Thickness of Facial Tissues in American Blacks

The production of a three-dimensional plastic face on a human skull has been practiced sporadically since the latter part of the last century. In recent years, the technique has been revived and applied to forensic science cases. Contemporary facial reproductions are based on a small sample collected before the turn of the century. In this paper, we present data on a heretofore unstudied segment of Homo sapiens, the American black. Facial tissue thicknesses for this group vary greatly from those previously reported in European whites and in Japanese. Use of these data should make possible more accurate facial reproductions on the skulls of American blacks.