Two 17,000-year-old skeletons have been brought to life in silicone models of the prehistoric humans at a new exhibit in Bordeaux, France.
Artist Elisabeth Daynès created "Chancelade Man" and the "Woman of the Pataud Shelter" based on remains found in France's Dordogne region.
Copyriight D.Crepin/E.Daynes – Reconstruction Atelier Daynès Paris
Daynès, a former prosthetic makeup artist turned sculptor and paleo-artist, spent seven years studying and creating models of the prehistoric humans.
She describes her work saying, "I sculpt hypotheses."
Copyriight D.Crepin/E.Daynes – Reconstruction Atelier Daynès Paris
The skeleton of the the approximately 60-year-old, blue-eyed "Chancelade Man" stands 6'2" tall. Chancelade Man's remains were discovered in 1888 in a rock shelter at Chancelade, southwestern France.
Copyriight D.Crepin/E.Daynes – Reconstruction Atelier Daynès Paris
The 17,000-year-old skeleton was found below the floor of a shelter in a curled posture -- a position that paleontologists say suggests he had been buried.
Copyriight D.Crepin/E.Daynes – Reconstruction Atelier Daynès Paris
Daynès' likenesses are obtained by the computer modelling of multiple data points across the skull. Daynès then creates a silicone reconstruction of what the person could have looked like.
Copyriight D.Crepin/E.Daynes – Reconstruction Atelier Daynès Paris
Also, in the exhibit is Daynès' interpretation of a female prehistoric human based on the skeleton of a woman's remains also found in the Dordogne region.
Copyriight D.Crepin/E.Daynes – Reconstruction Atelier Daynès Paris
The silicone model shows a woman, who is thought to have died aged 20 with brown eyes and a round face.
"The most important aspect of my sculptures, is the look in the eyes," says Daynès.
The exhibition, called "Chairs de Origines,"or "The Origins of Flesh" will be on display at a gallery in Bordeaux until December 5.
Copyriight D.Crepin/E.Daynes – Reconstruction Atelier Daynès Paris
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