Paleoartists

Did you ever wonder how scientists are able to re-create the faces of our distant ancestors? Well, it's done through a process called Dissection in Reverse, where anthopologists and artists combine their knowledge to develop faces of ancient man starting from the skulls up. This month's Natural History Magazine has an article called Faces of the Human Past, which describes how this is done.

Two of the most skilled practitioners of this art are Gary J. Sawyer and Viktor Deak. Gary is a physical anthropologist at The American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Viktor is a paleoartist.

This story was written by Richard Milner and Ian Tattersall. They present this information in a concise style that doesn't get bogged down in scientific termanology and which also expresses their passion for this art form.

I think that we all are innately drawn to stories about our ancient ancestors, because we want to know where we came from. Our history is part of who we are now. If this subject is of interest to you, then I think that you will find this story to be well worth reading!