This week was on a topic that I was sparsely familiar with but not to the extent to be completely comfortable handling this week without the guidance of the teachers. The topic I am referring to is that of facial reconstruction. This needs to happen when a dead body is found without a face. Our body is all bones, and I must say, I was amazed by all that the skull can tell about the face. The first thing that is done is to scan the skull into a computer screen. Reason for this is that it lessens the risk of damaging the actual skull. Now the skull is classified into two categories (image below); “brachycephaly means wide and short, and dolichocephaly means narrow and long.” The skull is then compared to others to describe if the face is narrow or wide, if their cranium is large or small, and the shape of the chin (wide and square, rounded, or small and pointed).
The next thing the skull can tell us, is, of course, how far apart the eyes were. But there is something I did not know it could; the shape of the eyes. What is more the shape of the actual orbit (eye socket) can tell if the eye was bulging or portrusive or sunken. Not only can the skull tell about the eyes, but also about the victims eyebrows. If they have a brow ridge the eyebrows are more likely to be pushed down in the middle, and for the opposite, higher and more rounded. Another thing the orbits can tell about the face are where the corner of your eye is. They do this by using a bump on the outer corner of the eye called Whitnall's tubercle, this is where a ligament is tethered; this bump can be felt even in life. This ligament goes from that bone to another small one called the anterior lacrimal crest. (“This is where your tear duct connects your eye to your nose, and explains why your nose runs when you cry”) Because of these it can be quite precisely determined where the corner of the eyes are.
Next up is the nose. Most of your nose is fat, muscle, and cartilage. The bone that is linked to the shape of your nose is called the nasal aperture (image below). Now the length of the nose, depends on the projection and shape of the nasal bones at the bridge of the nose. Something that really took me by surprise was that they can even tell the shape of the nasal tip by these bones. There is even a way to tell if the nose was downturned, upturned, or straight. They do this by looking at the anterior nasal spine. For all of these traits of the nose they, again, need to compare it to other skulls.
Next up is the nose. Most of your nose is fat, muscle, and cartilage. The bone that is linked to the shape of your nose is called the nasal aperture (image below). Now the length of the nose, depends on the projection and shape of the nasal bones at the bridge of the nose. Something that really took me by surprise was that they can even tell the shape of the nasal tip by these bones. There is even a way to tell if the nose was downturned, upturned, or straight. They do this by looking at the anterior nasal spine. For all of these traits of the nose they, again, need to compare it to other skulls.
Even the shape of the lips can be told by the skull. By this I mean the teeth and the size of the palate (bone behind the top teeth that separates your nose from your mouth). With this, a wider palate means a wider mouth and so on. And with the teeth, larger generally means large lips. When certain factors are taken into account, they can even tell if the lip shape was that of a cupid's bow. The way they can tell this is if the upper incisors in the middle are noticeably larger than the other front teeth.
From there I learned something that left my mouth agape, because it just proves how much information our skulls can say about us. I am sure that you have seen ears of every size, sticking out, or stuck to the head, the reason for these differences all have to with, you guessed it, the skull. Below your ears is something called the mastoid process, but in the skull, the mastoid process is below but behind the ear canal. The thicker it is, or the more it stands out, the more the ears will stand out (image below).
Needless to say, this week was very exciting. It is so...amazing that every part of our face has to do with how our skull is. As for next week, I am very excited because the identity of our victim (my missing poster below) is revealed and we make a stab at identifying the perpetrator. Even though I am excited, I am saddened because this is the last week of this class.
Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover after next week is done.
From there I learned something that left my mouth agape, because it just proves how much information our skulls can say about us. I am sure that you have seen ears of every size, sticking out, or stuck to the head, the reason for these differences all have to with, you guessed it, the skull. Below your ears is something called the mastoid process, but in the skull, the mastoid process is below but behind the ear canal. The thicker it is, or the more it stands out, the more the ears will stand out (image below).
Needless to say, this week was very exciting. It is so...amazing that every part of our face has to do with how our skull is. As for next week, I am very excited because the identity of our victim (my missing poster below) is revealed and we make a stab at identifying the perpetrator. Even though I am excited, I am saddened because this is the last week of this class.
Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover after next week is done.