A British anatomical artist has recently published an imagined face of Jesus Christ which was created using forensic data from the skulls of ancient first century Jewish men.
The reimagined face appears a world-away from western representations of the Son of God, which is a white man with long, flowing blonde locks.
Richard Neave, formerly a professor at Manchester University, constructed the image after he examined three Semites’ skulls from around Galilee in northern Israel using methods more frequently employed to identify victims of crimes as part of a BBC series more than a decade ago, reports The Independent.
Professor Neave, an expert medical artist, used computerised tomography to create x-ray slices of the skulls and by evaluating the thickness of the skulls in certain areas recreate the skin and muscles of his face.
He also used ancient drawings at archaeological sites to determine the colour of Christ’s hair and studied the bible to ensure the length was correct.
There is still no definitive answer of what Jesus may have looked like. Earlier this year, Italian detectives revealed what they believed Jesus looked like as a young boy after using the Shroud of Turin.
The Shroud, used to wrap Christ’s body following the crucifixion, inspired interpretations of Christ’s appearance – but the Italian police’s reconstruction looks very different from Professor Neave’s.
