it may be a sham, but carbon dating has it as a sham from the first century.
most of the ways that jesus looks is based on hallakhic tradition, which he followed closely. you know, beard, long hair, skinny, etc. Generally the image of your typical jewish peasant/preacher... not to be confused with the pharisees, who were rich fucks and totally non-representing of jews at large. past that you can probably assume he wasn't nearly as pale as he's portrayed, probably in an attempt by early proto-orthodox catholics to sway the opinions of the gentiles whom they were trying to recruit/convert in the midst of the whole destruction of the second temple/ jewish revolt period.
as for the man himself, he did indeed exist, as given in writings of various historians, most widely known one is probably josephus, although there are purely roman texts (and a couple greek ones, too, I believe, as one of the ptolemies recorded it) which discus his existence as well. Granted, none of them say whether he was a son of God, but it is historically accurate that a man named Jesus from Nazareth was crucified on Golgotha.
