Forensic Facial Reconstruction - Facial Reconstruction in Culture

Facial Reconstruction in Culture

Due to the recent rise in popularity of television shows (e.g. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, NCIS, Bones, and the UK programme Meet the Ancestors) and feature films concerned with criminal investigations, forensics, and law enforcement, the presence of forensic facial reconstructions in the entertainment industry and the media has also increased. The way the fictional criminal investigators and forensic anthropologists utilize forensics and facial reconstructions are, however, often misrepresented (an influence known as the "CSI effect"). For example, the fictional forensic investigators will often call for the creation of a facial reconstruction as soon as a set of skeletal remains is discovered. In reality, facial reconstructions are widely used as a last resort to stimulate the possibility of identifying a victim.

Interest in discovering and identifying "lost" and/or significant historical figures has also increased the presence of forensic facial reconstruction among the public consciousness. For example, the facial reconstruction of Egypt's King Tut made the June 2005 cover of National Geographic Magazine.

Casdon Toys has produced a line of at-home facial reconstruction toys featuring Julius Caesar, King Tut, Queen Nefertiti, and Neanderthal Man. The popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation television show has also produced an at-home facial reconstruction kit.

Recently facial reconstruction has been part of the process used by researchers attempting to identify human remains of two Canadian Army soldiers lost in World War I. One soldier was identified through DNA analysis in 2007, but due to DNA deterioration, identifying the second using the same techniques failed. In 2011, the second of the soldiers' remains discovered at Avion, France were identified through a combination of 3-D printing software, reconstructive sculpture and use of isotopic analysis of bone.