A scientist from the University of Manchester has reconstructed what is believed to be the closest resemblance to the face of the most popular name in history – Jesus Christ.
The scientist, Richard Neave, a medieval artist, adopted a new scientific field of study called forensic anthropology, which is an offshoot of physical anthropology.
Neave, now retired from the university, had previously worked on creating a reconstruction of the faces of other very popular historical figures such as Philip II of Macedonia (father of Alexander the Great) and King Midas of Phrygia.
To create the reconstruction of Jesus’ face, the process involved procuring several (three) well-preserved first-century skulls from Israeli archaeological sites and Neave used computerized tomography to create X-ray “slices” of the skulls, from which minute details of the structures were discovered.
To understand the whole process, click here.
At the end of it all, Neave was able to produce a reconstruction that differed from the usual white, pointed-nosed, slim-figured Jesus’ face we are used to. Neave produced a face of Jesus that was black, broader-nosed and stocky in appearance.
While the process was not fool-proof and the science far from perfect, scientists believe Neave’s reconstructed face of Jesus is closer to the reality based on Jesus’s place of origin than the previous ones we have been exposed to over the years.
According to Alison Galloway, professor of anthropology at the University of California in Santa Cruz, said of Neave’s work: “This is probably a lot closer to the truth than the work of many great masters.”