Facial Approximation

The multidisciplinary examination of skeletal remains from archaeological burials provides essential insights into the living conditions, health status, and biological profiles of past populations. This study integrates classical anthropological approaches with advanced medical imaging techniques, particularly computed tomography (CT), to reconstruct individual characteristics, analyze pathological and biomechanical changes, and
assess postmortem horseback riding, known as the “rider’s syndrome”, as well as to morphometric variability of paranasal sinuses, whose study is enabled only through imaging technologies. Three-dimensional CT-based reconstructions, segmentation, and digital modeling not only enhance the accuracy of anatomical and pathological assessments but also enable facial approximation for identification purposes. These combined methods underscore the significance of forensic anthropology in archaeology, bridging osteological, radiological, and digital methodologies to reconstruct both biological identity and posthumous history.
Keywords: forensic anthropology, computed tomography, skeletal analysis, facial reconstruction, rider’s syndrome

The invasion of Russia by the Napoleonic Grande Armée was a complete disaster. The French army was decimated during the retreat from Russia. Thousands of victims were buried in mass graves located near several cities during the retreat. One of these mass graves was discovered in in the centre of Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg), presently the most occidental oblast of the Russian Federation. Some skeletons revealed evidence of violence related traumatic injuries. Among them, the skeleton C2 belonged to a young male, who had suffered a serious injury to the lower face. The state of post‐traumatic remodelling indicated survival of about 2 months (between more than 6 weeks and less than 3 months).The 3D reconstruction of the mandible and the maxilla contributed additional information about the injury, its cause, and treatment. This permitted pretraumatic reconstruction of the viscerocranium and mandible through the application of two new techniques: virtual osteotomy and virtual bone ...

Several methods that have customarily been used in craniofacial identification to describe facial soft tissue depths (FSTDs) implore improvement. They include the calculation of arithmetic means for skewed data, omission of concern for measurement uncertainty, oversight of effect size, and misuse of statistical significance tests (e.g., p-values for strength of association). This paper redresses these limitations using FSTDs from 10 prior studies (N = 516). Measurement uncertainty was large (>20% of the FSTD), skewness (≥0.8) existed at 11 of the 23 FSTD landmarks examined, and sex and age each explained <4% of the total FSTD variance (g 2 calculated as part of MANOVA). These results call for a new and improved conceptualization of FSTDs, which is attained by the replacement of arithmetic means with shorths and 75-shormaxes. The outcomes of this implementation are dramatic reduction in FSTD complexity; improved data accuracy; and new datadriven standards for casework application of methods.

The invasion of Russia by the Napoleonic Grande Armée was a complete disaster. The French army was decimated during the retreat from Russia. Thousands of victims were buried in mass graves located near several cities during the retreat. One of these mass graves was discovered in in the centre of Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg), presently the most occidental oblast of the Russian Federation. Some skeletons revealed evidence of violence related traumatic injuries. Among them, the skeleton C2 belonged to a young male, who had suffered a serious injury to the lower face. The state of post‐traumatic remodelling indicated survival of about 2 months (between more than 6 weeks and less than 3 months).The 3D reconstruction of the mandible and the maxilla contributed additional information about the injury, its cause, and treatment. This permitted pretraumatic reconstruction of the viscerocranium and mandible through the application of two new techniques: virtual osteotomy and virtual bone ...

(H). While 13 C isotope abundance in body tissue is a reflection of dietary intake, 2 H isotope abundance values recorded by the human body through food and drink ultimately reflect averaged isotopic composition of regional precipitation. Analysis of 2 H, 13 C, 15 N, and 18 O isotopic composition in tissue such as hair, nails, bone, and teeth enables us to reconstruct a time-resolved isotopic 'profile' that may not necessarily permit direct identification of a victim but in conjunction with forensic anthropological information will provide sufficient forensic intelligence to construct a profile for intelligence lead identification stating based on provenance and immutable anatomical markers. In addition, law enforcement agencies and immigration control only have limited means at their disposal to establish the actual country of origin of a person or to check on the veracity of statements made by a terrorist or terrorist suspect about geographical origin and recent geographical movement. A technique that would help to determine recent life history of people detained either on suspicion of terrorism or of having gained entry to the UK illegally would be a very valuable tool. Data from several criminal investigations are presented to illustrate potential and limitation of stable isotope analysis of human tissue in aid of victim identification and detection of recent geographic movement.

Macleod 29 studied an Egyptian mummy in the collection of the National Museums of Scotland. 24 Gerasimov. Op. cit. 27 C. M. Wilkinson and R. A. H. Neave. "Skull Re-assembly and the implications for Forensic Facial Reconstruction." Science & Justice 41 (3) pp. 233-234, 2001. C. M. Wilkinson and D. K. Whittaker. Juvenile forensic facial reconstruction-a detailed accuracy study. Proceedings of the 10' b Meeting of the In

The invasion of Russia by the Napoleonic Grande Armée was a complete disaster. The French army was decimated during the retreat from Russia. Thousands of victims were buried in mass graves located near several cities during the retreat. One of these mass graves was discovered in in the centre of Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg), presently the most occidental oblast of the Russian Federation. Some skeletons revealed evidence of violence related traumatic injuries. Among them, the skeleton C2 belonged to a young male, who had suffered a serious injury to the lower face. The state of post‐traumatic remodelling indicated survival of about 2 months (between more than 6 weeks and less than 3 months).The 3D reconstruction of the mandible and the maxilla contributed additional information about the injury, its cause, and treatment. This permitted pretraumatic reconstruction of the viscerocranium and mandible through the application of two new techniques: virtual osteotomy and virtual bone ...

The problem of rebuilding a face from human remains has been, until now, especially relevant in the ambit of forensic sciences, where it is obviously oriented toward the identification of otherwise unrecognizable corpses; but its potential interest to archaeologists and anthropologists is not negligible. We present here the preliminary results of a joint research among the University of Pisa, the Visualisation Laboratory of CINECA and the CNR-ITABC (Institute of Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage, National Research Council, Rome) whose aim is reconstructing, through Spiral Computed Tomography data and virtual modelling techniques (in our case with VTK software), 3-D models of the possible physiognomy of ancient egyptian mummies. This work is carried out through a multidisciplinary approach, involving different competences: image processing, anthropology, egyptology, computing archaeology. Main project tasks are: 1. anthropological and egyptological analysis of the head; 2. sp...

In forensic investigations of disasters, it could be necessary to carry out a reconstruction of all movements made by people and cars just before, during, and after a big incident. The goal is to find not only perpetrators, but victims and eyewitnesses as well. Methods and technology are presented that are based on the widespread availability of video footage from CCTV systems and phone cams, and intelligence such as cell phone traffic data. Analysis of all video data is based on the concept of events on a time line and the use of 2-D maps, aerial photography, and 3-D city and terrain models. All methods and technology will be demonstrated with case data from capital crimes. The presented was carried out within the framework of a 3-year project. A brief overview is given of other results such as automated procedures for the analysis and technology for fast 3-D modelling from imagery.

Since being excavated in 2003, the skull of LB1 (the holotype of Homo floresiensis) has been given many faces, though the details regarding how each was accomplished are typically few. Here we detail our application of known, and verified, relationships between the skull and soft tissues of anatomically modern humans to produce an evidence-based facial approximation of LB1. We then compare our results to nine pre-existing LB1 faces using geometric morphometrics. These analyses suggest our facial approximation differs in proportional facial width, upper lip height and nasal morphology. Some of these differences are likely due to a different interpretation of taphonomic and excavation damage, application of different 'forensic' methods and/or an idiosyncratic incorporation of aspects of non-human primate morphology. Other differences, and in particular upper lip height, are less justifiable in relation to the skeletal evidence.

Forensic facial reconstruction is a means for producing a facial surface from the skull. There are several technical approaches that can be applied, which include computerised and plastic sculptural methods. Whether the reconstruction is attempted in virtual or actual reality, the facial surface is projected by one of two principal means: by reconstruction of the craniofacial anatomy or by mathematical extrapolation of the face surface from that of the skull. More recently, it has been possible via a combination of the two. In this chapter, the history of facial reconstruction from the skull will be briefly introduced and the principal methods described. Both plastic and computational approaches will be summarised. The utility of forensic facial reconstruction will be discussed with reference to the investigation of cases of missing persons, and to current controversies in research and practice, relating to the precision and efficacy of the technique.

Background: As deep nasolabial folds (NLF) are associated with facial aging, there is an increasing demand for esthetic correction with filler injections. Understanding the anatomy of the angular artery (AA) and facial artery (FA) around the NLF region is essential for ensuring the safety of dermal filler injections into the NLF. The purpose of this study was to provide detailed vascular anatomical information on the course and depth of AA and FA around NLF using Doppler ultrasound on live cases. Methods: FA was observed from the origin level adjacent to the mandible corpus to the end of its terminal branch AA in 168 hemifaces of 84 cases with Doppler ultrasonography. Results: We made a classification of the FA course based on the NLF. The minimum and maximum depths of the FA along its course were measured in 84 cases. The results showed that its course may be highly superficial (2.5 mm at the mandibular origin, 3.7 mm at the cheilion, 3.7 mm at the nasal ala) or it may follow a very deep course near the periosteum (15.0 mm at the mandibular origin, 18.7 mm at the cheilion, 23.5 mm at the nasal ala). FA depth was varied between 5.98 mm and 6.62 mm at the mandibular origin, between 8.36 mm and 9.20 mm at the cheilion, between 9.52 mm and 10.51 mm at the nasal ala at a 95% confidence interval. Conclusions: This study suggests that there is no absolutely safe depth or region for nasolabial fold filler injections.

HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Previous research into the reliability of forensic craniofacial reconstruction (CFR) has focused primarily on the accuracy of reconstructed faces from European or African ancestry skulls. Moreover, the recognition of CFR in relation to the experience and ancestry of the practitioners and the assessors has not been previously considered. The cross-race effect is a recognised phenomenon in psychology studies, where familiar ancestry faces are recognised more readily than unfamiliar ancestry faces, but there is a paucity of research addressing the relationship between the accuracy of reconstructed faces and the familiarity with this ancestry by the practitioners/assessors. The aims of this research were to investigate whether &#39;unfamiliar-race effect&#39; has any influence on the accuracy of CFR and to evaluate how much the correct recognition rate of CFR is affected by the cross-race effect. Eight CFRs from three ancestry groups were produced by experienced practitioners in order t...

The term "forensic art" is often utilized in scientific papers, books, and professional organizations, yet it seems to be one of the most controversial, marginalized, and poorly understood forensic fields. Despite there being a long history of the use of artists within law enforcement investigation, the discipline has come under scrutiny and has been criticized for its lack of training and code of practice, the high degree of subjectivity, and the paucity of standards. This paper reviews the current status of forensic art in the context of its history, and suggests best practice for the future if forensic art is to become a viable and respected forensic discipline.

HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

The problem of rebuilding a face from human remains has been, until now, especially relevant in the ambit of forensic sciences, where it is obviously oriented toward the identification of otherwise unrecognizable corpses; but its potential interest to archaeologists and anthropologists is not negligible. We present here the preliminary results of a joint research among the University of Pisa, the Visualisation Laboratory of CINECA and the CNR-ITABC (Institute of Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage, National Research Council, Rome) whose aim is reconstructing, through Spiral Computed Tomography data and virtual modelling techniques (in our case with VTK software), 3-D models of the possible physiognomy of ancient egyptian mummies. This work is carried out through a multidisciplinary approach, involving different competences: image processing, anthropology, egyptology, computing archaeology. Main project tasks are: 1. anthropological and egyptological analysis of the head; 2. sp...

HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Because our technique of facial reconstruction proved to be successful, we decided to apply it to a skull of an older female subject preserved at the Paläontologisches Museum in Munich (Germany). The skull was found in Oberkassel bei Bonn (Germany), its age is 10,500 ...

Computed tomography is commonly used in modern medicine, and thus, it is often helpful for medicolegal purposes, especially as part of the antemortem record. The application of postmortem computed tomography and 3D reconstruction of the skull in challenging cases is reported, and its valuable contribution to positive identification is discussed. This paper presents a case in which the body of an unknown individual is identified. Positive identification had not been possible despite a multidisciplinary examination. The postmortem use of computerized tomography and 3D reconstruction of the skull followed by the comparison of individual morphological characteristics of the viscerocranium showed the concordant points between the deceased and a missing person. Finally, superimposition using a 3D-reconstructed skull instead of the skeletonized skull demonstrated an adequate degree of morphological consistency in the facial images of the analyzed individuals that lead to positive identification. It was concluded that where other methods of personal identification had failed, the use of postmortem computed tomography had proved to be instrumental in the positive identification of the deceased.

(H). While 13 C isotope abundance in body tissue is a reflection of dietary intake, 2 H isotope abundance values recorded by the human body through food and drink ultimately reflect averaged isotopic composition of regional precipitation. Analysis of 2 H, 13 C, 15 N, and 18 O isotopic composition in tissue such as hair, nails, bone, and teeth enables us to reconstruct a time-resolved isotopic 'profile' that may not necessarily permit direct identification of a victim but in conjunction with forensic anthropological information will provide sufficient forensic intelligence to construct a profile for intelligence lead identification stating based on provenance and immutable anatomical markers. In addition, law enforcement agencies and immigration control only have limited means at their disposal to establish the actual country of origin of a person or to check on the veracity of statements made by a terrorist or terrorist suspect about geographical origin and recent geographical movement. A technique that would help to determine recent life history of people detained either on suspicion of terrorism or of having gained entry to the UK illegally would be a very valuable tool. Data from several criminal investigations are presented to illustrate potential and limitation of stable isotope analysis of human tissue in aid of victim identification and detection of recent geographic movement.

Computed tomography (CT) scans provide anthropologists with a resource to generate threedimensional (3D) digital skeletal material to expand quantification methods and build more standardized reference collections. The ability to visualize and manipulate the bone and skin of the face simultaneously in a 3D digital environment introduces a new way for forensic facial approximation practitioners to access and study the face. Craniofacial relationships can be quantified with landmarks or with surface processing software that can quantify the geometric properties of the entire 3D facial surface. This paper describes tools for the generation of dense facial tissue depth maps (FTDMs) using de-identified head CT scans of modern Americans from the public repository, The Cancer Imaging Archives (TCIA), and the open-source program Meshlab. CT scans of 43 females and 63 males from TCIA were segmented and converted to 3D skull and face models using Mimics and exported as stereolithography (STL) files. All subsequent processing steps were performed in Meshlab. Heads were transformed to a common orientation and coordinate system using the coordinates of nasion, left orbitale, and left and right porion. Dense FTDMs were generated on hollowed, cropped face shells using the Hausdorff sampling filter. Two new point clouds consisting of the 3D coordinates for both skull and face were colorized on an RGB scale from 0.0 (red) to 40.0 mm (blue) depth values and exported as polygon file format (PLY) models with tissue depth values saved in the "vertex quality" field. FTDMs were also split into 1.0 mm increments to facilitate viewing of common depths across all faces. In total, 112 FTDMs were generated for 106 individuals. Minimum depth values ranged from 1.2 mm to 3.4 mm, indicating a common range of starting depths for most faces regardless of weight, as well as common locations for these values over the nasal bones, lateral orbital margins, and forehead superior to the supraorbital border. Maximum depths were found in the

The “facial composite” is one of the major fields in the forensic science that helps the criminal investigators to carry out their investigation process. The survey conducted by United States Law Enforcement Agencies confirms that 80% of the law enforcement agencies use computer automated composite systems whereas Sri Lanka is still far behind in the process of facial composite with lot of inefficiencies in the current manual process. Hence this research introduces a novel approach for the manual facial composite process, while eliminating the inefficiencies of the manual procedure in Sri Lanka. In order to overcome this situation, this study introduces an automated image processing based software solution with 2D facial feature templates targeting the Sri Lankan population. Thus, this was the first ever approach that creates the 2D facial feature templates by incorporating both medically defined indexes and relevant aesthetic aspects. Hence, this research study is comprised of two ...

The virtual approach in physical and forensic anthropology is increasingly used to further analyze human remains, but also to propose new didactic means for visualization and dissemination of scientific results. Computerized facial approximation (FA) offers an alternative to manual methods, but usually requires a complete facial skeleton to allow for the estimation of the facial appearance of an individual. This paper presents the case of Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer born during the XVI th century, whose remains were reanalyzed at the occasion of a short exhumation in 2010. Cranial remains of Brahe were poorly preserved, with only a partial facial skeleton, and virtual anthropology tools were used to estimate the missing parts of his skull. This 3D restoration was followed by a FA using TIVMI-AFA3D, subsequently textured with graphic tools. The result provided an interesting estimate that was compared with portraits of the astronomer. The impact of the missing data estimation was investigated by performing FAs on 10 complete test subjects and the same 10 subjects after cropping and estimating 50% of the landmarks (reproducing the preservation state of Tycho Brahe's cranial remains). The comparison between the FA based on the complete and incomplete skulls of the same subject produced a visual assessment of the estimation impact on FAs which is relatively low. This procedure is an alternative to manual methods and offers a reproducible estimate of a face based on incomplete cranial remains. Although the case report concerns a historical individual, the robust automatic estimation of missing landmarks followed by a FA has value for forensic caseworks as a support to the identification process.

Forensic facial reconstruction is a means for producing a facial surface from the skull. There are several technical approaches that can be applied, which include computerised and plastic sculptural methods. Whether the reconstruction is attempted in virtual or actual reality, the facial surface is projected by one of two principal means: by reconstruction of the craniofacial anatomy or by mathematical extrapolation of the face surface from that of the skull. More recently, it has been possible via a combination of the two. In this chapter, the history of facial reconstruction from the skull will be briefly introduced and the principal methods described. Both plastic and computational approaches will be summarised. The utility of forensic facial reconstruction will be discussed with reference to the investigation of cases of missing persons, and to current controversies in research and practice, relating to the precision and efficacy of the technique.

Introduction: Identification of unrecognizable corpses is of high importance and when all other identification mechanisms fail, the process of forensic facial reconstruction has to be adopted. Objective: This process is still at its infancy in Sri Lanka and is yet to utilize the advanced technologies of other countries. Hence introducing a more efficient, semi-automated 3D Computer graphics based technique for the local forensic officials is the aim of this study. Method: A 3D model of the skull is captured and digitally sculpting facial muscles on the model with the aid of forensic facial markers. Different facial components were added to the completed face model in order to improve the identification process. Separate analyses were also conducted for both facial tissue thickness and facial component variations in Sri Lankans to achieve an improved result. Female cases of the age category 20-30/ medium weight were used in this study. Results: The analysis of the facial tissue thickness confirmed that tissue thickness data of other countries cannot be adopted for facial reconstruction in the local context. Sri Lankans have a different facial soft tissue thickness mainly in the following areas; Gonion, Sub M2, Supra M2 and the area beneath the chin. The facial feature analysis discovered the mean values of the nasal and eye indexes which were then modeled in to the final output. The outputs were thoroughly evaluated using a number of techniques. Conclusion: By adopting the suggested novel application based on the evaluation results and the cost analysis, establishing the first unit for facial reconstruction in Sri Lanka would be highly recommended to uphold the rights of deceased and relatives concerned.

Introduction: Identification of unrecognizable corpses is of high importance and when all other identification mechanisms fail, the process of forensic facial reconstruction has to be adopted. Objective: This process is still at its infancy in Sri Lanka and is yet to utilize the advanced technologies of other countries. Hence introducing a more efficient, semi-automated 3D Computer graphics based technique for the local forensic officials is the aim of this study. Method: A 3D model of the skull is captured and digitally sculpting facial muscles on the model with the aid of forensic facial markers. Different facial components were added to the completed face model in order to improve the identification process. Separate analyses were also conducted for both facial tissue thickness and facial component variations in Sri Lankans to achieve an improved result. Female cases of the age category 20-30/ medium weight were used in this study. Results: The analysis of the facial tissue thickness confirmed that tissue thickness data of other countries cannot be adopted for facial reconstruction in the local context. Sri Lankans have a different facial soft tissue thickness mainly in the following areas; Gonion, Sub M2, Supra M2 and the area beneath the chin. The facial feature analysis discovered the mean values of the nasal and eye indexes which were then modeled in to the final output. The outputs were thoroughly evaluated using a number of techniques. Conclusion: By adopting the suggested novel application based on the evaluation results and the cost analysis, establishing the first unit for facial reconstruction in Sri Lanka would be highly recommended to uphold the rights of deceased and relatives concerned.