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Wednesday, October 29, 1997
Face of La Salle ship sailor reconstructed
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Researchers have reconstructed the face
of a sailor whose remains were found last year during excavation of a ship
belonging to the famed French explorer La Salle.
The sailor's bones were discovered in the bow hold of The Belle, a 50-foot
vessel that served as a supply ship for the ill-fated expedition of La Salle,
who was trying to establish a French colony along the Gulf Coast. The ship
ran aground and sank in a storm off the Texas coast in 1686.
The skull was taken to Dallas' Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, where
a CT scan was done to create a detailed digital image, said Donny Hamilton,
head of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University.
Researchers used that image to make a three-dimensional plastic model.
Clay was smoothed over the plastic to make a face. From that model, a silicone
mold was made, and then two plaster heads were produced.
One of them was painted to look like a real face. It was given brown
hair, though there's really no way for researchers to know what color the
man's hair or eyes were, Hamilton said.
'By doing a facial reconstruction it's just rounding out the story,'
he said. 'It's one thing to look at a skull. It's another thing to look
at a face. It brings it home and makes it more personal and more realistic.'
Researchers believe the sailor was of European descent, had a stocky
build, a broken nose and bad dental cavities.
A pewter porridge bowl engraved with the French surname 'Barange' found
near the bones could help historians identify the man. Plans are being finalized
for DNA testing on tissue remains of the skeleton. The results could be
matched with the DNA of possible descendants living in France.
Scientists may never be able to determine the exact cause of the sailor's
death. He may have died from dehydration or hypothermia or he may have drowned.
The Texas Historical Commission's excavation of the La Salle shipwreck
began in September 1996 and was finished in April.
Researchers now are working on the conservation and analysis of nearly
1 million artifacts at a Texas A&M laboratory. Besides the skeleton,
archaeologists found three ornate bronze cannons, a ceramic jar filled with
mercury, a ruby ring and thousands of glass trade beads, among many other
artifacts.
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Eds: Photos of the facial reconstruction can be downloaded at www.thc.state.tx.us/belle/index.html.
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