considerable detail as shown here, looking at septum deviation,
nasal spine nerves, the bone aperture and nasal base angle. The morphology
determination continues and is completed for different elements, with reference to lip shape,
mouth, teeth, jaw and more. By this point, the relationship of the skull to facial muscles is
used to create a craniofacial structure, as referenced in stage one, and then, in stage two,
the positioning and sizing of that skull is detailed out through the relation of the bony
details of the skull fragments and the priorly defined standards of anatomy. To complete step
two, there is an addition of a skin layer, placed in relation to the skeletal and muscular model,
using evidence to consider the tissue depth of the skin and the sagginess of the skin.
Deliberation is also used, alongside comparisons to international data sets,
to incorporate the sex, ethnic group and age of the individual being modelled.
The final step of forensic facial reconstruction is to extrapolate the scientific findings so
that the general public can benefit from the research.This third step is where there is the
greatest subjectivity and ‘artistic license’ to interpret the reconstruction as you’d like.
Forensic experts, normally with only limited evidence to base their facial reconstruction off,
typically find themselves struggling to objectively style the hair, skin detail
and facial hair of the skulls. Other factors that influence the recognition include whether
or not they wore glasses, but unfortunately, the bony details of the skull won’t tell you that.
As research from Wright and Sladden explains, these changeable features, such as hairstyle,
skincare and the wearing of glasses, can considerably affect the recognition levels
of faces. One extremely important implication of this is recognising reconstructed models after
natural disasters, as friends and family may have trouble identifying loved ones if an individual’s
subjective characteristics have been wrongly interpreted. As such, even though this third step
gives forensic scientists an artistic license for interpretation, it is still strongly in their best
interest to be as accurate as possible. Regardless of the implications of artistic
interpretation, Some really common examples of depicting the facial reconstruction for
public presentation include the representation of preserved bodies like that of the mummified
egyptians, the depiction of what disease and trauma must have been like for individuals in
earlier centuries, and also what famous figures of earlier generations would have looked like,
for example, famous classical composer Johann Bach. This third interpretation of forensic
facial reconstruction is considerably interesting when you consider that portrait paintings were
routinely completed of famous musicians, painters and important cultural icons,
and these paintings can give reference material about skin textures, skin colour and the degree of
fatness to facial reconstruction experts As such, the facial recognition technology for
famous people of earlier centuries is much more enhanced than those of common folk,
as forensic experts have that added evidence about hair and skin details that are so crucial
to the recognition of an individual. So, Overall, facial aesthetics research
helps inform forensic scientists on how to model the skull and facial muscles to develop complex
and accurate 3D models of the faces of deceased people. By using facial aesthetics research,
scientists can develop computerized craniofacial models. These models become
very important in history, when we attempt to look back at the people of centuries before.
It is also very important in evolution studies, as we attempt to map out our ancestors. But perhaps
most importantly, forensic facial reconstruction helps people to identify the deceased, and this
is why it is crucial that facial reconstruction is as accurate as possible. The three main steps
of facial reconstruction are anatomical modeling, morphology determination and depiction of models
for viewing by the public. Artistic interpretation is used heavily in this third step, however it is
in forensic scientists best interests to keep this interpretation as accurate as possible.