Forensic anthropology is an inexact science but a very fine art. Its
practitioners can reconstruct a face when only the skull survives—and in
up to 60 per cent of cases the result may be recognisable to the dead person’s
relatives. As the models described in Making Faces are between 2000 to 3000
years old, relatives are a bit short on the ground. But the reconstructions give
a fascinating insight into the life and death of Alexander the Great’s father
and other less exalted historical figures. Published by the British Museum
Press, £18.99, ISBN 0714117439.
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