Marcia K. Moore caught my attention as a researcher. Her forensic reconstruction and utilizing 3D printing techniques have resulted in the most amazing portrayals of lost people.
Marcia has been called upon and continues to be called upon for reconstructions of skulls lost from time and place. Her work on elongated skulls is especially poignant.
Her work on very ancient man's skulls rendered the most realistic portrayals. This work is important to understanding of the progression of humanity and the faces our ancestors once gazed upon. When you look someone in the eyes and you see part of yourself in their image, compassion is born.
It is one thing to gaze upon a skull and imagine the structure of a face, but another to see flesh and eyes giving it purpose and movement.
Her portrayal of Bigfoot is the most realistic images of the face I have ever seen. So many are confused by the powerful hair-covered body and feral living situation, assuming the face is that of a gorilla. No. The face is very human like. I could be standing in line beside this tall hairy fellow at a convenience store and start a conversation.
In fact, humans have the gene for full body hair like the Bigfoot, but evolution has turned off that propensity. The early man portrayals have little body hair on them, but actually they would have looked more like Bigfoot. The needs of those living in feral conditions are different and, in fact, it is said that if a man were to live ferally his body hair would thicken up.
Humans may think of Bigfoot as less evolved, maybe dimwitted, but Bigfoot may view humans that way. After all, we need cars to get around. We need hammers to pound things. We need coats to stay warm. We must farm and ranch in order to eat. They probably view us as perpetually running around like squirrels prepping for the winter.
This very important forensic visualization that Marcia provides science and the public really brings to life that which cannot speak for itself. Imagine getting a skull and not knowing anything about its human occupant. First, figuring out the age of the person could be vital. After all, we age dramatically over a lifetime.
Then, there's the question of hair color and style, wrinkles, eyeglasses, eye color, and a million other variables.
Marcia's work is, I believe, some of the most significant work in the study of the human family. It gives a real face and a real spirit to the past.