Nomen est omen? Gezichtsreconstructies als medium tussen heden en verleden

Samenvatting

Nomen est omen? Facial reconstructions to mediate between the past and the present. Facial reconstructions direct our view of the past and evoke emotional responses. It appears that people respond to these reconstructions as if they were living beings. Often they are named, and their ‘voices’ are used to give a voice to the past. They are given an identity that need not at all coincide with their original one. Moreover, it turns out that these reconstructions become part of modern people’s sense of descent and identity. The article concludes with the question of whether we can ethically assign new identities to the deceased, and whether these reconstructions should ever take the place of real human remains in museums.