Ok-Farmer-2695

Ok-Farmer-2695 t1_ir3rcc9 wrote

Thanks for the link. It was interesting, and it says the reconstructions are just approximations.

> Markers indicate the depths of tissue to be added to the skull (a cast in this case). Studies over the past century of males and females of different ancestral groups determine the measures of these depths.

> The finished product only approximates actual appearance because the cranium does not reflect soft-tissue details (eye, hair, and skin color; facial hair; the shape of the lips; or how much fat tissue covers the bone). Yet a facial reconstruction can put a name on an unidentified body in a modern forensic case.

How they go from approximation to identifying bodies goes unexplained, but I’d guess they use other circumstantial data, like “Hey a Caucasian male hiker in his 20s went missing in this area 50 years ago and this fits the bill.”

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