The Real Face Of Jesus: Forensic Expert Reconstructs How He Would Have Looked

In many religious artworks, Jesus appears as a white, studious-looking man with flowing, straight hair.

He is never directly described in the Bible, so artists have constructed an idea of him over the centuries.

But the reality would have been very different, a forensics expert has said - creating a face using skeletal remains of men from the era. .

Medical artist Dr Richard Neaves reconstructed a face of Jesus using three skulls of Middle Eastern Jews in the Galilee area of northern Israel at the time.

In one scene in the Gospels, in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is described as looking like his disciples - so Dr Neaves constructed what he believed to be a typical male face from the area at that time, using forensic techniques.

He also used skeletal remains to work out a likely build for Jesus.

Dr Neave and his team said that he would have had a beard and short hair, as most Jews of the period did.

They also hypothesised that he would be more weather-beaten than he is typically portrayed, as he had worked outdoors, as a carpenter.