A Closer Look at Evolutionary Faces

What an amazing amount of work and talent have gone into these busts. I think we need to plan a trip to DC to see them in real life.

The shape of the job and teeth seem to differentiate this common and from the others, including the Neanderthals. Is this accurate, or did Mr. Gurche adopt some creative license in drawing the face?

These are amazing. Maybe next time you can include women in the series?

Patrice: Given what I've seen of modern male and female apes, five out of the seven could easily *be* women. It's likely our male and female ancestors looked more alike than is (usually) the case now.

Wonderful work, in any case. The eyes are utterly compelling.

What amazingly beautiful sculptures! Like Lucy, I want to go see them in person.

Patrice, I took Paranthropus boisei to be female. Several of the others could easily be female also as modern female and male primates often look much the same with respect to facial features.

Wonderfully done!

Thanks,
Tara

They are truly beautiful faces. The eyes have it, faces of expression and thought.

I think that what Patrice was saying is that it would be interesting to see the males and females side-by-side for comparison, whatever the genders of these examples happen to be.

Evolution continues to amaze! Thanks for this exhibit.

Those pictures are absolutely fantastic! I am going to point interested parties to them.
Anne G

I know this guy!! He lives in Fresno, Ca.

His ancestors may have looked like that but mine look like Robert Redford. Hasn't "Lucy" been discredited of being in the human evolution line?
Michael Calder

What incredible talent to be able to give us a glimpse of what our predecessors looked like.

At the age of 21 I met an native NW American Indian girl whom was I was highly endearted to who one day told me in what was almost a frightened whisper about some legend named "Big foot".In NYC where I grew up I had never heard about "Big Foot"so I figured she was talking about some native folkloric being like JC so the whole subject just blew by me without a second thought.To make a long story short,about a year after her BF revelation to me,I came in direct contact with bigfoot and all I can say is that I was frozen with awe,daring not to even breath it seemed,but in this frozen moment there was a deep eye to eye comunication;in his eyes there was a look of supreme intelligence but most impressive was the look of scorn combined with a look of power I have never witnessed in any being.I'm 67 now and inretrospect I can realize why my young native friend seemed frighten.Some of these paleo renderings remind me of "BF" except for the eyes which are not nearly enough primitive,and threatening.Three things the eyes should be,primal,threatening,and perhaps intelligent depending on time of evolution.

Dear Editors,
As a building reading consultant, I have had the pleasure of sharing my recent issues of Smithsonian Magazine with the staff. I have encouraged the entire staff to subscribe. Thank you!

Beverly Bunn, M.Ed.
Rhodes School

I am a practicing portrait artist. (means I am still learning) I love learning about the human face, & thelittle differences one wrongly placed line can make; it can changed the whole personality. I love your work. But now, I am thinking,"if God created man in his image,why is there such drastic changes in man down through the eons?" And when did God give us choices? Were cavemen thinking men,capable of decision-making?

I hope you don't find my questions stupid. My teachers always told me there is no such thing as a stupid question!Keep up your fantastic work. I really can learn from it. Being 7 6 years old is not too old to learn, is it??Sincerely

Aren't you confusing evolution and fact? I was taught that evolution was a theory, but not yet proven to be a fact. No matter which ideas you want to believe, Science is supposed to be such that those who will conduct experiments can be able to prove that their ideas are fact.

These examples are truly beautiful craftsmanship. The creator of these pieces of art is capable of producing very dramatic, life-like sculptures. But, at best, they only prove his talent is art, not fact.

Still, I find them eerily magnificent.

E. Woodford Sigler

"Aren't you confusing evolution and fact? I was taught that evolution was a theory, but not yet proven to be a fact."

It's a theory in the sense the gravity is a theory. Scientists use the word "theory" differently. Evolution is a very well-supported theory.

"Maybe next time you can include women in the series?"

I had that thought, too. (Juveniles would be nice as well.) Gurche did an amazing rendition of "Lucy" in this style, and I was lucky enough to see it in person at the SVP meeting in Denver. I've heard that that model unfortunately was damaged by heat, though. Not sure exactly.

"I took Paranthropus boisei to be female."

I'm pretty sure that's a male. Male and female skulls look quite different.

"Hasn't 'Lucy' been discredited of being in the human evolution line?"

That is an active question in paleoanthropology--we're not sure yet. If she's not from a species that's on our line, then she is still from a closely related species.

Apparently our ancestors consisted of only males. I wonder how they reproduced?

Thank you John! As a teacher I will use your exhibit to demonstrate to children something meaningful and poignant about human facial expressions as communication.

These faces say to me - we are ancient, with our own animal nobility, and our own primal intelligence.

Surely others can see how this exhibition of early humanity makes us part of creation, and shows us the way forward in consciousness, into love and respect for ourselves, and for each other.

I really need to visit the Smithsonian. Wonderfully done!

There is as much fiction as "science" in the recreation of past homonids, etc.

The ultimate gall is the creation of a full scale African diorama of tow homonids at The American Museum of Natural History based on a set of footprints!

Evolution is fact.

I offer up an online definition: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theory

There is some confusion from lay folk who focus on the definition of theory as speculation. A theory really is a body of principles which predict or explain a set of phenomena. There are some anti-intellectual religious people in America, who are so threatened by using the brains God gave them, that they think that any acceptance of science will destroy their faith. I fully believe in a God, but know that God created a set of laws (gravity, strong force, weak force and electromagnetic forces) from which all other rules of physics and chemistry and hence biology and evolution derive. To study science, to study physics and to understand how we evolved is to understand the ultimate creator. Evolution is a fact. Period. To teach guided evolution, or any of those other silly, religious agenda variants is to deny empirical evidence and to insult the gift of reason which God gave you.

I'm truly amazed by the number of people posting comments who are apparently familiar enough with hominid facial anatomy to determine gender.

I suggest an alternate theory could hinge on an overdeveloped sense of feminism.

John beat me to the punch. It seems that a few of the posters wishing for female renderings are applying modern facial characteristics of male and female, to ancient hominids.

"[Neanderthals] have really large noses, and some people have argued that this is to warm and humidify cold, dry air as it comes in."

Although the general theory of human evolution from apelike hominids cannot be rationally doubted, there is still a lot we don't know and about which we are forced to speculate. I was struck by the above quote from the artist because I have read that other paleoanthropologists argue that northern Han Chinese have small nostrils as an adaption to the cold of a mini ice age. Southeast Asians and other equatorial populations have bigger nostrils and more/larger sweat glands in order to dissipate heat. Northern Chinese, whose ancestors were apparently trapped up in the north by a mini ice age, have smaller nostrils and sweat glands to conserve heat.

I applaud what the artist is doing because it can inspire people to learn more. However, on the specifics we should exercise as much skepticism as should be brought to those ridiculous forensics procedurals on tv. Inspiration is not the same as knowledge. When he makes those models, the artist is making educated guesses. Those are a lot better than random guesses and archaic superstition (e.g. woman created from the rib of man?!) but they're still not going to be perfect.

I'm confident that at least 3 of the busts are female. And a theory is a set of ideas that set to explain known facts. Gravity is a fact and the theory of gravity set's out to explain how and what it is. Evolution is a fact and the theory of evolution is a set of ideas that try to explain the mechanism that causes change. People confuse theory with hypothesis.

I Totally agree with Dr. Yusaf Al-Kindi. Further more one should look closely at Vincet Beauvoix's "Spaculum Majus"

John Gurche, a “paleo-artist,” has recreated strikingly realistic heads of our earliest human ancestors for a new exhibit ??

John Gurche, a “paleo-artist,” has created strikingly realistic heads for a new exhibit of how our earliest human ancestors may have appeared.

This is a beautiful collection, and wonderful insight into our collective past.

I just want to express my appreciation for the wonderful work that Mr. Gurche did. I too agree with Dr. Yusaf Al-Kindi. I know what I feel but would not know how to say it like he did.

If a large nose was needed to humidify and warm the cold, dry air Neanderthals were breathing, then why do the Inuit who live in Canada's Arctic have small to medium sized noses?

As someone else noted, the eyes are amazing. The earliest (A. afarensis) look at you like the higher apes at the zoo, eyes that recognize, feel emotion and sense the presence of similar, yet dangerous, hominids. Yet our nearest neighbors (chimps & bonobos)in evolution have also changed dramatically in over 4 million years and cannot really be compared to the "missing link" either.

There is a similar exhibit in the Neander Valley of Germany, where the Neanderthal bones and full-size recreation statues of our ancestors can be seen. They refer to neanderthalensis as a subspecies of H. sapiens. These studies make you want to live longer to find the next chapter.

This is pretty neat, but is kinda creepy, its funny to think about this stuff...

What a Wonderful concept to allow us in this time to see
how person's looked and in some cases lived their daily lives thousands of years ago.
I've been working on a story over the last couple of years and some of it takes place 20,000 years ago. As I have researched information about persons and their lives from this time it has taken on a much bigger roll in my story and my personal life. For instance, how did they communicate with each other, when did they have the understanding of a leader and followers, did they take care of their elderly? Viewing your magnificent images, makes everything more real!
It brings home how we may have lived and interacted with each other and our surroundings.
Best Regards,
Todd

Perfectttt!

Just loved these faces, after so many years of looking @ skulls and wondering what they must have really looked like.
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH! Cudos to the artist!

These renderings are too marvelous for words. I found myself staring and wondering, almost asking "Who are you?" It is sad that many among us have had their brains hijacked by hucksters. It is no small wonder that Americans are falling behind on the intellectual scale.

Thank you very much for these images.

The images are truly amazing.

Just a note on how accurate they might be, since some have suggested it is artistic license. . .

I don't know if Gurche has any background in forensics, but it is a common practice to reconstruct the appearance of skeletal remains in order to identify a person. Most of these reconstructed faces are quite close to the actual person. With a moderately complete skull, one can reconstruct with a high degree of accuracy muscle, skin, etc. It kind of stands to reason that the same could be done with these paleo-skulls (yes, I know that's not a word).

True, there are variables. We don't know exactly how fat is distrbuted in the faces of these individuals, but we can guess - so these are probably pretty close to the actual appearance of the species, if not the individual.

Beautiful work!

The Afarensis,Boisei,Erectus and Florensis seem to be females.

Sir: Earley Humanity apears to be dark skin so where did the white race come from?