Reconstruction of the Homunculus skull using a combined scanning and stereolithography process

The reconstructed skull of the primate fossil Homunculus, a Miocene New World monkey from Argentina, offers unique opportunities for further study and has revealed information that could not be observed or appreciated on the original damaged specimens. This paper presents the process that applies the rapid prototyping methodology to reconstruct and produce such a physical model of the Homunculus’s skull. A laser scanner is used to digitize three pieces of sharp epoxy casts from the left facial skull and the mandible, which were broken apart during fossilization. Commercial software systems are used to develop image models of the fully reconstructed face and lower jaw. A stereolithography process is used to build the physical model.