Introduction

The identification of skeletal remains has been achieved by several methods: matching of ante-mortem dental records with teeth of the skull, matching of ante-mortem radiographs with various skeletal parts, matching of facial photographs with the skull by craniofacial superimposition and DNA analysis of bones or teeth and reference samples. Ante-mortem dental records and radiographs have been generally accepted to suggest positive identification of skeletal remains. However, the availability of these ante-mortem records is relatively rare in criminal cases. Molecular approaches such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis have been applied to bone identification and have improved an assessment for personal identification, but such analyses are expensive and time-consuming. Craniofacial superimposition is the most popular technique for identifying unknown skulls because facial photographs of the presumed person can be easily obtained from the victim’s family.

In the earliest stage of craniofacial superimposition, the skulls of historically important individuals such as Immanuel Kant, Johann Sebastian Bach and Josef Haydn were compared with relevant portraits, busts and death masks using skull morphology, osteometry and physiognomy (Stewart, 1979; Krogman and İşcan, 1986; Gruner, 1993; Taylor and Brown, 1998; Glassman, 2001). Although these comparisons were performed for academic purposes, their methods were basically applied to subsequent research in the field of forensic sciences.