A magyar történelem jelentős alakjainak megjelenítése – A digitális arcrekonstrukcióban rejlő lehetőségek
Authors: Kis Luca 
Published: April 2023

Összefoglalás.

Az archeogenetika dinamikus fejlődése Magyarországon új lehetőségeket nyitott az
egykor élt népességek tanulmányozásában és személyazonosításában. A
Magyarságkutató Intézet Archeogenetikai Kutatóközpontja célul tűzte ki magyar
királyok és történelmi személyek azonosítását. Kutatásom témája, az
archeogenetikai vizsgálatokkal összhangban, digitális arcrekonstrukciós
technikával megjeleníteni a magyar történelem jelentős alakjainak arcát. Az
arcrekonstrukció célja a lágyrészek visszaépítése a koponyára, annak jellegzetes
vonásai és az anatómiai ismeretek alapján, amihez a genetikai adatok további, a
fenotípusra vonatkozó információkat szolgáltathatnak. Dolgozatomban három olyan
kiemelt jelentőségű esetet ismertetek, amelyek esetén a genetikai adatokra
támaszkodva célom digitális arcrekonstrukciót készíteni.

Summary.

The dynamic development of archaeogenetic research in Hungary has given new
opportunities in the study of past populations and personal identification. In
an extensive research project, the Institute of Hungarian Research, Department
of Archaeogenetics (IHR, DA) aimed to identify the lost remains of Hungarian
kings and nobles. Related to this research project, I started a new
investigation based on facial reconstruction techniques to visualize the
genetically examined and identified important figures from Hungarian history.
During this process, the face of an individual is built onto the skull based on
unique morphological characteristics and anatomical knowledge. Besides,
archaeogenetic data provide additional information concerning phenotypic
characters that could not have been detectable on the bones.

In Hungary, most of the reconstructions were made with sculptural techniques.
However, the development of IT tools has opened new perspectives, and the use of
digital sculptural methods is spreading as they have several advantages compared
to traditional sculptures (e.g., easier checking, corrections, and more
effective reproducibility).

During my research, I had the opportunity to work with several remarkable cases I
will visualize with the digital facial reconstruction technique. In this study,
three of these cases will be introduced that represent the three main target
groups of the investigation: kings, significant historical figures, and
prominent cases of Hungarian archaeological and anthropological research.

The subject of the first case is the skull held in the Saint Ladislaus herm in
Győr. In 2022, during the re-examination of the supposed skull of the Saint and
Knight king, Ladislaus I, the genetic team of the IHR DA sampled the cranium and
successfully verified its originality. The results highlighted the importance of
creating a new reconstruction, as genetic data contains unique information
concerning the appearance of the king.

In the second part, I introduce my results on the anthropological analysis of the
supposed skeletal remains of John and Christopher Corvinus held at Lepoglava,
Croatia. The anthropological data (age-at-death, sex, and pathological
conditions) and the written sources certify that the skeletons belonged to the
son and grandson of the great Hungarian king, Mathias (Hunyadi) I. Therefore,
digital reconstruction can be conducted after the genetic analysis.

The third case is a high-ranked individual from the rich burial No. 1 of the
10th-century-CE cemetery of Sárrétudvari–Poroshalom. On the top of the skull,
traces of an unfinished surgical trepanation were observed with a weapon-induced
injury in the middle.

No similar phenomenon has been published until now; and thus, this case reveals
rare information concerning past medicine.

The genetic analysis and reconstruction of this unique case provide valuable
information about the Hungarian Conquest Period.