Forensic facial reconstruction

Despite this controversy, facial reconstruction has proved successful frequently enough that research and methodological developments continue to be advanced.

[1] Facial reconstruction presents investigators and family members involved in criminal cases concerning unidentified remains with a unique alternative when all other identification techniques have failed.

In the U.S., the Daubert Standard is a legal precedent set in 1993 by the Supreme Court regarding the admissibility of expert witness testimony during legal proceedings, set in place to ensure that expert testimony is based on sufficient facts or data, derived from proper application of reliable principles and methods.

[5] Because of this, forensic facial reconstruction does not uphold the Daubert Standard, is not considered a legally recognized technique for positive identification, and is not admissible as expert testimony.

computer software programs quickly produce two-dimensional facial approximations that can be edited and manipulated with relative ease.

These programs may help speed the reconstruction process and allow subtle variations to be applied to the drawing, though they may produce more generic images than hand-drawn artwork.

Today, as stated, it is a technique used widely across the globe, that has proven to aid in forensic investigations by identifying victims of different crimes.

Forensic experts will use their in depth knowledge of facial musculature and tissue attachments on the skull, in order to recreate the identity of the victim.

[10] It uses the musculature of the skull as well as tissue depth markers and landmarks, in order to execute the reconstruction, and it is found to be the technique that is most commonly used today.

In biological anthropology, they were used to approximate the appearance of early hominid forms, while in archaeology they were used to validate the remains of historic figures.

In 1936, Rose Koller from the Natural History Museum in Vienna led a team of sculptors at the Smithsonian Institution's Anthropological Department in recreating likenesses of "ancient Austrians" from their skulls.

[15] Others who helped popularize three-dimensional facial reconstruction include Cherry (1977), Angel (1977), Gatliff (1984), Snow (1979), and Iscan (1986).

[3] In 2004 it was for Dr. Andrew Nelson of the University of Western Ontario, Department of Anthropology that noted Canadian artist Christian Corbet created the first forensic facial reconstruction of an approximately 2,200-year-old mummy based on CT and laser scans.

The process detailed below reflects the method presented by Taylor and Angel from their chapter in Craniofacial Identification in Forensic Medicine, pgs 177–185.

[16] This method assumes that the sex, age, and race of the remains to undergo facial reconstruction have already been determined through traditional forensic anthropological techniques.

This examination focuses on, but is not limited to, the identification of any bony pathologies or unusual landmarks, ruggedness of muscle attachments, profile of the mandible, symmetry of the nasal bones, dentition, and wear of the occlusal surfaces.

These sites represent the average facial tissue thickness for persons of the same sex, race, and age as that of the remains.

First, the facial muscles are layered onto the cast in the following order: temporalis, masseter, buccinator and occipito-frontals, and finally the soft tissues of the neck.

The nose is one of the most difficult facial features to reconstruct because the underlying bone is limited and the possibility of variation is expansive.

Recent research on computer-assisted methods, which take advantage of digital image processing, pattern recognition, promises to overcome current limitations in facial reconstruction and linkage.

Soft tissue reconstruction is an approximation based on osteological measurements; therefore, distinguishing characteristics used in identification could be missed.

[22] An image of the forensic model of a Neolithic dog skull found at Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn, Orkney, Scotland was published by Sci-News.com on April 22, 2019.

Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia – reconstruction by M. Gerasimov , Soviet archaeologist and anthropologist who developed the first technique of forensic sculpture, 1965.
An example of a 2D facial reconstruction conducted by forensic artist Karen T. Taylor, and the subsequent identification, April Dawn Lacy . [ 6 ]
Forensic facial reconstruction of Alberto di Trento by Arc-Team and the 3D artist Cicero Moraes
Skulls for facial approximation
Steps of forensic facial reconstruction of a mummy
Reconstruction and actual photograph of Green River victim Gail Mathews. The victim had distinctive lips, which could not be represented in the reconstruction, as her body was decomposed.
In many cases, the subject's hairstyle is unknown, which causes an artist to guess possible solutions, such as this unidentified woman found in Ontario, Canada.