When a reconstruction is displayed, audiences should know not just that it is based on a skull and genome, but what specific reconstruction method was used, what that method’s known limitations are, and that other methods might have produced a somewhat different result.

The confidence with which reconstructions are sometimes presented — as if the scientist or artist had directly accessed the actual face of the ancient individual — is not warranted by the evidence, and communicating that honestly is both more accurate and, arguably, more engaging.

The story of three different faces from one skull, after all, is a richer and more interesting story than the story of one definitive face.

What the Skull Directly Reveals