Realistic and high-quality 3D images and animations of people who died 700 years ago have been created. This is the output of a collaboration between University of Bradford archaeologists and other specialists.
The faces of people in the past are generally lost to the world, unless depicted in a painting. Now, thanks to cutting-edge 3D facial reconstruction, it is possible to see what three people who died in medieval Scotland actually looked like.
The images used bodies found in burial sites at Whithorn, U.K. These sites are of archaeological importance and the site is known as the “cradle of Scottish Christianity”. The three 12th to 14th century Wigtownshire residents: A female, a cleft and lip-palate cleric, and a Bishop, were buried at Whithorn Priory in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland.
Using a range of archaeological and forensic science techniques, the researchers were able to reconstruct the features of the three as part of the Cold Case Whithorn project.
The forensic method of facial approximation, reconstruction and depiction was applied to 3D scans of each skull by craniofacial anthropologist and forensic artist Dr Christopher Rynn.
Dr Rynn explains: “This entails the use of facial soft tissue depths, musculature sculpted individually to fit each skull, and scientific methods of the estimation of each facial feature, such as eyes, nose, mouth and ears, from skull morphology.”
National Museums Scotland and Dumfries and Galloway Council museums service loaned the skulls of three medieval people for 3D scanning by Dr Adrian Evans at University of Bradford.
Also involved was Dr Shirley Curtis-Summers, a bioarchaeologist. Dr Curtis-Summers led stable isotope analysis on some of the Whithorn burials to understand aspects of diet and mobility and selected the skulls for the 3D facial reconstructions. The skeletons were examined to identify indicators of disease and trauma.
The novel technology enables researchers and the general public to gain a more rounded story of the lives of medieval people, especially in relation to their diet, mobility, and faces.
The Whithorn Trust will unveiled the facial reconstructions of these individuals as part of the Wigtown Book Festival, complete with voiceovers created by Urbancroft Films of Glasgow.
