And the reconstructed faces, of course, remain approximations whose relationship to the actual appearance of this individual is unknown and unknowable.

The 2026 study established that different methods produce different results, and that these differences are measurable and significant.

It did not — could not — establish which, if any, of the three faces is closer to the truth.

These limits are not reasons to dismiss the research.

They are reasons to engage with it honestly — to value what it has genuinely established while being clear-eyed about what remains uncertain.

The Science of the Past, the Ethics of the Dead