TV series gazes at ancestors

Simcha Jacobovici’s Biblical Forensics series airs April 8-29
LAUREN KRAMER

It’s one thing to read about biblical times, but something quite different to glimpse the actual faces of people who lived thousands of years ago. Thanks to a combination of advanced technology and forensic expertise, approximate reconstructions of biblical faces are now possible, based on ancient skulls excavated from relevant sites. In a new, four-part documentary series titled Biblical Forensics: Real Faces of the Bible, television viewers across Canada can examine those faces and gain a deeper appreciation of the humanity of the individuals they represent and the lives they likely led.

Until recently, it’s been difficult to do forensic work on human remains excavated in Israel, because of religious sensibilities. With CT scans and cutting-edge 3D technologies, which minimize the need to handle those skulls, anthropologists, doctors and law-enforcement facial-reconstruction experts can now avoid upsetting religious communities. As a result, the documentary is able to capture the reconstruction of the faces of a Philistine woman who lived at the time of Delilah, an infant found in a sacrificial setting inside a millennia-old Canaanite jar, a warrior who lived in pre-Canaanite times and a Galilean man who lived at the time of Jesus.

Simcha Jacobovici, executive producer and a specialist in investigative archeology, said the idea for the documentary emerged from a conversation he had with Prof. Israel Hershkovitz, head of the Dan Laboratory for the Search and Study of Modern Humans at Tel Aviv University. As chief anthropologist and co-director of the Misliya Cave project, Hershkovitz had access to the skulls and was an enthusiastic participant in the filming.

In each episode, two different methods are used to apply flesh to bone, one digital and one clay. “The forensic experts are using parallel methodologies, which means we have a built-in system of checks and balances, and it’s interesting to see how close or far apart they end up,” Jacobovici told the Independent. “I think we end up with very accurate reconstructions.”

It was important to Jacobovici that the documentaries focus not just on the facial reconstructions, but also on the lives of the individuals they represent. “We wanted the forensic reconstruction to be a doorway into their lives,” he explained. In the first episode, “Delilah Revealed,” which premières April 8, the forensic team works on the skull of a 3,000-year-old Philistine woman that dates to the Iron Age, the time of Samson and his lover Delilah.

“As we come face to face with Delilah, we also learn that her people, the Philistines, were Aegean, from the area of modern-day Greece, so we get a glimpse into the Aegean presence in the Bible. What were they like? What did they believe? How did they dress and what kind of jewelry did she wear? It’s not merely about recreating people, but bringing the past to life,” he said. “Imagine, this is the first time the face of a Philistine woman was reconstructed. She lived at the same time and in the same place as Delilah, which means this is the closest we will ever come to meet[ing] Delilah.”

In the episode titled “The Man Who Saw Jesus,” a Galilean man’s visage is reconstructed. “If Jesus was as popular a healer as Christian tradition says he was, then surely this man knew him,” Jacobovici said. “I don’t think television gets any better than this!”

Montreal forensic artist Victoria Lywood was actively involved in the reconstructions and said that Biblical Forensics is a stunning opportunity to gaze upon the faces of our ancestors. “I was struck by the face of the warrior, who is by far the oldest at 6,000 years,” she said. “It’s amazing to see these individuals, who look very much like us, and a wonder to think they had a sense of humor, similar ailments, family problems, loves and beliefs very much like us – only different due to the distance in time and technology!”

Each hour-long episode captures thousands of hours of time logged in anthropological, archeological and forensic research, she added. “On this project, the ‘sacrificial child’ [the Canaanite infant] was completed within a week but the larger sculptures took several months due to the amount of painstaking detail, size and new techniques used – several months, from start to finish.” The images that result are approximations of specific individuals who would be recognizable by a close friend or family member. However, “facial reconstruction is never a portrait,” Lywood cautioned.

The episodes were shot on location in Israel, Tunisia, Montreal and Boston, at a cost of approximately $700,000 each. David Berman, an actor on the CSI series, is the host of the documentaries and was a natural choice for this “biblical CSI,” Jacobovici said. “Berman actually studied Jewish history in university and he’s fascinated with archeology.”

A variety of Canadian actors play parts in the reconstruction of the biblical stories, including David Dantes as Samson and Daiva Zalnieriunas as Delilah.

Check local listings for the screening times of the four episodes of Biblical Forensics – “Delilah Revealed,” “Sacrificial Child,” “Ancient Warrior” and “The Man Who Knew Jesus” – which première on Vision TV, April 8, 15, 22 and 29.

Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond, B.C. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net