Aplicación de la reconstrucción facial a dos individuos de un recinto funerario romano en Astúrica Augusta

Abstract

The discovery in the town of Astorga (Leon) of a Roman funerary enclosure with three adult individual burials, two men and a woman, whose bodies were confined to a brick tombs, attributable to a chronology high-imperial, has helped return the physical aspect that had these people. The pathological analysis revealed the presence of auditory torus in the two men, which may be related to the roman habit of bathing in cold water and / or the existence of a relationship between them. For facial reconstruction was chosen a male and a female skull following the protocol of the Russian school, which consists of inserting markers of soft tissue thickness in a replica of the skull in plaster, which will reproduce the facial muscles and shape the face clay, and finally it gave finish polychromy respecting models of the time. In addition to them anthropological interest, it should be noted the valuable museum of the facial reconstructions, who will be exposed to the public at the Roman Museum of Astorga. Even knowing that the technique has certain limitations, as the facial reconstruction should never considered a true portrait, gives us an opportunity to approach the face that would have actually, as evidence its acknowledged role in Forensic Anthropology.