How technology and art helped bring the dead's faces to life

The primary use of facial reconstruction in forensics is to identify human remains and reunite them with their relatives for burial or memorialization. The method has a strong hold over our minds.

Typically, these images are created after other identifying techniques have failed. Typically, it's an extremely risky final resort. This is possibly why it might seem miraculous when forensic portrayals, despite their inherent technological limitations, result in recognition, adding a crucial and frequently long-needed piece to an investigation's puzzle.

When facial reconstruction is used in archaeological study, its cultural impact is most apparent. The ability to depict historical figures as persons rather than as examples helps viewers visualise them. The facial picture develops into a potent and sophisticated medium, promoting links between historical occurrences and individual life paths and reinstating a certain level of personhood.

The development of imaging technologies has made this study easier, and it gains from interdisciplinary input. As a result, it opens up fresh possibilities for the discovery of suppressed or previously undiscovered information that modifies our perception of the past.

Reflecting on the goals of reconstructing faces from skulls is a unique opportunity provided by what has come to be known as the Sutherland Reburial project. The study involves drawing facial representations from human remains that the University of Cape Town had unethically collected in the 1920s.

The project has evolved into a forum for discussing the unresolved issues surrounding the discovery of human remains from South Africa's ugly history. It has also established a standard for activities including repatriation and restitution. The participation of direct descendants who have ties to the farm where the majority of these bones were excavated and their express request to "see the faces" of their ancestors are the two most important factors. They collaborated to produce scientific knowledge for the benefit of by giving us their consent and giving us instructions.

The research has also shown how modern facial reconstruction and depiction combine science, art, and technology.

How to do it

The initiative was started in May 2019 by Face Lab, a company known as a global leader in craniofacial research and analysis, using a completely digital methodology.

Through modelling of facial soft tissues, predicting the form and size of facial features, and employing techniques developed over a century of scientific and artistic collaboration, facial reconstruction interprets the specifics of the skull to recreate face shape.

For about 70% of the facial surface, it has been demonstrated that shape can be correctly replicated with less than 2mm of inaccuracy.

What is meant by "texture" in this context are the surface features of a face. The skull alone cannot consistently predict things like eye and hair colour, skin tone, wrinkles, scars, and other marks, as well as some features of the ear. In this area, genetic phenotyping is making some strides, but not without some disagreement.

However, these particulars are crucial for producing a convincing face, so we must make a reasonable effort, constrained by what can be supported by the data at hand.

In Face Lab, we distinguish between the highly interpretive process of adding surface details and the process of recreating face shape, which is guided by anatomical criteria that apply to all populations. The final representation should use visual techniques that maximise recognition while also inferring ambiguity where necessary.

Therefore, it is our responsibility to anticipate a person's "most likely" appearance in real life by paying as much attention as we can to the unique rather than the typical. In a forensic setting, producing the appropriate type of face, with the features in a precise proportional and spatial relationship to one another, is what narrows the search for an unidentified victim.

The likelihood of a successful recognition is increased by focusing on individualising details like a gap between the upper teeth, large ears, a crooked nose, or asymmetrical eyes.

A laboratory

Face Lab used 3D digital models of the Sutherland skulls created from CT scans because they offered exceptional surface detail in addition to internal data that improved feature prediction and allowed estimation of missing jawbones (mandibles). Three of the people in this group needed this.

Reassembly was a crucial first step in cases when bone fragments were missing or damaged. The ultimate outcome is more qualified the more bone is missing.

A 3D modelling programme with a haptic (touch-sensitive) interface is used by Face Lab. By constructing the soft tissues of the face in virtual clay, this procedure non-destructively imitates a human sculpting technique, ensuring the best possible preservation of fragile or injured bone. Continuous evaluation is made possible by transparently rendering the different layers so that you can always see the skeletal structure underneath.

We made the Sutherland faces' final presentation decisions based on extensive visual investigation. This was backed up by data from within the team, such as ancient DNA that, in some cases, proved biological sex as well as kinship and geographic origins.

We made the decision to portray these people as they most likely would have looked when they were about to pass away. The environment they lived in and their likely way of life—difficult weather, a meagre diet, and physical labor—would have had an impact on how they looked. Adults who were older than modern individuals of the same chronological age would have likely had skin that was more extensively wrinkled.

Based on historical images from the same general location that were shot at the time, clothing suggestions were made. Sepia toning added a touch of colour in keeping with 19th century photographic processes and helped place the images aesthetically in the era in which the majority of people lived.

They are forensically accurate historical interpretations.

Unsettling facts

The family' reactions to seeing the pictures ranged from passionate interest to guarded anxiety. Unsettling, but ultimately intriguing, was the level of reality.

The faces served as cyphers for a recognition process that was about being heard and seen.

The Sutherland family feel that having these stories brought to life in a concrete and dignified way develops significant links between the past and present as well as for future generations in a place where indigenous history are notably lacking.

In South Africa, local historical traditions have not benefited from what these strategies can offer. One example of how institutional processes and analyses could be opened up to persons impacted by historical crimes is the Sutherland Project.

The Sutherland project offers ethical issues that have particular local expression but are globally significant, informed by how humanitarian ideals may support historical redress measures.

These eight faces are the physical representations of eight quite distinct biographies that this approach was able to rebuild. However, they represent the experiences of numerous individuals over a long period of time who are no longer with us but from whom we can still learn a lot.