One
of the major features of the Australian Archaeological Association’s
(AAA) Conference at the University of Wollongong this week was the unveiling
of the face of Homo floresiensis – popularly known as the “Hobbit.”
Hosted
by UOW’s Centre for Archaeological Science, which was created in 2010 to
develop, integrate and apply modern scientific methods to the questions of
human evolution, the conference consists of over 400 participants and 250
presentations.
Dr. Susan Hayes,
Honorary Senior Research Fellow at UOW and specialist facial anthropologist,
conducted interactive 3D and 2D workshops in evidence-based facial
approximation – involving the creation of the likely facial appearance of a
deceased person based on the skull and soft tissues – as a precursor to the
conference. Dr. Hayes has been instrumental in the facial approximation of the
“Hobbit.”
“In
the media it’s often called ‘facial reconstruction‘, but because I’m evidence-based and
work in archaeological science, we prefer the term ‘facial approximation’,” Dr
Hayes said.
Dr.
Hayes has a background in forensic science. Last year, she worked on the
remains of a young woman found in Belangelo State Forest at the request of the
Sydney Homicide team.
The
facial approximation of H. floresiensis involved Dr. Hayes applying her methods
to a very different female individual, unearthed in 2003 by Professor Mike
Morwood and the Liang Bua archaeological team in Flores, Indonesia.
The
facial approximation of an archaic hominin was an extraordinary challenge,
according to Dr. Hayes.
“She’s
taken me a bit longer than I’d anticipated, has caused more than a few
headaches along the way, but I’m pleased with both the methodological
development and the final results. She’s not what you’d call pretty, but she is
definitely distinctive,” Dr Hayes said. “She doesn’t have those hyper-feminine
features such as big eyes; there isn’t much of a forehead.” Dr. Hayes asserts,
though, that the image of the tiny hobbit species is about scientific accuracy,
not aesthetics.
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