Craniofacial Anatomy and Forensic Identification

By Gloria Nusse

Our bodies record what happens to us physically throughout our lives. This is illustrated by the simple appearance of scars from injuries sustained years, and even decades ago. Evidence such as scars also tells us how we used our joints or may have injured them as children and adults. Our bodies conform to the environment in which we live, both outside and inside. By examining and observing these key clues, a forensic investigator can reveal the unique character that tells the story of a person’s life and death.

Craniofacial Anatomy and Forensic Identification is an atlas that covers all aspects of facial reconstruction and anatomy of the head and neck, such as facial expression and the anatomic basis for facial development, along with the effects of muscle movement. Written by a world-renowned forensic artist with decades of experience as a scientific illustrator as well as a portraitist, anthropologist, and lecturer in anatomy and biology, the author is as much a scientist as an artist.

• Comprehensively addresses the history o facial reconstruction, facial development, muscle movements, and bone physiology used by forensic artists and forensic anthropologists
• Demonstrates techniques in mold making and sculpting to bring the body to life
• Includes images from cadaver labs and recent case studies
• Provides detailed anatomy of vessels and nerves found in the face including the eyes
• Details the muscles, ligaments and tissues down to the skull
• Describes the changing face as it ages

• Language: English
• Publisher: Academic Press
• Release date: Sep 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9780128095782

Gloria Nusse

Gloria Nusse is a Scientific Sculptor with a Master’s degree in Biological Anthropology. She is also an anatomist and teaches human anatomy at San Francisco State University. She’s contributed to Forensic Art Essentials by Lois Gibson (Elsevier/Academic Press, 2008) and Broken Bones: Anthropological Analysis of Blunt Force Trauma edited by Vicki Wedel and Alison Galloway. Gloria is a member of the International Association of Forensic Identification, California State Coroners Association, and the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. Her work has been featured on 48 Hours Mystery and America’s Most Wanted among other top-rated shows and publications. Her facial reconstruction work has helped to solve the identity of victims of homicide and suicide and aided in the personal identity of 16 unidentified remains. Her most recent reconstructions and publications include the reconstruction of a young man who lived 4000 years ago from Bahrain.

Book preview

Chapter 1: Introduction and identity from the skull's perspective

Abstract

This chapter provides an anthropological and theoretical perspective on the process of identity and identification. Our bodies record our lives as we lived them. For example a scar on skin or a defect in the bone will both tell a story of a previous injury. Identity and identification are different things. Identity is personal to each person. It is how they see themselves and how they present themselves to others. Identification is a legal label that is used by society to say we are who we are. Identification is the DNA of our cells. It is our innate bone structure. It is how others who we may not know see us after death.

Keywords

Anthropologist; Claude levi strauss; Detective; Facial anatomy; Facial reconstruction; Forensic artist; Identity; Identification; Investigator; Perspective of identity; Physical anthropology; Skull; Theory

Chapter 1 Citations

Our bodies are devices that record what happens to us physically throughout our lives as well as through the epigenetics of the genome [1]. Proof of this could be a scar that you still have from when you were a child. This process holds true for many if not most of the tissues of our body. This is especially true for our bones, which record details of how we use our joints and the finer details of how our muscles are attached. The record of our lives can be played back to us if we are sensitive to it. Understanding this process can make this study a richly rewarding experience.

Forensic anthropology and facial reconstruction enable forensic artists to reconstruct faces and forensic anthropologists to assess time of death, and record what we have eaten and drunk, for example, using isotopes that are fixed in our teeth.

Ultimately, forensic science gives us an understanding of the relationship between bony and soft tissues, which is crucial for recreating the features of an individual's face after death. The body creates an anatomical biography of the person, provides a physical profile, and, combined with the artifacts found with the body, creates a psychological profile and therefore an image of the person.

The purpose of this book is not simply to create a text on facial reconstruction and anatomy. Its purpose is to educate interested persons with knowledge of the anatomy and how facial identity and reconstruction are accomplished through observation and knowledge of the anatomy to interpret soft tissue and its relationship with the skeleton.

The key to all this is observation and knowledge of anatomy. When I first started work in this field, it was suggested that the knowledge of facial anatomy should be second nature and that one need only look at an individual to understand the tissues at a deeper level. Facial reconstruction and the very study of physical anthropology comes from the study of anatomy. However, this art of examination and observation is in danger of becoming a dying skill with the ever-growing amount of technology available. Compared to traditional anatomists, simple observations and comparisons can make a big difference to success. The goal of this book is to educate students interested in the face, anatomy, and identity.

We begin this journey with Webster's definition of the skull.

Skull, n. cranium; mind.

1: the skeleton of the head of a vertebrate forming a bony or cartilaginous case that encloses and protects the brain and chief sense organs and supports the jaws

2: the seat of understanding or intelligence

Webster's definition of the skull hints at how we function in the world around us. The skull is a mysterious series of connected bones and also the passageway for all our senses. Its very shape, with all the many foramina, fossae, canals, and meandering paths, is used to serve as a receptacle for the brain with its five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch.

Its appearance and the unique forms of facial features identify us to ourselves but much more importantly to others. Every human head, skull, muscle, and tissue has the same configuration of bones, yet each is unique in its shape and sense. How we interpret the world that filters through our skulls and into our unique brains governs our experiences and views of all that goes on around us. This is why the skull has such power, and represents what it means to be uniquely human.

We as humans with our unique views expand this notion across cultures and countries as well as across our corporeal landscape. The brain housed within the skull is well accepted as the controller of our minds and bodies. That life story is just the beginning of this tale.

The skull is a cradle of our very being and understanding of the world. For instance, within its bony vault there is housed not only the physical senses of self but the metaphysical as well.

Consider that the brain floats in a syrup of spinal fluid that flows through and around the brain and spinal cord. Its canals squeeze through the foramen magnum at the base of the skull to travel down the spine. The spinal cord's tendrils reach into every inch of our skeletal frame using long axons that separate into a structure called the cauda equina, or horse's tail. These bundles of nerves stretch out from our vertebral column to wind their way down to our toes to feel the earth beneath our feet. Other nerves carry these sensations up the cord and back to the brain. And on and on it goes until we die. These experiences are not only unique to each of us but actually add to our very DNA and epigenetic profile.

From the tip of our nose to the ends of our fingers and more, this tactile sense of our world originates inside our cranial vault. Other senses as well have their origins inside our cranium. The world passes its colors through our eyes via the optic nerve through the optic chiasm and into the midbrain before finally landing in our cerebral cortex [2]. The chemical receptors of our nose and tongue tell us which foods are fit to eat, which will bring us pleasure, and which will bring us displeasure. The cribiform plate that lies perpendicular inside the ethmoid bone that is lodged between our eyes forms a type of grate through which the myriad odors of the world pass into our brain, mind, and memory bank. Our very sense of balance and equilibrium is coupled with the finely tuned sense of sound and hearing produced by the microscopic bones of our inner ears. These specially shaped bones vibrate and translate the sounds of the world within the temporal bone of the skull. All these impulses, vibrations, chemical receptors, tastes, and memories, indeed all five of our senses and some would argue even our sixth sense, are housed within the skull.

Nonetheless, given all this modern knowledge, I would still have to agree with the citizens of ancient Jericho when they felt that the soul resided in the skull and so created shrines using the skulls of their beloved and revered ancestors. They first buried their loved ones under their houses. Then, after a certain time when the skulls had become sufficiently cleaned, they removed them and remodeled them with clay and plaster faces to represent the departed ancestors. The skulls were then consulted for the wisdom that the remaining skulls had to impart [3]. The Egyptians too had this idea and many of the most revered mummies' skulls and faces were recreated to represent the living. The practice of preserving heads dates back 80,000years and was the preface to the preservation of mummies that were thought to have a life long after death [1].

We show our faces to the outside world. The face is the living outward countenance of the skull. This is what our skulls form when covered with muscle, fat, glands, and skin. Facial features are recognizable as universally human and individually our own. Even the word face is used as a powerful descriptor, such as face the future face up or face facts. The word face in this context has as many meanings as the subtle expressions our face give away. When we look at a face, we are in fact seeing the skull's shape. The skull gives each of us our unique proportions and characteristics. So, this is one way of looking at the world through the skull's perspective. Working as a forensic sculptor, I reconstruct faces from skulls. This method for identification is both ancient and very modern. The skull's measurements and comparisons have a lot to say scientifically, which is a fact well known to all biological anthropologists. Simultaneously, however, the skull is more than simply biological specimen. Nor is it a metaphysical entity, such as in a séance. The skull is a representation of a person in all their many aspects. We look to others to help us in our interpretation of life. Historically and popularly in our society the skull has this power. This is to say, in using the skull we may still may consult the skull in all its forms for information and guidance, and this idea can help in the identification process. Perhaps through this argument, we can understand why identification is sometimes possible and why sometimes it is not.

To answer this rhetorical dilemma, we can turn to the theory of French structuralism and Claude Levi-Strauss, who said that, Before something can be useful, it must be good to think with. This is very much a definition of the brain within the skull [4]. Here, he is describing the French structuralism approach to a problem. Using this idea and then breaking down forensic facial reconstruction into its parts and players can yield fascinating theoretical answers and of course create many new questions.

During the course of this book, the reader will learn this technique of scrutiny and perception. The data of tissue depth is measured from the skull at specific anatomical landmarks. These landmarks are also useful for a general understanding of individual anatomy. There are specific techniques for forming soft tissues over the markers to approximate a detailed anatomy. Knowledge of anatomy from the superficial to the deepest level is absolutely necessary to interpret the importance of those landmarks. Since the skull is unique, the soft tissue face on the skull will also be unique and hopefully will be recognizable. Positive identification will then be definitive with the use of DNA and/or dental comparisons or other biological markers.

What follows is the classification of identity presented as five players in order of appearance:

1. The skull and bones of the unknown person.

2. The investigator or the person who wants to know who the decedent was.

3. The anthropologist who accesses the bones and creates baseline knowledge.

4. The artist or technician who then creates an interpretation of the bones for visual comparison.

5. The identifier who then finally brings recognition to these interpretations.

Using an actual case from my archives, we will take the perspective of the skull to explain each of the players. The chosen case is one of a young murdered girl. She had been suffocated, placed inside a large bag, and dumped behind a restaurant. I was hired to create a facial reconstruction. Her skull was with the body when she was found, the skin had decomposed, and her face was unrecognizable. Her teeth, however, were remarkable in their pristine form and condition. Her hair had been recently dyed and was pulled back and styled with a clip. Her ears were adorned with small gold hoops. These findings told us a lot about how she lived ethnographically speaking. She was well groomed, and had good dental hygiene and a healthy diet. She gave the impression that she liked fine things and her hair was styled well. She was petite in size. Was she afraid or at peace when she died? Would she want anyone to know what happened to her in her last moments of life? Did she want to be identified? Even though we did not know her, she was telling us a lot about her life. I am sure that other things will become evident as we learn more about her from the other players in our scheme.

Enter the investigator. In this case, a detective who searches through everything to find out how she died. The investigator puts together the pieces of the puzzle and creates linkages. Although all her senses are now silent, the girl still tells us about herself with her clothing. She wore pajama bottoms, a designer counterfeit t-shirt, and printed anklet socks. The detective retraces her movements: how she was placed, how she ended up in the bag, as well as how she was found. Every detail is important. The detective is driven by a desire to know not only who she was but who put her there. This drive is the quest for knowledge. The purpose of a law enforcement officer is to keep the public safe and uphold society's laws. These duties extend to finding and capturing the perpetrators of murderers, the first step of which is to identify the victim and then work backward in a process called