Some collaborations are built through the convergence of different scientific backgrounds. Unfortunately, they often end up in articles which, poorly edited in obscure journals, or poorly promoted by the authors themselves, disappear in the deep abyss of forgotten writings. No doubt it was the case of the work done over 32 years ago by Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel and myself. It aimed to infer the degree of kinship between two people simply based on anthropometric data (from the skeleton or the living). It was conducted not without difficulty. The main reason was the obvious gap between our respective formations, more self-taught and imaginative for Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel, more (or too) academic for me.

Since then, the theme of kinship recognition has progressed in such a way that old approaches seem to have lost interest. Yet 3D facial comparison techniques are an obvious extension of these old procedures. Similarly, DNA sequencing methods and comparisons of "identical by descent" (ibd) lengths between people replace old or modern anthropometric methods, with efficiency that does not go without raising some ethical problems.