(Not) Robert de Brus facial reconstruction...
The media is covering this alleged Robert de Brus facial reconstruction.
First objection:
There is no good evidence that he had leprosy (see Kaufman and MacLennan) The skull from which the cast was taken in early 19C shows a Lefort 3 fracture, and no nasal erosion. Any palate signs cannot be seen because of the nature of the cast.
Second objection:
The position of the tomb in Dunfermline Abbey from which the skull was taken suggests it isn't him. At a lecture by his recent biographer Michael Penman on the attempted digital reconstruction of the tomb, he raised the point that earlier accounts suggested Robert I had been buried alongside his wife (her remains were believed to have been disturbed by a Bruce of Elgin family burial and she was reburied in their vault, but no-one thought to look beside where she had been found). The tomb excavated in the early 19C was in the centre, on its own. It was decided it was Robert, because the heart had been removed for separate burial - forgetting this was not uncommon in the Middle Ages, and not unique to Robert. It seems more likely (Penman, Robert the Bruce, p. 306) that what has been reconstructed is the face of David I (d 1153), as the burial would fit one of the founders, the trimmings are more in keeping with 12C than 14C practice, and as he died in Carlisle, organ removal may have been carried out for embalming purposes.
So they've reconstructed the face of David I and given him leprosy.
First objection:
There is no good evidence that he had leprosy (see Kaufman and MacLennan) The skull from which the cast was taken in early 19C shows a Lefort 3 fracture, and no nasal erosion. Any palate signs cannot be seen because of the nature of the cast.
Second objection:
The position of the tomb in Dunfermline Abbey from which the skull was taken suggests it isn't him. At a lecture by his recent biographer Michael Penman on the attempted digital reconstruction of the tomb, he raised the point that earlier accounts suggested Robert I had been buried alongside his wife (her remains were believed to have been disturbed by a Bruce of Elgin family burial and she was reburied in their vault, but no-one thought to look beside where she had been found). The tomb excavated in the early 19C was in the centre, on its own. It was decided it was Robert, because the heart had been removed for separate burial - forgetting this was not uncommon in the Middle Ages, and not unique to Robert. It seems more likely (Penman, Robert the Bruce, p. 306) that what has been reconstructed is the face of David I (d 1153), as the burial would fit one of the founders, the trimmings are more in keeping with 12C than 14C practice, and as he died in Carlisle, organ removal may have been carried out for embalming purposes.
So they've reconstructed the face of David I and given him leprosy.