This is what Jesus really looked like

If you close your eyes and try to picture what Jesus looked like, there’s a good chance you’ll see long, flowing hair, a beard and pale skin.

He probably looks something like this:

But it’s highly likely he looked nothing like this at all.

A forensic scientist has recreated what Jesus looked like, using historical evidence of his life, artists’ depictions and physical descriptions found in the Bible.

Richard Neave began his mission in 1998, examining skulls from Northern Israel from the beginning of the first century.

He made a plaster cast of a skull for BBC documentary Son of God, and the result looks nothing like the Jesus we’re used to seeing in churches.

This is what Neave says Jesus might actually have looked like:

More: The historical evidence that Jesus didn't exist

More: Researchers think that they have unearthed Jesus' tomb