ИСТИНА

Craniofacial reconstruction was used to regain the face from a skull found in Ermolov’s crypt and another skull found in Novoierusalimsky monastery, which presumably belongs to Arkadiy Suvorov, the son of the famous A. V. Suvorov. Alexey Petrovich Ermolov (1777 – 1861) was a Russian military leader and statesman, who took part in many great wars. According to historical data, the crypt contained the remains of A. P. Ermolov, his father and his son. Only one skull was found here. A burial found in Novoierusalimsky monastery presumably belongs to Arkadiy Suvorov (1784 – 1811). We also have intravital portraits of Arkadiy Suvorov, A. P. Ermolov and his son. Analysis of the human remains was needed in these cases. The problem was to determine to whom the skull from Ermolov’s crypt belonged; to identify the burial from Novoierusalimsky monastery. The Laboratory of Anthropological Reconstruction is constantly developing the facial reconstruction method according to the newest scientific innovations. The frontal and profile reconstructions were made from above mentioned skulls. The faces’ proportions were matched; reconstructions and portrait details were also put together. Case 1: Ermolov’s family crypt Statistically there were many matches of indexes and landmarks between the skull from the crypt and Ermolov’s father’s portrait, which made it possible to identify the skull as belonging to his father. Case 2: Burial from Novoierusalimsky monastery The reconstruction and A. Suvorov’s portrait corresponded in most of the indexes and landmarks, which gives grounds for identifying the remains found as belonging to the son of the famous military leader. Modern approaches to anthropologic reconstruction methods enable us to make craniofacial reconstruction of high accuracy – both for forensic science and for historical facial reconstruction.