Reconstructing the face of an individual who died 3500 years ago is a fascinating process. It takes patience and meticulous skill to build up an identity from a skull, adding layer upon layer of knowledge to known circumstances, then re-applying 'flesh to the bones'. In Heads and Tales: Reconstructing Faces standard techniques used in contemporary forensic work are applied to archaeological remains. After overcoming difficulties of fragile, even damaged material, innovations in science and technology can be used to assist identification.

The case studies illustrated here are diverse. They include the mysterious tale of a young girl whose bones were found on a beach near Amble; the reconstruction of the face of the Scottish historian and humanist scholar George Buchanan (1506-1582); the amazing life histories of a Bronze Age 'Lewis Man' and a ninth century boy warrior from Sutherland; and a fascinating bid to reconstruct the faces of two ancient Egyptian mummies including that of an Egyptian princess; and from the facial reconstruction of Robert the Bruce ascertain much about the man, his appearance, injuries and possible illnesses