Ever wondered what Jesus really looked like? An answer may have emerged on popularmechanics.com from an exciting new field of science “forensic anthropology”. This follows a discovery from British scientists, assisted by Israeli archeologists, of what they believe is the most accurate image of the most famous face in human history.
While this field of science, “forensic anthropology” is usually used to solve crimes, Richard Neave, a medical artist retired from the University of Manchester in England, realized it also could shed light on the appearance of Jesus. This is not Neave’s first discovery as he has ventured into controversial areas before. Over the past two decades, he had reconstructed dozens of famous faces, including Philip II of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great, and King Midas of Phrygia.
In order to create an accurate portrait of Jesus, Neave and his research team’s first step was to acquire skulls from near Jerusalem, the region where Jesus lived and preached. With three well-preserved specimens from the time of Jesus in hand, Neave used computerized tomography to create X-ray “slices” of the skulls, thus revealing minute details about each one’s structure.
Special computer programmes then evaluated reams of information about known measurements of the thickness of soft tissue at key areas on human faces. This made it possible to re-create the muscles and skin overlying a representative Semite skull.
