Jesus Christ! … Is this what Jesus really looked like? Picture

The co-author of Making Faces: Using Forensic And Archaeological Evidence, Neave had ventured in controversial areas before.

However, a forensic expert from the University of Manchester has recreated the likely Jesus face using state-of-the art science.

Is this the face of Jesus?

In that article, the website’s Mike Fillons explains that the doctor used the description of events in the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, contained in the gospel of Matthew to determine that his facial features were typical of Galilean Jews of the era.

Using a new scientific field known as forensic anthropology, British scientists teamed up with Israeli archaeologists to create a computer-generated picture to show what the Son of God may have looked like.

From this they set about obtaining three well-preserved skulls from Jerusalem in Israel, where Jesus had lived and preached. “Would Paul have written “If a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him” if Jesus Christ had had long hair?” The team built a 3D digital reconstruction of the face and then created a cast of the skull.

The skulls did not, however, provide two key pieces of information about Jesus’ appearance: his hair and his skin colour. To fill in these parts of the picture, Neave’s team turned to drawings found at various archeological sites, dated to the first century. He also would have most likely had tight curls, in keeping with Jewish tradition of the time.

Even with the help of the skulls, however, they were still unable to settle the question of Jesus’ hair, his hair color as well as the length of it. But the Bible offered clues along with other data.

It is hypothesized that the Letter of Lentulus is partially responsible for the Eurocentric depiction Western society has adopted of Jesus Christ.