• Palaeoartist Elisabeth Daynès uses clay and silicone to make the models
• She aims to give distant beings their face, idenтιтy and humanity back, from her Paris studio, where she has worked for around 20 years
• She starts by examining a specimen’s skull, then makes a computer model to inform how muscular the face should look
• Ms Daynès references scientific literature to decide on small details such as eye colour and uses a mixture of human and yak hair for hominids
• She says that every model is the ‘synthesis of all the knowledge on the origins of humankind’ and misses them when they are in museums
  

By SARAH GRIFFITHS

Published: 09:34 GMT, 9 May 2014 | Updated: 11:39 GMT, 9 May 2014

From freckles and blemishes to staring glᴀss eyes, hyper-realistic models of early hominids are now providing an eerie way of coming face-to-face with our ancient ancestors and distant cousins.

The sculptures as if like they could come to life at any second, thanks to the incredible attention to detail of ’palaeoartist’ Elisabeth Daynès.

Having initially wanted to make masks for theatre, she became interested in human evolution over her 20 year career has recreated Lucy – the famed Australopithecus afarensis specimen that lived between three million and two million years ago – as well as a host of other hominids and Homo erectus.

Hypnotic gaze: From freckles to staring glᴀss eyes, hyper realistic models of early hominids give humans an eerie way of coming face-to-face with our 3million-year-old relatives. A model of Australopithecus africanus based on cast of the 2.1million to 2.7million-year-old skull STS5 discovered in South Africa is pictured

Her work has been exhibited in museums across the world, which is informed by scientific research, brought to life by sculpting techniques in her Parisian studio.

‘I have a clear vocation – to reveal the secrets of ancient bones and evidence of the past.

‘To give those distant beings their face, their idenтιтy, their humanity back,’ she said.

‘I became obsessed with skulls. I wanted to give a face to every skull I saw. The goal wasn’t any longer to contribute to the making of a play or film, but to decipher the origins of mankind.’

Ms Daynès’ first challenge was to reconstruct a woolly mammoth and a group of Magdalenian people who lived around 11,000 years ago.

Palaeoartist Elisabeth Daynès adds sculpts clay to form muscles and skin on top of a cast of a specimen’s skull to make her models. This model is of a 18,000-year-old Homo floresiensis and its appearance is informed by cranial measurements marked with toothpicks (also pictured)

Ms Daynès seeks to reveal the secrets of ancient bones and give ancient humans, such as this Homo sapien from Cop Blanc in France, their face, idenтιтy and humanity back

To make her models, which include the tiniest of details from wrinkles to goose pimples, she starts with a thorough examination of the specimen’s skull, which marks out many distinctive hominid groups.

Ms Daynès and her team now make computer models of the skulls using 18 data points on the bone, which gives her an idea of muscles, the shape of a hominid’s nose, forehead and chin.

She then uses clay to mould the facial features – informed by her research – across a cast taken from the skull in question, while examining extra bones and teeth give her more of an idea of the creature’s stature.

‘I always follow the same rigorous two-step protocol: First, I focus on highlighting the general features of the fossil group to which the skull belongs; then I reveal the particular traits of the subject,’ she said.

To make her models she starts with a thorough examination of the specimen’s skull, which marks out many distinctive hominid groups. A mixture of human and yak hair is used for hominids such as Paranthropus boisei, who lived in Eastern Africa during the Pleistocene epoch from about 2.3 to 1.2 million years ago

The sculptor uses clay to mould the facial features informed by her research across a cast taken from a skull, (pictured left) while examining extra bones and teeth give her more of an idea of the creature’s stature so that she can make models of early homids such as Paranthropus boisei (right) who lived 2.5million years ago

Ms Daynès and her team make computer models of the skulls using 18 data points on the bone, which gives her an idea of muscles, the shape of a hominid’s nose, forehead and chin. She can then use these details to construct her model (pictured)

Once the clay sculpture is complete, a silicone cast is made, onto which all the tiny details can be painstakingly painted, such as veins, wrinkles and spots. Eye prosthetics give the eerily realistic stare and dental prosthetics the sculptures’ toothy grins.

It can be difficult to decide on exact details such as eye and hair colour, so Ms Daynès references scientific literature, which reveals that Neanderthals had red hair, among other findings.

‘Following the same approach as in a forensic investigation, I use the clues I find on the fossil to create an ID of the subject: fossil group, dating, age at death, probable Sєx, diseases, deficiencies, dietary pattern, ᴀssociated fauna, climate, living conditions, environment, culture, etc.

‘I collect all these data in long discussions with experts, palaeopathologists, anthropologists and anatomists, to guide the decisions I make at each step of the reconstruction process, and to make sure my creations take into account the latest scientific developments.

Ms Daynès uses human hair for members of the Homo genus, but mixes in yak hair for earlier hominds, as their hair is thought to have been much thicker and coarser. A model of one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, dubbed Peking Man is pictured, who lived between 700,000 and 200,000 years ago

‘I always follow the same rigorous two-step protocol: First, I focus on highlighting the general features of the fossil group to which the skull belongs; then I reveal the particular traits of the subject,’ the sculptor said. An early stage model of 1.5million-year-old ‘Turkana Boy’ – the most complete early human skeleton- is pictured

‘Finally, I painstakingly implant the hair, beard, and body hair one by one.’

Ms Daynès uses human hair for members of the Homo genus, but mixes in yak hair for earlier hominids, as their hair is thought to have been much thicker and coarser.

She said that every model is the ‘synthesis of all the knowledge on the origins of humankind’.

‘What I try to do is to provide an opportunity for the general public to come face to face with beings millions of years away from them, an encounter with a different kind of humanity.’

She works particularly hard on giving the models a gaze by adding wrinkles of expression and putting shade and light into the eyes until the subject is animated with emotion.

Once the clay sculpture is complete, a silicone cast is made, onto which all the tiny details can be painstakingly painted, such as veins, wrinkles and spots. Eye prosthetics give the eerily realistic stare and dental prosthetics the sculptures’ toothy grins. A storeroom of casts made of the models is pictured

Ms Daynès believes that prehistoric humans are too often ᴀssociated with brutality, but she tries to capture their humanity. And it can be hard for her to say goodbye to her creations, which typically take months to make.

‘I spend so much time with those creatures, sharing such a close relationship with their bodies and faces that I tend to find them beautiful,’ she said.

‘A reconstruction project makes me enter into a relationship that resembles an act of love. When my sculptures go to a museum or an exhibition venue, I miss them acutely. I feel anxious for them and hope they are treated well.’