Skrydstrup Woman

The Skrydstrup Woman was unearthed from a tumulus in southern Jutland in Denmark in 1935. As of 2017 carbon-14 dating showed that she had died between 1382 and 1129 BCE;[1] examination also revealed that she was around 18–19 years old at the time of death, and that she had been buried in the summertime.

Skrydstrup Woman

Excavation of burial mound
Skrydstrup Woman's burial mound

Museum Sønderjylland's manager Christian M. Lund was responsible for the excavation of the burial mound. It was found 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) southwest of Vojens. The mound was on a bed of stone and covered with turf. It measured 13 meters (43 ft) in diameter and 1.75 meters (5.7 ft) high. Two men had been later placed in similar coffins at the edge of the burial mound. The mound was covered by a larger turf mound 24 meters (79 ft) in diameter and 4 meters (13 ft) high. The carbon 14 dating to around 1300 BCE is contemporaneous with a house plot on the Bronze Age farm in Skrydstrup 700 meters (2,300 ft) northeast of the mound, which may have been her residence.[2]

Appearance
Reconstruction of hairstyle

She was buried in a short-sleeved woolen linen blouse with embroidery on the sleeves and neckline. A large square cloth of wool, gathered at the top with a belt, covered her from the waist to the feet. Attached to the belt was an ornate horn comb. The clothes were made of wool from a dark, reddish-brown sheep. The only jewelry was her large spiral earrings of 24 karat gold, which along with the blouse indicated she was of higher class.[3] Her ash blonde hair was about 60 centimetres (24 in) long and held in a complex hairstyle. Covering the hair was a fine hair net of unbraided horse hair made with the sprang technique, which was attached to an almost 5 meters (16 ft) long woolen cord at the front and back. The string was wrapped several times around the head so that it sat like a headband and held the hairstyle and hairnet securely in place.

Professor Karin Frei from the National Museum of Denmark described her as an elegant, queen-like figure.[4]

Origin and life

A study published in 2019 found that the Skrydstrup Woman was most likely from well beyond the modern borders of Denmark.[5] Research from 2017 had suggested that she could have come from the Czech Republic, southern Germany, France or Sweden.[4] She probably moved to Scandinavia from her original home when she was about 13 or 14.[1]

See also

References
  1. Frei, Karin Margarita; et al. (2017). "A matter of months: High precision migration chronology of a Bronze Age female". PLOS ONE. 12 (6): e0178834. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1278834F. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0178834. PMC 5459461. PMID 28582402. e0178834.
  2. "Skrydstrup-pigen". Graenseforeningen.
  3. Kaul, Flemming. "Skrydstrup, We know where she lived – 1001 Stories of Denmark". Kulturarv.dk. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  4. Charlotte Price Persson (10 April 2017). "Another female Bronze Age icon is now known to have travelled across Europe". Science Nordic.
  5. "New study confirms that Egtved girl and Skrydstrup woman were most likely from afar". University of Copenhagen. 4 December 2019.

Bibliography
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