Facing the Past: Forensic Facial Reconstruction at Catoctin Furnace and its Role in Public Outreach

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Retrospective: 50 Years Of Research And Changing Narratives At Catoctin Furnace, Maryland", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Forensic facial reconstructions are an effective tool for communicating historical narratives and information gleaned from human skeletal remains. The method relies on the relationship between the underlying architecture of the skull and the tissues of the face. Facial reconstructions were completed for new exhibitions at The Museum of the Iron Worker at the historic site of Catoctin Furnace, Maryland. The remains of a teenage male and adult female once buried in the African American cemetery at Catoctin Furnace (circa 1790-1840), form the basis for three-dimensional life-size renditions of two faces. Their compelling life histories and details of the multi-step process used in creating the faces, including bone analysis, digitization, rapid prototyping (3D printing), artistic rendering, and historic research, are discussed. The likenesses shed light on different aspects of the industrial village population and communicate to a broader audience than otherwise might have listened, a sometimes-harsh history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• Retrospective: 50 Years Of Research And Changing Narratives At Catoctin Furnace, Maryland

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow